Posted on 03/23/2010 6:02:31 AM PDT by lbryce
The U-2 spy plane, the high-flying aircraft that was often at the heart of cold war suspense, is enjoying an encore.
Four years ago, the Pentagon was ready to start retiring the plane, which took its first test flight in 1955. But Congress blocked that, saying the plane was still useful.
And so it is. Because of updates in the use of its powerful sensors, it has become the most sought-after spy craft in a very different war in Afghanistan.
As it shifts from hunting for nuclear missiles to detecting roadside bombs, it is outshining even the unmanned drones in gathering a rich array of intelligence used to fight the Taliban.
All this is a remarkable change from the U-2’s early days as a player in United States-Soviet espionage. Built to find Soviet missiles, it became famous when Francis Gary Powers was shot down in one while streaking across the Soviet Union in 1960, and again when another U-2 took the photographs that set off the Cuban missile crisis in 1962. Newer versions of the plane have gathered intelligence in every war since then and still monitor countries like North Korea.
Now the U-2 and its pilots, once isolated in their spacesuits at 70,000 feet, are in direct radio contact with the troops in Afghanistan. And instead of following a rote path, they are now shifted frequently in midflight to scout roads for convoys and aid soldiers in firefights.
In some ways, the U-2, which flew its first mission in 1956, is like an updated version of an Etch A Sketch in an era of high-tech computer games.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Great stuff, tks for posting. The stuff of legend...
I agree! Thanks for posting this.
Ping
This is EXACTLY what we need. We don’t need Mach 5+ stealth fighters, we need a fleet of older, less expensive, updated aircraft to fight our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The U2 can fly lazy circles at high elevations, gather information for Predators and other UAC to investigate - and we can kill the terrorists as they set up IED’s, or gather for their meetings.
This is a different war, one where extremely high tech is just not necessary.
That would be nice, but it would be zipping across the Theater every five or six seconds. Not sure if that would be economical.....ha ha.
Think the Sled’s too big, too fast, too expensive and too safe for an (another?) encore. U-2, I believe, was a shoestring operation, a cobbled quickie with a wooden seat in the cockpit. Bammy likely don’t think his troops need anything as complex as the SR-71.
Francis Gary Powers was shot down in one while streaking across the Soviet Union in 1960,
The forward progress of the U-2 is anything but streaking, which is one reason why Gary Powers was shot down, and another reason for the follow on pictured in comment 1.
Still is. They're doing "more with less" daily.
WWII apparently educated a large generation of Aero engineers who seem to have mastered their craft in the 50’s. B-52s still flying too. Probably lots of other examples.
Being a fan of the U-2 this is good stuff, but I’d rather the bad guys not know about it.
Not to denigrate this venerable workhorse, but "streaking across the sky"? Hardly!
That being said, I am delighted to see that Kelley Johnson and his Skunk Works Heroes are still defending us!
“...”streaking across the sky”? Hardly!...”
Of course it was streaking across the sky. Don’t you realize that it had a cruising speed five times faster than a Fokker Dr1. Five times faster!!!!!
I would imagine the U-2 could do several passes in a country the size of Afghanistan during the time it took the SR-71 to do it once, slow down and turn around to do it again, not very cost effect. Plus I would think the U2 could fly a lot lower which is probably a lot more practical to the mission. Plus you won't want the sled to slow down to the point that it leaks fuel all over Afghanistan, and then have to be refueled again, and again, and again.
MacDill hosted Airfest this past weekend and they did some flyovers by one of the 135’s. The program was narrated by the wing commander of the unit. Very interesting. He pointed out the planes at MacDill are mostly well over 40 years old.
Somewhere I have a photo I took years ago of one of them on short final. On the underside of the wings I Photoshopped in the various signs from a gas station, including the old S&H Green Stamps sign. Most kids these days don't catch on, fail to see the humor. Too bad. They don't know what they missed. A lot of them think I'm lying, or at least exaggerating, when I tell them what it was like to grow up in the late 40’s and early 50’s! They are used to their phones having no dial tone, just punch in a number and press Call. Our phone had no dial tone either. You waited a moment and an operator came on the line and said “Number please.”
When I was growing up MacDill had the B-47’s, the KC-97’s and the C-119. Also the Globemaster, but I forget it's designation. KC-94?
They also had the newer bigger tanker here, but it looks too much like an airliner for me! It was very cold and windy and raining. Cold for us anyway. The big guy had its APU’s running to light it up for the tours, and the exhaust was a great source of nice warm air to stand in and watch the airshows. The line for a tour of this beast was over 500 people!
The only longer line was for the C-130 gunship. Now that was a nice tour. It was the only one I took the time to go through. I wanted some pictures of the armament from the operating end!
yeah, I think it would be pretty hard to fight with Mach 5 fighters whether they are stealthy or not. I mean what can you fire from a fighter that could go faster then the plane.
He was a radar scope dope and was assigned to a base in the Bahamas. One day, while on duty, he recieved a MayDay call. The aircraft reported an engine failure and required vectors to the base. The pilot intended to glide home. There was no blip on the scope and reported this to the pilot. The pilot told him to increase his return sequencer. when he did the aircraft appeared at about 450 mile range. the crew estimated that the plane was well over 100,000 feet in order to be seen at that range!
He reported inbound to the control tower and they waited. One hour, two hours and it was nearly home. Another aircraft arrived from Miami and requested permission to remain on the taxiway.
The glider arrived and all the scope dopes in the GCA van left their post to see this aircraft.
There on the runway was a Black aircraft. A C-130, also painted black, was offloading a black tow truck. All the personnel were wearing black uniforms.
All personnel on the base were debriedfed and told that "What you saw, Never happened!"
A true UFO that would be revealed when Powers was shot down!
Not all adversaries will require the same operational capabilities and the bad guys definitely present a threat that requires Mach 5+(2+ in reality) stealth fighters
The USAFs mission is air superiority in all environments and against all threats.
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