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2021-01-10
U-2, U-2S: Sophisticated Surveillance at 65
The U-2 Dragon Lady, one of the United States’ most secret aerial reconnaissance platforms, has come a long way since the aircraft took its first flight on Aug. 1, 1955.
This year, the U-2 Dragon Lady celebrates 65 years of supporting the Air Force’s mission with superior surveillance.
The storied U-2 Dragon Lady still flies some of the U.S. military’s most sensitive spy missions worldwide, but the multi-role U-2S Dragon Lady in service with the U.S. Air Force (USAF) today is nothing similar to its predecessor.
Relentless upgradation efforts have clearly paid off. Since 1994, as much as US$1.7 billion has been pumped in to modernise the U-2 airframe and sensors. These upgrades also included the transition to the GE F118-101 engine which resulted in the re-designation of all U.S. Air Force U-2 aircraft to the U-2S.
The modularity of the U-2S enables swift upgrades to demonstrate new technologies in weeks, not years, providing next generation capabilities to warfighters. The aircraft is based at the 9th Reconnaissance Wing at Beale Air Force Base, California with operational squadrons in major theatres worldwide.
Special Features
The U-2S is a single-seat, single-engine, high-altitude/near space reconnaissance and surveillance aircraft providing signals, imagery, and electronic measurements and signature intelligence, or MASINT. Long and narrow wings offer the U-2 glider-like characteristics and allow it to swiftly lift heavy sensor payloads to unmatched altitudes, keeping them there for long periods of time.
Flown at altitudes over 70,000 feet, the U-2 pilot must wear a full pressure suit similar to those worn by astronauts. The low-altitude handling characteristics of the aircraft and bicycle-type landing gear call for precise control inputs during landing.
A second U-2 pilot normally “chases” each landing in a high-performance vehicle, helping the pilot by providing radio inputs for altitude and runway alignment. Little wonder, the U-2 has earned a widely-accepted title as the most difficult aircraft in the world to fly.
The U-2 is capable of gathering a variety of imagery, including multi-spectral electro-optic, infrared, and synthetic aperture radar products that can be stored or sent to ground exploitation centres.
It supports high-resolution, broad-area synoptic coverage provided by the optical bar camera producing traditional film products which are developed and analysed after landing.
Quick Transmission
Speed is critical in a combat scenario. The U-2 carries a signals intelligence payload. All intelligence products, except for wet film, can be transmitted in near real-time anywhere in the world via air-to-ground or air-to-satellite data links, promptly providing critical information to combatant commanders.
One distinct advantage is also that the U-2 is powered by a lightweight, fuel efficient General Electric F118-101 engine, which negates the need for air refuelling on long duration missions.
The aircraft has the following sensor packages: electro-optical infrared camera, optical bar camera, advanced synthetic aperture radar, signals intelligence, and network-centric communication.
Penetrating the Iron Curtain
On May 1, 1954, leaders across Washington D.C.’s intelligence community found themselves breaking out in a cold, panicked sweat. Over the skies of Red Square in Moscow, the Soviet Union had introduced its newest bomber — the Myasishchev M-4, ominously nicknamed “Hammer” — during a Russian May Day celebration.
Coming on the heels of the Soviet Union’s detonation of a hydrogen bomb the previous summer, the unveiling fuelled a growing fear that Russia had not only eclipsed the West in terms of both nuclear weapons and bomber production, but was gearing up for a potential attack on the U.S. as well.
Penetrating the Iron Curtain had proven more challenging than U.S. intelligence agencies had anticipated. The vast size of Soviet Union made it difficult to survey. When surveillance aircraft were sent to the edges of Russian airspace, they were often shot down by Soviet forces.
President Dwight Eisenhower needed a new set of eyes in the sky. He would get them through the Lockheed U-2 high altitude reconnaissance aircraft.
Initial Designs
The initial designs for what would become the U-2 were created by Lockheed engineering guru Clarence “Kelly” Johnson in 1953. Working in the Skunk Works division, Johnson envisioned a light high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft capable of flying above the reach of Soviet anti-aircraft fire.
The U-2 borrowed its sleek looks from a traditional sailplane. Its long, tapered wing allowed it to fly missions covering a range of 3,000 miles and carry up to 700 pounds of the latest photoreconnaissance equipment to an unprecedented altitude of 70,000 feet.
Unfortunately, by the time Johnson could provide a complete proposal to U.S. officials in the summer of 1954, President Eisenhower and CIA Director Allen Dulles had already signed off on two competing designs for a high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft.
Johnson was undeterred. He offered up a deal that no general could refuse. Not only would he assume complete responsibility for any maintenance and service — an entirely new concept in aviation — but he would also have a U-2 in the air in merely eight months.
Johnson almost met his own impossible deadline, delivering the first U-2 for a test flight on July 29, 1955.
President Eisenhower had his secret weapon and was determined to use it to prevent the Cold War from turning red hot.
By early 1956, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev had declared that his country was making “missiles like sausages” and that he would soon have a hydrogen bomb capable of striking “any point in the world.” Any uninvited guests flying over Russia, he warned, would be shot down.
Beginning in the summer of 1956, Lockheed’s U-2 would prove him wrong. On July 4, Hervey Stockman flew a U-2 from Wiesbaden, West Germany, deep into the heart of the Soviet Union, capturing detailed photos of airfields, factories and shipyards previously unattainable by other aircraft.
It’s true that the plane was tracked by Soviet radar, but Stockman’s U-2 flew beyond the reach of Soviet interceptors and anti-aircraft fire, returning home with history-altering intelligence.
Thanks to the U-2, Eisenhower had the information he needed to avert a massive arms build-up — and a potential war.
Spy vs. Spy
Nonetheless, it was only a matter of time before Russian anti-aircraft technology caught up with the spy plane.
On May 1, 1960, a Soviet surface-to-air missile struck near a U-2 piloted by Francis Gary Powers, while on a reconnaissance mission over Russia. Powers was sentenced to 10 years in a Soviet labour camp on August 17, 1960, but got released two years later in exchange for spy Rudolph Abel.
The U-2, however, continued to be a critical asset for U.S. intelligence agencies, especially during the Cuban Missile Crisis. It was a U-2 manned by Major Richard Heyser that captured photos of Soviet missile installations in western Cuba on Oct. 14, 1962, revealing the Russians were capable of launching a nuclear strike against the U.S.
Over the next 13 days, U-2 flights would keep President Kennedy abreast of Soviet activity in Cuba, buying the administration enough time to broker a deal with the Soviets: Russia would dismantle its weapons in Cuba in exchange for a pledge by the United States not to invade the island, pulling both sides from the brink of a nuclear war.
Complete Battlespace Picture
The future is all about speed and data – getting the right information to the right person at the right time. Advancements to systems onboard the U-2S will allow the aircraft to simultaneously collect, analyse and share data, providing a complete battlespace picture in the not too distant future.
Soaring 13 miles high and carrying nearly 2.5 tonnes of the world’s most sophisticated equipment, today’s U-2 is on duty collecting unique information to support tactical warfighters and inform strategic national security advisors every hour of every day with a 97 per cent mission success rate.
Today, the U-2 Dragon Lady is not only ensuring global security 24/7/365 as the most capable, high-altitude intelligence surveillance reconnaissance (ISR) system in the fleet, but it’s also helping to bridge to the U.S Air Force’s vision for the Advanced Battle Management System (ABMS), a programme that will bring to life the ‘Internet of things’ for the military.
Effective High-flyers
No battle will be fought on a single battlefield. Connectivity will be crucial. ABMS means total battlespace dominance, with every warfighter and system operating across the sea, ground, air, space and cyber domains sharing critical information instantaneously.
The U-2S carries powerful sensors able to collect information in all weather, day and night. Data is distributed in real time to combat users and global intelligence agencies through high-capacity digital links.
Lockheed Martin is leading the design, integration and testing of the new advanced aircraft components, leveraging years of experience in rapid systems integration and fielding capabilities.
The U-2 has morphed into everything from a high-tech NASA platform for conducting physics experiments to a high-altitude tool for tracking the migration of destructive spruce bark beetles through Alaska forests.
Today, U-2S are used as aerial eavesdropping devices; U-2S survey dirt patterns for signs of makeshift mines and IEDs over Iraq and Afghanistan, making these high-flyers as effective today as they were nearly 65 years ago.
Reference Text/Photo:www.lockheedmartin.com,www.army.mil
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