Headed to the bone yard along with the A10. Possibly grant money can be handed out for the cloning of flying unicorns.
The U-2 spy plane outlasted the Cold War, outlived its successor and proved crucial a half-century ago when two superpowers were on the brink of nuclear war.
But defense cuts now threaten to knock the high-flying reconnaissance aircraft out of the sky.
The Air Force wants to gradually retire the fleet of 32 “Dragon Lady” planes, which can soar to an altitude of 70,000 feet, collect intelligence on North Korea and Russia and rapidly send the data to U.S. commanders. That’s a critical capability, given North Korea’s unpredictable leader, Kim Jong Un, and Russia’s emboldened president, Vladimir Putin.
The Air Force says the unmanned aerial vehicle Global Hawk can do the job, and in an era of smaller, deficit-driven budgets, the Pentagon cannot afford both the plane and the drone.
Skeptical lawmakers have challenged the Air Force’s proposal to ground the resilient U-2, the long-winged, all-weather manned aircraft with sensors and cameras. Called “Angel” at its inception because it could fly so high, the U-2 has been in operation since 1955 and provided the evidence of Soviet missiles in Cuba in 1962, helping to avert a nuclear war.
As Congress begins work next week in writing the defense policy bill, lawmakers will weigh the Air Force proposal and whether to take initial steps to save some of the planes. Any move would require a trade-off as lawmakers work within budget limits. Proponents of the plane recently got a strong endorsement from the top commander in South Korea.