U-2 Thread

[Flyaway]

As the U-2 remains one of my favourite military aircraft I thought I would start a dedicated thread for it. As well as it being one of the more venerable models of aircraft still flying.

U-2 Avionics Upgrade Paves Way For Command And Control Role | Aviation Week Network

Far from being retired, the storied U-2 is being upgraded into the U.S. Air Force’s first fully open mission systems compliant fleet.

aviationweek.com

 

[Grey Havoc]

I'll throw in a cheeky link to the thread on the Beriev S-13.
(Flees like a thief in the night)

 

[FighterJock]

Only a few years ago there was talk of retiring the U-2 and replacing it with the Global Hawk, now with the future upgrades it looks as if the U-2 could be like the B-52 and go on until the 2030s-2040s

 

[Grey Havoc]

FlightGlobal (Flight International) story on the upgrade:

U-2 to get avionics, mission computer update

Lockheed Martin recently secured a $50 million US Air Force contract to update the venerable U-2 spy plane. The project involves three elements: a new avionics suite, a new mission computer, and modern cockpit displays, says Lockheed. Source: Lockheed Martin The U-2S spyplane Designed to the...

www.flightglobal.com

 

[Flyaway]

I hope people don’t mind me posting this as I watched it the other day, and thought it was quite interesting about the U-2.

 

[FighterJock]

I hope people don’t mind me posting this as I watched it the other day, and thought it was quite interesting about the U-2.

I watched it when it was first aired on Forces Tv, and it contained a lot of information that I never new about the U-2 before.

 

[Flyaway]

Maybe it’s just me but I was surprised to see the paint peeling off some of the U-2s in it. Doesn’t the paint perform some kind of small ‘stealth’ function?

 

[FighterJock]

Maybe it’s just me but I was surprised to see the paint peeling off some of the U-2s in it. Doesn’t the paint perform some kind of small ‘stealth’ function?

I had known about the previous attempts to add stealth technology to the U-2 shortly after the Garry Powers shoot down by adding metal string covered in Radar Absorbent Material, but it failed, could this be a modern attempt?

 

[Flyaway]

AW podcast:

https://aviationweek.com/defense-space/podcast-dragon-lady-heading-future-after-six-decades

 

[Grey Havoc]

 

[Flyaway]

Famed U-2 Spy Plane Takes on a New Surveillance Mission

Designed with slide rules in the 1950s, the stealthy high flier still has a lot to offer

www.scientificamerican.com

 

[Archibald]

With all the RB-57D and U-2 shot down over China, Cuba (plus of course the Gary Power aircraft) - I was wondering if the Soviets examined their cameras and sensors ? Did they got any tech advances out of them ?

 

[Grey Havoc]

The film from Power's aircraft was used in the Soviet space program, IIRC.

 

[TsrJoe]

Lockheed U.2A Angel over Suez, 1956 ... https://www.cia.gov/news-information/featured-story-archive/u-2-monitors-suez-crisis.html

 

[jsport]

Famed U-2 Spy Plane Takes on a New Surveillance Mission

Designed with slide rules in the 1950s, the stealthy high flier still has a lot to offer

www.scientificamerican.com

Needs to have limited active ballistic missile defense role.. threats are likely know it is there, so why not use the altitude to get a jump on intercepting TBMs,

 

[edwest2]

This upgrading of the U-2 makes financial and time sense. The Powers U-2 apparently crashed like a glider. I recall a photo published by the Russians that showed it on the ground with structural breaks at the usual/expected places.

 

[Flyaway]

China Complains a U-2 Spy Plane Infiltrated Its No-Fly Zone

The American exercise was a "naked provocative action," China says.

www.popularmechanics.com

 

[edwest2]

The usual "naked provocation." I'm sure Cuba had similar thoughts during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Meanwhile, the US has to make sure that our current new Cold War enemy number one gets a good look from to time.

 

[TomcatViP]

China complains on the U-2 overflight to not look embarrassed by USN carrier tempering their macho attitude toward Taiwan (3 differents military exercice on the same time) trawling around.
European nations that have lost WWII that day in Munich should be there also. Forefront.

 

[Flyaway]

US Air Force sends software updates to one of its oldest aircraft midair

The demonstration marked the first time the Defense Department has modified an aircraft's code in flight.

www.defensenews.com

 

[FighterJock]

US Air Force sends software updates to one of its oldest aircraft midair

The demonstration marked the first time the Defense Department has modified an aircraft's code in flight.

www.defensenews.com

Any ideas as to how the Air Force updated the software during the flight? Sounds like it was over some form of network enabled hardware.

 

[stealthflanker]

Any ideas as to how the Air Force updated the software during the flight? Sounds like it was over some form of network enabled hardware.

Clearly the U-2 have a datalink. That takes care of it.

------------

The bigger implications especially nowadays is that It will allow digital countermeasure or updates to weapon software to be deployed In flight. Missiles etc, can be manufactured with just basic testing algorithm without any target tracking or countermeasure algorithm etc. ESM aircraft may analyze, develop and actually patch Jammer aircraft's jammer software with real-time developed technique.

 

[FighterJock]

Any ideas as to how the Air Force updated the software during the flight? Sounds like it was over some form of network enabled hardware.

Clearly the U-2 have a datalink. That takes care of it.

------------

The bigger implications especially nowadays is that It will allow digital countermeasure or updates to weapon software to be deployed In flight. Missiles etc, can be manufactured with just basic testing algorithm without any target tracking or countermeasure algorithm etc. ESM aircraft may analyze, develop and actually patch Jammer aircraft's jammer software with real-time developed technique.

Thanks for the info stealthflanker. One further question, is the datalink system Link16 by any chance? That is the only datalink that I currently know about.

 

[edwest2]

The Global Hawk and I suspect other unmanned systems have such a link. But China cannot know...

 

[jimmyjammy]

As the U-2 remains one of my favourite military aircraft I thought I would start a dedicated thread for it. As well as it being one of the more venerable models of aircraft still flying.

U-2 Avionics Upgrade Paves Way For Command And Control Role | Aviation Week Network

Far from being retired, the storied U-2 is being upgraded into the U.S. Air Force’s first fully open mission systems compliant fleet.

aviationweek.com

I can add some old photos I took/had taken many moons ago...

 

[TomcatViP]

Artuµ was created by the U-2 Federal Laboratory, which in October successfully updated the plane′s software while it was flying — a first for the U.S. military. The event was made possible by deploying Kubernetes, an open-source, containerized method for automating software updates.
Artuμ is based on a gaming algorithm known as µZero, which has been used to beat human players in chess and Go, Roper explained in an op-ed on Popular Mechanics. The U-2 lab specially trained the AI co-pilot to manipulate the U-2′s sensor suite during “over half a million” computer-simulated missions, according to the Air Force.
“With no pilot override, ARTUµ made final calls on devoting the radar to missile hunting versus self-protection,” Roper wrote.

Artoo, take the wheel: U-2 spy plane flies for the first time with an AI co-pilot

The AI entity Artuμ controlled the U-2's sensors and helped find enemy missile launchers during a training flight.

www.defensenews.com

 

[Richard N]

I shot this TR-1 many moons ago. The pilot is a good friend of mine.

 

[tab28682]

I shot this TR-1 many moons ago. The pilot is a good friend of mine.

I have seen that before... It is a stunning photo with a beautiful sky.

Technically, it is a ER-2, the NASA bird...

 

[Richard N]

Many moons pass, memory fades...

 

[Grey Havoc]

The tiny tech lab that put AI on a spyplane has another secret project

Software updates? Check. AI copilot? Check. So what comes next?

www.defensenews.com

 

[Grey Havoc]

From earlier this month:

U-2S ‘Dragon Lady’ spy plane departs RAF Akrotiri

An American U-2S 'Dragon Lady' spy plane has left RAF Akrotiri on Cyprus and appears to be heading to RAF Fairford in the UK.

ukdefencejournal.org.uk

 

[RavenOne]

Sixty years on from the U-2 shoot down.

Shot Down 60 Years Ago Today: We Visit Gary Powers U-2 In Moscow Now.

U-2 Wreckage Is Haunting Insight Into The Cold War, Shows How Far We’ve Come. I grew up during the Cold War. We viewed the Soviet Union as our defacto

theaviationist.com

 

[Grey Havoc]

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iweRSQC70kQ

 

[Grey Havoc]

Lockheed U-2D: On a barrel role.

56-6954/Article 394 was one of the few Delta-model of the early Dragon Lady. They were configured as a two-seater and employed in various IR detection programs at Edwards AFB (6512th Flight Test Sq…

elpoderdelasgalaxias.wordpress.com

 

[Foo Fighter]

Could they create new U2 airframes, from exotic materials perhaps? Just a thought, nothing behind it.

 

[Flyaway]

Could they create new U2 airframes, from exotic materials perhaps? Just a thought, nothing behind it.

Weren’t they proposing an unmanned version of the U-2 some years back. I can’t remember now if they were going to build new airframes based on the U-2 or re-engineer existing airframes into unmanned ones.

 

[Foo Fighter]

Just positing that it might be a very useful thing to have in an armoury. I did hear of a project to make current aircraft selectively piloted but no idea what came of it.

 

[dan_inbox]

a project to make current aircraft selectively piloted

Nothing new here. The whole series of QF-xxx fighter is precisely this.

 

[Foo Fighter]

Sorry, I was talking about the U2 rather than the QF series.

 

[jsport]

The tiny tech lab that put AI on a spyplane has another secret project

Software updates? Check. AI copilot? Check. So what comes next?

www.defensenews.com