LOCKHEED U-2

The Lockheed 'U-2', nicknamed 'Dragon Lady', is a single-engine, high-altitude aircraft flown by the United States Air Force. It provides day and night, high-altitude (70,000 ft, 21,000 m plus), all-weather surveillance. The aircraft is also used for electronic sensor research and development, satellite calibration, and satellite data validation.

Contents

Development

Design description

Operational history

United States

Possible retirement

Republic of China (Taiwan)

Variants

Specifications (U-2R)

Operators

References

External links

Related content

Development

In the early 1950s, with increasing Cold War tensions, the US military required improved strategic reconnaissance to better determine Soviet capabilities and intentions. The existing surveillance aircraft were primarily converted bombers, but they were vulnerable to anti-aircraft artillery, missiles, and fighters. It was thought an aircraft capable of flying at 70,000 feet would not only be beyond the reach of Soviet fighters and missiles, but would also be outside the range of radar detection. This ability would allow "overflights" -- knowingly violating a country's airspace in order to photograph a particular location.
The Air Force gave contracts to Bell Aircraft, Martin Aircraft, and Fairchild Engine and Airplane to develop proposals for the new reconnaissance aircraft. Officials at Lockheed Aircraft Corporation heard about the project and asked aeronautical engineer Clarence "Kelly" Johnson to come up with a design. Johnson was a brilliant designer, responsible for the P-38 Lightning, and the P-80, the first US jet fighter. He was also known for completing projects ahead of schedule, working in a separate division of the company jokingly referred to as the Skunk Works (a name taken from the distillery in the Li'l Abner comic strip).
Johnson's design, called the CL-282, married long glider-like wings to the fuselage of another of his designs, the F-104 Starfighter. To save weight, his initial design didn't even have conventional landing gear, taking off from a dolly and landing on skids. The design was rejected by the Air Force, but caught the attention of several civilians on the review panel, notably Edwin Land, the father of instant photography. Land presented the proposal to CIA director Allen Dulles that his agency should operate this aircraft. After a meeting with President Eisenhower, Lockheed received a 22.5 million dollar contract for the first 20 aircraft. It was renamed the U-2, with the U referring to the deliberately vague designation "utility".
The first flight occurred on August 1, 1955, during what was only intended to be a high speed taxi run. The sailplane-like wings were so efficient that as soon as the aircraft hit 70 knots it jumped into the air.^[1] The Polaroid Corporation developed the optics for a new large format camera to be used in the U-2. These new cameras were able to provide a resolution of 2.5 ft (76 cm) from an altitude of 60,000 ft (18,288 m).

Design description

The unique design that gives the U-2 its remarkable performance also makes it a difficult aircraft to fly. It was designed and manufactured for minimum airframe weight, which results in an aircraft with little margin for error. Most aircraft were single-seat versions. Only five, two-seat versions are known to exist.^[2]
High-aspect-ratio wings give the U-2 some glider-like characteristics, with a lift-to-drag ratio estimated in the high 20s. To maintain its operational ceiling of 70,000 feet (21 336 m), the U-2A and U-2C models (no longer in service) must fly very near their maximum speed. However, the aircraft's stall speed at that altitude is only ten knots (18 km/h) less than its maximum speed. This narrow window was referred to by the pilots as the "coffin corner". For 90% of the typical mission, the U-2 pilot was flying within only five knots of a stall, which would constitute an unacceptable decrease in altitude, and consequently, detection, not to mention the potential of damage to the lightly built aircraft in recovering from any unusual maneuver or attitude.

U-2 at The Imperial War Museum, Duxford, showing its large wingspan

Its large wingspan and resulting glider-like characteristics also make the U-2 highly sensitive to crosswinds. This sensitivity, and the aircraft's tendency to float over the runway, makes the U-2 notoriously difficult to land. Instead of the typical tricycle landing gear, consisting of a nose wheel and two sets of main wheels, one under each wing, the U-2 uses a bicycle configuration, with the forward set of main wheels located just behind the cockpit and the rear set of main wheels located behind the engine, coupled to the rudder in order to provide taxi steering. To maintain balance and allow the aircraft to taxi, two auxiliary wheels, called "pogos," are installed in sockets under each wing at about mid span, by ground crew, prior to the take-off taxiing. The pogos fall out of the sockets in the wing and onto the runway surface when the aircraft takes off. The ground crew collects the pogos and re-installs them after the aircraft lands. Skids made of titanium are located on the bottom of each wing tip to protect the "heavy" or downed wing, which occurs because without the pogos in place (which are left behind on the ground when the aircraft lifts off) the aircraft tips to one side once it has slowed down sufficiently during landing. The ground crew installs a pogo in the "light" or up wing first while the other crew members use their weight to pull down the light side. Then two of the crew push up the heavy wing, allowing a third crew member to install a pogo on the other side.
Because of its high-altitude mission, the pilot must wear the equivalent of a space suit. The suit delivers the pilot's oxygen supply and emergency protection in case cabin pressure is lost at altitude (the cabin provides pressure equivalent to approximately 29,000 feet/8,800 m). To prevent hypoxia and decrease the chance of decompression sickness, pilots don a full pressure suit and begin breathing 100% oxygen one hour prior to launch to de-nitrogenize the blood; while moving from the building to the aircraft they breathe from a portable oxygen supply.
The aircraft carries a variety of sensors in the nose, Q-bay or wing pods. The U-2 is capable of simultaneously collecting signals, imagery intelligence and air samples. Imagery intelligence sensors include either wet film photo, electro-optic or radar imagery — the latter from the Raytheon ASARS-2 system. It can use both line-of-sight and beyond-line-of-sight data links. One of the most unusual instruments in the newest version of the U-2 is the off-the-shelf Sony video camera that functions as a digital replacement for the purely optical viewsight (an upside down periscope-like viewing device) that was used in older variants to get a precise view of the terrain directly below the aircraft.

Operational history

United States

Though both the Air Force and the Navy would eventually fly the U-2, it was originally a CIA operation. Due to the political implications of a military aircraft invading a country's airspace, only CIA U-2s conducted overflights. The pilots had to resign their military commissions before joining the CIA as civilians, a process they referred to as "sheep dipping."
Pilot training in the U-2 was significantly aided by the construction of a pair of two-seat trainer aircraft, modified from the single-seater and designated the CT-2, with the second (trainee) cockpit mounted behind and above the cockpit of the (training) pilot in command.
Not atypical to new aircraft programs, there were a number of operational accidents, including several which were fatal.^[3] The first occurred on 15 May 1956 when the pilot stalled the aircraft during a post takeoff maneuver which was intended to drop off the wingtip outrigger wheels. The second fatal accident occurred three months later, on August 31, when the pilot stalled the aircraft immediately after takeoff. Two weeks later, a third aircraft disintegrated during ascent, also killing the pilot. There were a number of other non-fatal incidents, including at least one which resulted in the loss of the aircraft.
The aircraft came to public attention when pilot Francis Gary Powers was shot down over Soviet territory on 1 May, 1960, causing an event known as the U-2 Crisis. On 14 October 1962, a U-2 from the 4080th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing, based at Laughlin Air Force Base near Del Rio, Texas and piloted by Major Richard S. Heyser, photographed the Soviet military installing nuclear warhead missiles in Cuba, thereby precipitating the Cuban missile crisis. Heyser concluded this flight at McCoy AFB in Orlando, Florida and the 4080th established a U-2 operating location at McCoy for the duration of the crisis. Later during the crisis, another U-2 was shot down over Cuba, killing the pilot, Major Rudolph Anderson. [1] Major Anderson was posthumously awarded the first Air Force Cross.^[4]
Beginning in 1963, the CIA experimented with carrier based U-2 operations as a way to overcome the aircraft's range limitations.^[5] After CIA pilots successfully tested takeoffs and landings of U-2s on the USS Ranger and other carriers, U-2s were used to monitor French nuclear tests on Moruroa in 1964.
In early 1964, the Strategic Air Command (SAC) sent a detachment of U-2s, from the 4080th SRW (Strategic Reconnaissance Wing) to South Vietnam to fly high altitude reconnaissance missions over North Vietnam. On 5 April 1965, U-2s from the 4028th SRS (Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron) took photos of SAM-2 sites near Hanoi and Haiphong harbor. On 11 February 1966, the Wing was redesignated the 100th SRW and relocated to Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona. The SRS detached at Bien Hoa AB, South Vietnam, was redesignated the 349th SRS.
On 8 October 1966, the only loss of a U-2 during combat operations occurred when USAF pilot MAJ Leo Stewart, flying from the 349th Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron, developed mechanical problems while at high altitude over North Vietnam. The U-2 managed to return to South Vietnam where the pilot was able to eject safely. The U-2 crashed near its airbase at Bien Hoa, South Vietnam, and the pilot survived. In July 1970, the 349th SRS at Bien Hoa Airbase displaced to Thailand and was redesignated the 99th SRS, and remained there until March 1976.Hobson 2001
In 1969, the larger U-2Rs were successfully flown from the USS America. The U-2 carrier program is believed to have been halted after 1969.
In June 1976, the U-2 assets of the 100th SRW were transferred to the 9th SRW at Beale AFB, California and merged with SR-71 aircraft operations at that location. With the disestablishment of Strategic Air Command in the early 1990s, the wing was subsequently transferred to the newly-formed Air Combat Command and redesignated as the 9th Reconnaissance Wing (9th RQW).
The U-2 is still in front-line service over 50 years after its first flight despite the advent of surveillance satellites. This is primarily due to the ability to direct flights to targets at unpredictable times, an ability which satellites currently lack. Production of new aircraft was restarted in the 1980s. It has outlasted its Mach 3 SR-71 replacement which was retired in 1998. A classified budget document approved by The Pentagon on 23 December 2005, calls for the termination of the U-2 program no earlier than 2011, with some aircraft being retired as early as 2007.

Possible retirement

In January 2006, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld announced the pending retirement of the U-2 fleet. Designed as a cost cutting measure, and as part of a larger reorganization and redefinition of the Air Force's mission that includes the retirement of the E-4B fleet, the cancellation of the E-10 MC2A program, as well as the elimination of all but 58 B-52s.
Secretary Rumsfeld stated that this move will in no way impair the Air Force's ability to deliver the mission of the U-2, which will be accomplished by satellites and a growing supply of unmanned RQ-4 Global Hawk reconnaissance aircraft. However, Congress has so far delayed attempts to retire the current model U-2S, since there is still no system available that can replace the capability of this aircraft.

Republic of China (Taiwan)

Another U-2 operator was the Republic of China (ROC, aka Taiwan), which flew missions mostly over the People's Republic of China (PRC). Since the 1950s, the Republic of China Air Force had used the B-57 aircraft for reconnaissance missions over the PRC, but results were limited by the aircraft's low range and speed. In 1958, ROC and American authorities reached an agreement to create the 35th Squadron, nicknamed the Black Cat Squadron, composed of U-2s.
A total of 27 ROC pilots completed training in the US. In July 1960, the CIA provided the ROC with two U-2s and in December the squadron flew its first mission over mainland China. The objective of the ROC U-2 squadron was to conduct reconnaissance missions assessing the PRC's nuclear capabilities. For this purpose the ROC pilots flew to as far as Gansu and other remote regions in northwest China.
In total, the squadron flew some 100 missions, with five aircraft shot down, including three fatalities and two pilots captured. In 1968, the ROC U-2 fleet was replaced with the newer U-2R. However, with the coming of the Sino-Soviet split and the rapprochement between the US and the PRC, the ROC U-2 squadron stopped entering Chinese airspace, and instead only conducted electronic surveillance in international waters.
During his visit in China in 1972, US President Nixon promised the Chinese authorities to cease all reconnaissance missions over China. This ended the ROC's U-2 operations. In 1974, the two remaining U-2 aircraft in ROC possession were returned to the US. ^[6]

Variants

SAC TR-1A of the 95th Recon Squadron, RAF Alconbury

The 'U-2R', first flown in 1967, is significantly larger and more capable than the original aircraft. A tactical reconnaissance version, the 'TR-1A', first flew in August 1981. A distinguishing feature of these aircraft is the addition of a large instrumentation "superpod" under each wing. Designed for standoff tactical reconnaissance in Europe, the TR-1A was structurally identical to the U-2R. The 17th Reconnaissance Wing, Royal Air Force Station Alconbury, England used operational TR-1As from 1983 until 1991. The last U-2 and 'TR-1' aircraft were delivered to the Air Force in October 1989. In 1992 all TR-1s and U-2s (all U-2Rs) were designated U-2Rs. The two-seat trainer variant of the TR-1, the 'TR-1B', was redesignated as the 'TU-2R'. After upgrading with the F-118-101 engine, the former U-2Rs were designated the 'U-2S' ''Senior Year''.
A derivative of the U-2 known as the 'ER-2' (Earth Resources -2) is based at the Dryden Flight Research Center and is used by NASA for high altitude civilian research including Earth resources, celestial observations, atmospheric chemistry and dynamics, and oceanic processes.

Specifications (U-2R)

Operators

★ Black Cat Squadron of Republic of China (Taiwan) Air Force

★ 9th Reconnaissance Squadron USAF Beale Air Force Base, CA. United States Air Force
NOAA, FEMA, DEA
:Additional operational units are operated from various locations around the world as operational requirements demand.

References

1. Invention & Technology Magazine, volume 22, number 3
2. ABC News:So High, So Fast
3. Pedlow and Welzenbach 1992, p. 79-80.
4. http://www.af.mil/history/spotlight_print.asp?storyID=123009509
5. U-2 Aircraft Carrier Operations
6. ''Brief History of U-2'', Defence International (全球防衛雜誌), Vol. 35 Issue. 5, May 2002, Taiwan, ROC

----

★ Hobson, Chris. ''Vietnam Air Losses, USAF, USN, USMC, Fixed-Wing Aircraft Losses in Southeast Asia 1961–1973''. North Branch, Minnesota: Specialty Press, 2001. ISBN 1-85780-1156.

★ Miller, Jay. ''Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works: The Official History...'' (updated edition). Leicester, UK: Midland Publishing Ltd., 1995. ISBN 1-85780-037-0.

★ Pedlow, Gregory W. and Welzenbach, Donald E. ''The Central Intelligence Agency and Overhead Reconnaissance: The U-2 and OXCART Programs, 1954-1974''. Washington, DC: CIA, 1992.

★ ''The World's Great Stealth and Reconnaissance Aircraft''. New York: Smithmark, 1991. ISBN 0-8317-9558-1.

★ ABC News Correspondent Gets Rare Chance to Fly as Civilian in Spy Plane http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=3490523&page=1

External links

★ U-2S/TU-2S USAF Fact sheet

★ U-2 page on GlobalSecurity.org

★ U-2 page on WorldsAirSpace.com

★ First-hand experience of launching the U2

★ Black Cat Squadron

★ Pentagon To Retire U2 Spy Plane (UPI) 5 January 2006

★ A Wild Ride from the Edge of Space (Southwest Texas LIVE!) 17 October 2006

★ The Sky Still Burns in Your Memory (Southwest Texas LIVE!) 17 October 2006

★ Taiwan Filmmakers creating film about Taiwan's U-2 Blackcat Squadron (Southwest Texas LIVE!) 17 December 2006

★ Aviators of Laughlin AFB, Texas (Southwest Texas LIVE!) 26 April 2007

★ U2 plane used in domestic surveillance program.

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