The US Air Force has made another attempt to decommission the legendary U-2 Dragon aircraft.
What is known
Air Force Requests for Fiscal Years 2021 and 2022(FY) foreshadowed the withdrawal of the U-2 from service in the middle of the current decade. After the publication of the request for FY2023, it became known that after 2025, funds for the modernization of the fleet of reconnaissance aircraft will be reset to zero.
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The US Air Force plans to keep the U-2 in service untilthe end of September 2025, after which funding will be directed to higher priority goals. The service hopes that the US Congress will allow the aircraft to be retired in FY2026.
Initially, the replacement for the U-2 was an unmannedaircraft RQ-4 Global Hawk. However, now the US Air Force wants to write off the drones of Northrop Grumman. In the future, the service plans to use satellites to collect information, which Dragon Lady and Global Hawk are currently mining.
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The US Air Force has 27 U-2s.They are stationed at the Bill base in California, but can move to various military installations around the world. The Dragon Lady is the only aircraft in US service that can fly to over 21 km.
This feature made it possible to use the U-2 in an operation to destroy a Chinese balloon, which was hovering at an altitude of about 20 km. The Dragon Lady pilot even managed to take a selfie with the balloon.