Was last Thursday’s ‘Elephant Walk’ at Beale a publicity stunt to help keep the Dragon Lady flying? If so, it was too late. I have learned that the die is now cast, and U-2 phaseout actions have already begun.
The Secretaries of the Air Force and Defense signed the certification that was required of them by Congress a few weeks ago. Now Air Combat Command (ACC) is devising a plan that will specify the steps to be taken to run down the fleet. Not all of the aircraft currently undergoing Periodic Depot Maintenance (PDM) will return to service. Recruitment of new pilots will surely end. The Avionics Technical Refresh (ATR) is likely to be cancelled – only the test aircraft 68-10331 has flown with the upgrade to date.
Many in the U-2 Brotherhood hoped that history would be repeated, since retirement of the Dragon Lady has been threatened so many times in the past. But, as I cautioned on these pages last year, this time it’s different. The USAF leadership is determined to move on, despite the obvious continued relevance of the U-2, and the large sums that have been spent on upgrades in recent times.
The ‘Elephant Walk’ consisted of eight U-2s and seven T-38 companion trainers from the 9th Wing, plus two KC-135s from the 940th Air Refueling Wing (ARW), a tenant unit at Beale. The formation was flanked by eight U-2 chase cars. The USAF says that such staged formations (which don’t get airborne) “signify a coordinated display of military might and preparedness.”
photo by Senior Airman Juliana Londono, 9th RW Public Affairs
Dragon Lady Today 
I was with the U-2 program at Davis-Monthan AFB from 1970-73. The U-2 program has a long and proud history and has done a tremendous amount of work keeping America free. I don’t know if the people using other resources for this work will be able to comprehend what they have lost with the Dragon Lady until it is too late.
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It’ll be a sad day, Chris, but I’m afraid it’s inevitable. That said, I’m NOT convinced that there are sufficient alternatives in the inventory that can do what the U-2 has done so well for so long…
Best,
Geo. Cully
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I spent 19 years of my career developing/managing development of mission planning and ground systems for the U-2. Even though retired for 20 years, I realize I have taken comfort in world situations knowing the U-2 was out there providing the data needed for intelligence analysts and decision makers. I realize other systems are available, but the U-2 through its upgrades and its ground systems has met the need for so long and so well…..
Nearly thirty years ago In 1995 I attended the U-2’s 40th Anniversary dinner celebration at Robins AFB: a big issue and widely discussed was the planned replacement of the U-2 with UAVs. So the sunset of the program has been planned often – but this time I believe it will move to completion. Its early, and there will be more opportunities, but I can’t help but think of all of those who have made this program successful for so long.
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Chris, congratulations and thanks for your comprehensive, authoritative Dragon Lady reporting through the decades! Your description of the U-2’s unique cost effective characteristics and capabilities raises serious doubts that the mandated FY2018 NDAA U-2 replacement certifications will be adequately based on operational requirements, rather than political considerations. Your analysis will stand for the ages.
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Like the SR-71, the U-2’s demise will be felt, one way or another. There is never a good time to retire any reconnaissance aircraft without a true capable asset ready to take the lead on day 1! It will be missed. It would be wise to always have 1 ready on a moments notice, or show us something better now!
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This reminds me of when the SR-71 was retired. Sorry to hear.
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The SR-71’s retirement in March 1990 was officially explained as due to high operating and maintenance costs and reporters were told that the SR-71’s mission was made redundant by a new generation of US Air Force reconnaissance satellites. The U-2’s operating cost is indeed cheaper than that of the SR-71 and even though Bill Sweetman noted that the operating and maintenance cost of the Blackbird was far less than the cost of a spy satellite launch, the U-2’s lower maintenance costs meant that it ended up outlasting the SR-71’s operational tenure.
Almost all the U-2s currently in service were built in the 1980s, and bearing in mind the fact that the TR-1 only differed from the U-2R in having a side-scanning radar, new avionics, and improved ECM equipment, the upgrading of all U-2Rs and TR-1s to U-2S configuration in the mid-1990s left the US Air Force without a potential replacement for the U-2s built as TR-1s until 2007, when the Lockheed Martin RQ-170 Sentinel stealthy battlefield surveillance UAV entered service. Given that the RQ-4 Global Hawk has greater range and endurance than the U-2 despite being non-stealthy, the USAF could retire half of the currently operational U-2 fleet to save money for continued RQ-4 operations because the RQ-4 airframes are more recent.
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But has the hawk ever gotten over the flaw which highly resticts it’s operational capability in extreme cold weather?
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Very sad news indeed. It would be interesting to hear the views of the customers who receive the information that the U2 provides.
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Such a sad news to read.
What the U-2 community has been achieving for so long is truly remarkable, and definitively something to be proud of.
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It began yesterday with 80-1065 retiring
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I’m proud to say that I was in the very first organization and the third – Detachment “A” and Detachment “C” – England – Germany & Japan – four years
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Please email me! UKdragon@aol.com
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