The first U-2 to be retired is now in the ‘boneyard’ at Davis-Monthan AFB, AZ. Three more are set to follow over the next few months, with four more likely to join them by the fall. But in the Fiscal Year 2026 Defense Appropriations Bill that was passed last week, Congress has insisted that the remainder be kept operational for the time being.

The jet that has been retired (80-1085) is one of eight that have been parked at Beale because they reached a maintenance milestone. It was dismantled and trucked to the Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group (AMARG) in December. The U-2s that are being sent there will be kept in Type 1000 Long Term Storage, meaning that they will be fully maintained for potential recall to active service. Although that doesn’t seem likely.

The Bill (Section 8135) states that “none of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available by this act may be used to divest or prepare to divest more than eight U-2 aircraft”. Those are my italics, because the wording suggests that Congress may again prolong the program into FY2027. Last year, the Air Force bowed to pressure by granting a reprieve, only a few months before it had planned to end U-2 operations.

Congress also proved $55 million for U-2 Programmed Depot Maintenance (PDM). This is the major overhaul that occurs after seven years or 4,800 flight hours, whichever comes sooner. Until now, these have have been done at the Skunk Works Site 2 in Palmdale. A PDM is an extensive and labor-intensive process: the jet is stripped of paint and completely dismantled, over 1,800 parts are removed and 40,000 rivets checked, and inspected for cracks and corrosion. It is then reassembled, flight-tested, and returned to the 9^th Wing.

I have been told that the newly-funded PDMs will be done at Beale, where a hangar is being prepared. There are two aircraft at Palmdale that were undergoing PDMs when the Air Force told Site 2 to stop work on them in January 2024. At that point, 80-1073 was about 40% through the process and 80-1083 was about 25% done. It remains to be seen whether they will be trucked to Beale for completion. Meanwhile, the U-2 Flight Test operation at Site 2 has closed this month.

Finally, the 1^st RS at Beale is training two new pilots. Let’s hope they get a few years of operational flying.  

text corrected 26th January to make clear that the quoted Congressional language is from the Defense Appropriations Bill, not the final NDAA