I’m sure that the U-2 community is carefully evaluating the shooting down of a Global Hawk UAV over the Straits of Hormuz by Iran on 20th June. Are there lessons to be learned? Is the U-2 equally vulnerable? A radar tracking map released by the Iranians shows the Global Hawk flying at 57,000 feet when … Continue reading GLOBAL HAWK SHOOTDOWN: COULD A U-2 MEET THE SAME FATE?

The latest US Air Force budget request aims to keep the U-2 equipped with state-of-the-art sensors, data links and other systems. The service plans to spend more than half a billion dollars on Dragon Lady developments over the next five Fiscal Years (FY2020-2024). When installed, some of them result in a redesignation from U-2S Block … Continue reading IMPROVING THE U-2 – CONTINUED FUNDING FORESEEN

If you have read DRAGON LADY TODAY, you will already know that NASA flies two U-2s from Palmdale that are specially configured for science missions. Designated ER-2 (ER = Earth Resources), these aircraft were delivered in 1981 and 1989 and, like the rest of the U-2 fleet, were re-engined with the GE F118 engine in … Continue reading NEW COCKPIT FOR NASA U-2s

I am often asked that question, usually by someone to whom I have just explained that the Dragon Lady remains the world’s premier reconnaissance aircraft, and was not retired years ago! The answer is currently 31, comprising 25 single-seat U-2S models that can fly operational missions; four dual-cockpit TU-2S trainers; and two ER-2 versions that … Continue reading HOW MANY U-2s ARE STILL FLYING?

The 9th RW has flown another journalist: Michael Phillips of The Wall Street Journal. There is a very good video of his experience on the WSJ website: https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-u-2-spy-plane-still-flying-combat-missions-60-years-after-debut-1528382700 Equally interesting, Phillips was told about a new project to use artificial intelligence to help interpret the imagery from the U-2’s Optical Bar Camera (OBC). On pages … Continue reading MAKING INTELLIGENT USE OF FILM

Now that the U-2 is staying in service for the foreseeable future, many possibilities for making it even better are being explored. Some are now funded, some are still on wish-lists. But Lockheed Martin U-2 program manager Kyle Franklin (below) has every reason to be optimistic. He told me recently: “we’re a sunrise platform now” … Continue reading THE SUN MAY NEVER SET ON THIS JET

“Shady Lady: 1,500 hours Flying the U-2 Spy Plane” by Lt Col Rick Bishop, Crecy Publishing, UK, 2017, £18.95. Distributed in the US by Specialty Press, $24.95 If you want to know what it’s really like to fly the U-2, look no further than this book. Rick Bishop was a Dragon Lady pilot for most … Continue reading SHADY LADY – A BOOK REVIEW

Improvisation has always been a tradition in the U-2 program. In the earliest days, it was the fixing of a piece of string above the cockpit transparency to give the pilot some indication of yaw, and the addition of that rear-view mirror so that he could monitor contrails. Later, it was the parcel delivery vans … Continue reading U-2 SQUADRON CONTINUES TO IMPROVISE

At the recent US Air Force Association convention and exhibition near Washington DC, I was interviewed by Vago Muradian, who runs The Defense & Aerospace Report website. We discussed the future of the U-2, and some related matters: http://defaeroreport.com/2017/09/27/ains-pocock-usafs-rq-4-global-hawk-u-2-complementary-aircraft/ Vago is very well known in defense circles, and - like me - has been privileged … Continue reading MY INTERVIEW AT AFA

RIAT is the Royal International Air Tattoo, the world’s best and largest military airshow, held at RAF Fairford in the UK every year in July. Fairford is also the stopover base for U-2s being ferried between the US and the deployment locations in the Near and Middle East. So when I learned that a two-plane … Continue reading THE U-2 AT RIAT