Posted: 3/9/2014 12:28:16 PM EDT
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http://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/a-spotters-guide-to-the-u-2-dragon-lady-and-its-many-1539282603/1539906115/+matthardigree
Really in-depth look at all the loadouts and variants of the Dragon Lady. I had no idea 
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Quoted:
I really hope the U-2 doesn't get the axe...  It's a done deal unless some politicians want to sell a lot of political capital for very little return. http://www.af.mil/News/ArticleDisplay/tabid/223/Article/473679/air-force-officials-announce-fy15-force-structure-changes.aspx http://www.af.mil/FiscalYear2015Budget.aspx |
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Quoted:
It's a done deal unless some politicians want to sell a lot of political capital for very little return. http://www.af.mil/News/ArticleDisplay/tabid/223/Article/473679/air-force-officials-announce-fy15-force-structure-changes.aspx http://www.af.mil/FiscalYear2015Budget.aspx Quoted:
Quoted:
I really hope the U-2 doesn't get the axe... It's a done deal unless some politicians want to sell a lot of political capital for very little return. http://www.af.mil/News/ArticleDisplay/tabid/223/Article/473679/air-force-officials-announce-fy15-force-structure-changes.aspx http://www.af.mil/FiscalYear2015Budget.aspx It aint over till its over. Hopefully common sense prevails (not holding my breath) as the GH is not on the same level as the U-2. Even the ACC Commander thinks so. http://www.defensenews.com/article/20140203/DEFREG02/302030017/Interview-Gen-Michael-Hostage-Commander-US-Air-Force-s-Air-Combat-Command Q. ISR is another area that has been politically difficult in the past. Is that impacting your plans? A. Well, we are being driven by politics to take on a weapon system that is very expensive, the Global Hawk. It appears that I will be told I have to continue to purchase Global Hawks, and given the budget picture that we have, I cannot afford both the U-2 and the Global Hawk. I will likely have to give up the U-2. What that means is that we are going to have to spend buckets of money to get the Global Hawk up to some semblance of capability that the U-2 currently has. It is going to cost a lot of money, and it is going to take time, and as I lose the U-2 fleet, I now have a high-altitude ISR fleet that is not very useful in a contested environment. It will change how I am able to employ that airplane in a high-end fight or a contested domain. But, again, politics in the end drives what we do, and if the politics say I am going to go with Global Hawk then so be it, I go with Global Hawk. All of us will have to deal with the reduced capability that gives us. We made the proposal to cut back the number of CAPs [combat air patrols]. We will see when the budget comes out what they actually decide they will allow us to do and that will give me the parameters within which I get to work the rest of the ISR fleet. |
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Quoted:
It's amazing seeing the same tail in so many completely different configurations. I wonder how much work swapping out a mission package is. It is technically challenging, but they do it all the time. Part of the problem is that no two U-2s are built identically so they have to refer to the blueprints of the actual tail # they are working on. U-2 maintenance always had my respect! |