801071 USAF United States Air Force Lockheed U2 Dragon Lady Photo by

The Lockheed U-2, nicknamed " Dragon Lady ", is an American single- engine, high altitude reconnaissance aircraft operated from the 1950s by the United States Air Force (USAF) and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). It provides day and night, high-altitude (70,000 feet, 21,300 meters), all-weather intelligence gathering. [1] Lockheed Martin Flies Mission Enabling Kubernetes on U-2 Lockheed Martin successfully conducted a flight test mission featuring distributed processing onboard the U-2 Dragon Lady via Kubernetes containerization technology.

A Lockheed U2 aviation

Lockheed U-2 See all media Category: Science & Tech Key People: Ben R. Rich Kelly Johnson Francis Gary Powers See all related content → Top Questions Who designed the U-2 plane? When did the U-2 first fly? How high can the U-2 aircraft fly? When was the last U-2 built? What is the U-2 Incident? The U-2 is a single-seat, single-engine, high-altitude/near space reconnaissance and surveillance aircraft which delivers critical imagery and signals intelligence to decision makers throughout all phases of conflict, including peacetime indications and warnings, low-intensity conflict, and large-scale hostilities. Beginning in the summer of 1956, Lockheed's U-2 would prove him wrong. On July 4, Hervey Stockman flew a U-2 from Wiesbaden, West Germany, deep into the heart of the Soviet Union, capturing detailed photos of airfields, factories and shipyards previously unattainable by other aircraft. Nearly twice as wide as it is long, the Lockheed U-2 spy plane is one of the most distinctive aircraft in the United States Air Force - and the hardest aircraft to fly, earning itself the.

The U2 Dragon Lady Lockheed Martin

The Lockheed U-2, also known as the Dragon Lady, is a unique reconnaissance plane that has been in service since 1956. The U-2 was developed as a response to the need for better aerial reconnaissance capabilities to gather intelligence on the Soviet Union. The U-2 operates at altitudes exceeding 70,000 feet and plays a vital role in supplying. On June 20, 1956, a Central Intelligence Agency Lockheed U-2 undertook the first overflight of Eastern Europe. The pioneering sortie was the first of many which initially photographed important areas of Eastern Bloc nations, comprising the satellite states of the Soviet Union. The U-2 was one of the Cold War's most infamous aircraft, a plane designed to fly over unfriendly territory too high for enemy fighters or missiles, and take pictures of unparalleled detail -. The U-2 has demonstrated that the sweet spot for an ISR platform is 70,000 feet, and today's U-2 engine, an F118 GE 101, gets the U-2 there. This—combined with long, slender glider-like wings—enables the aircraft to fly at such high altitudes. "Flying at 70,000-plus feet opens an enormous door for data collection," said Winstead.

801071 USAF United States Air Force Lockheed U2 Dragon Lady Photo by

The U-2 is a difficult airplane to fly. With its long wings, light construction, and unusual landing gear, the Dragon Lady has always been a challenge even for the best pilots. As a result, there have been several accidents and fatalities over the years. When flying at high altitude, early U-2s had to maintain a very specific speed--about 460. The U.S. Air Force may be ditching its aging U-2 spy plane in favor of a mysterious drone. The U-2 is heading for retirement by 2026 due to budget concerns, according to a new report. While no. The U-2 first flew on August 1, 1955 with Lockheed test pilot Tony LeVier at the controls. Testing continued and by spring 1956 the aircraft was ready for service. Reserving authorization for overflights of the Soviet Union, Eisenhower worked to reach an agreement with Nikita Khrushchev regarding aerial inspections. Enter the Lockheed U-2, the very first dedicated U.S. recon type ever to go into production. Its genesis can be traced back to a paper written in 1953 by a mid-level officer at the Air Force's Wright-Patterson development center, Major John Seaberg. He postulated that rapidly improving turbine-engine technology plus high-aspect-ratio wings on.

Lockheed U2S USA Air Force Aviation Photo 1559958

Description: Single-seat high altitude reconnaissance and research aircraft Power Plant: One 17,000 lb st Pratt & Whitney J-75-P-13B turbojet Specifications: Wingspan: 31.39 m (103 ft) Length: 19.17 m (62 ft 10¾ in) Height: 4.88 m (16 ft) Wing area: 92.9 m² (1,000 sq ft) Max speed at any altitude Mach: 0.82 Instead, Johnson and other engineers from Lockheed's Skunk Works engineering division built the U-2 big—63 feet long, with a 105-foot wingspan—and also powerful, allowing it to support the.