Defence Online

Lockheed Martin to advance U-2 Dragon Lady’s capabilities

Air April 16, 2020

Lockheed Martin Skunk Works  is set to continue to evolve the U-2 Dragon Lady to support future battlespace needs under a recent contract award worth $50 million from the US Air Force.

The contract includes the following upgrades to the Dragon Lady:

• An updated avionics suite that modernises the U-2’s onboard systems to readily accept and use new technology.
• A new mission computer designed to the US Air Force’s open mission systems (OMS) standard that enables the U-2 to integrate with systems across air, space, sea, land and cyber domains at disparate security levels.
• New, modern cockpit displays to make everyday pilot tasks easier while enhancing presentation of the data the aircraft collects to enable faster, better informed decisions.

Irene Helley, U-2 program director, said: “As a proven, agile and reliable aircraft, the U-2S is the most capable high-altitude ISR system in the fleet today. The Avionics Tech Refresh contract will continue our commitment of providing a premier aircraft to our warfighters, ensuring global security now and into the future.”

Under this contract, Lockheed Martin will lead the design, integration and test of the new advanced aircraft components, which will enable the U-2 to be the first fully OMS-compliant fleet. Interim fielding is anticipated to begin in mid-2021, with fleet modification expected in early 2022.

image © KPG_Payless / Shutterstock.com

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Dragon Lady Lockheed Martin U-2 US Air Force

Post written by: Matt Brown