The US Air Force U-2 high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft first flew in 1955 and was developed by Lockheed Martin at the famous Skunk Works site. The aircraft provides continuous surveillance day and night and in all weathers. The aircraft can gather surveillance and signals intelligence data in real time and can be deployed anywhere in the world.
The U-2 was designed to the highest
degree of secrecy by famed Lockheed Aviator Kelly Johnson and his
"Skunkworks" bureau. The initial system was airborne by 1955 with
reconnaissance flights high above the Soviet Union beginning shortly
thereafter. Now in the form of the U-2S model, the U-2 system can
produce a large amount of photographic data with its highly capable
intelligence-gathering suite in real-time.
The U-2 was used in Operations Desert Storm and Desert Shield during the Gulf Crisis during 1990 and 1991, over Bosnia and Kosovo in support of NATO forces during the 1990s, in Afghanistan in 2001 and in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003.
Posted by , Published at 7:00 AM and have
