LOL - Spy plane causes air traffic chaos!

Why the hell are the US still using a plane that was rendered useless over half a century ago? :confused:

If Russia could swat them like flies in the 60's then surely any US enemy has bought SAMs capable of doing the same by now?
 
ubersonic said:
Why the hell are the US still using a plane that was rendered useless over half a century ago? :confused:

If Russia could swat them like flies in the 60's then surely any US enemy has bought SAMs capable of doing the same by now?
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If you read the article... it was a training operation.

My guess is that the U2 is still a useful tool for pilot training for other types of aircraft, possibly including ones we aren't aware of the existence of.

Apparently they can be temperamental things to fly, as they're basically a huge powered glider and have to fly within a few MPH of their stall speed the whole time.
 
Quite an aircraft and the current variant was built in the 80s and still used for high-altitude reconnaissance:

 
actually U2 keeps getting saved over other planes due to simply how good it is

its the same old airframes but pretty much every single component will have been updated / replaced over time

Global hawk (16 years old) was supposed to replace U2 (59 years old) - and at one point there was talk of keeping U2 and scrapping global hawk

"The USAF has said that the U-2 pilot and altitude advantages allow it to better function in the stormy weather and airspace restrictions of the East Asia region and its altitude and sensor advantages allow it to see further into hostile territory"

they use them for high level photography (non military) as well, like terrain mapping and natural disaster (tsunami's etc) photos

they are finally planning on scrapping them soon - but the USAF budgets are all over the place because of sequestration so who knows

watched a u2 do touch and goes last month - was awesome
 
They should have kept the SR71 instead of the U2.... would have been a different story then....

LAX ATC: "AAARGH **** **** WHAT IS THAT!! GROUND EVERYTHING!!!!!!"
......
LAX ATC"What? oh ... nothing, its gone now.. must have been a bug on my screen.. sorry"
 
they probably have aurora or better by now.

f117 nighthawk First flight 18 June 1981
wonder what they really have almost 33 years later

Sr71 First flight 22 December 1964....
 
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Headline: "Spy plane causes air traffic chaos, says FAA"

Article: "the computer system had "misinterpreted" the U-2 as a more typical low-altitude flight and become overwhelmed in trying to make sure its flight path did not conflict with other air traffic in the area."

So not the planes fault at all then? I guess "Spy Plane highlights inadequacies in FAA air-traffic system" wasn't exciting enough.
 
arknor said:
they probably have aurora or better by now.

f117 nighthawk First flight 18 June 1981
wonder what they really have almost 33 years later

Sr71 First flight 22 December 1964....
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LOL "aurora" 1990's internet conspiracysssss

Actually Lockheed are planning a proper successor to the SR71

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_Martin_SR-72

id expect U2 will eventually give way to the Global Hawk (if it doesn't get cancelled itself)

F117a is already out of service - it was replaced by F22 and F35

USAF seem more into UAV's these days, RQ180 and x47b etc
 
arknor said:
they probably have aurora or better by now.

f117 nighthawk First flight 18 June 1981
wonder what they really have almost 33 years later

Sr71 First flight 22 December 1964....
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Projects get cancelled.

Some research leads to dead-ends.

Priorities change with different administrations.

There's no reason to assume that the US military is some perfect organisation that is capable of advancing technology every year in total secrecy.

The idea that the US has super advanced technology that makes everything we know of obsolete is more than a little fanciful.
 
The problem with the U2 and satellites are they're slow to get over a specific place. Having something very fast that can get to any point on the planet in a matter of a few hours has it's own benefits. That was the SR71's function so to retire it does suggest that it had been replaced with something better in that regards, either that or the US didn't feel the operating cost justified the benefit.
 
ubersonic said:
Why the hell are the US still using a plane that was rendered useless over half a century ago? :confused:
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For the simple reason that it works, besides the modern incarnations of the U2 are technologically far superior to the ones that overflew Russia back in the cold war. It's much the same with Russia still flying the grand old Tu-95, a platform even older than the U2. If it works, why rush to change it.

Personally, as much as I love both the U2 and the SR-71, I can't wait to see what the replacement will be.
 
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