Lockheed Martin Skunk Works announced it will continue to evolve the U-2 Dragon Lady to support future battlespace needs under a recent contract award from the U.S. Air Force valued at $50 million.
“As a proven, agile and reliable aircraft, the U-2S is the most capable high-altitude ISR system in the fleet today,” said Irene Helley, U-2 program director. “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.”
The contract calls for upgrades to the Dragon Lady including an updated avionics suite; a new mission computer designed to enables the U-2 to integrate with systems across air, space, sea, land and cyber domains at disparate security levels; and modernized cockpit displays to make pilot tasks easier while enhancing presentation of the data the aircraft collects to enable faster, better-informed decisions.
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.
