Post by Admin on Jun 14, 2020 5:57:49 GMT -5
The U-2 still has some fight in it and is becoming part of a new Air Force battle management system.
U-2 Design, Flying for over 60 years
The U-2 is well suited for the task. The aircraft cruises at 70,000 feet, giving it direct line of sight to more ships and ground forces at sea level than airplanes flying at lower altitudes. It cruises at 410 miles an hour for up to 7,000 miles, giving it a total flight time of 17 hours; even if the U-2 is based 1,600 miles away from the battlefield could still spend up to nine hours supporting friendly forces.
The U-2 will play a key role in ABMS. A slow, long endurance, high flying aircraft, the U-2 can loiter over an area for hours at a time. Part one of adapting the aircraft for the role is a $50 million contract issued to Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works—the inventors of the U-2—to update the avionics on 31 U-2s. This refresh will include new cockpit displays and the new Enterprise Mission Computer 2, an open platform computer system designed to allow the U-2 to tie together different military platforms.
The U.S. Air Force is adapting the U-2 spy plane to act as a flying connector for the Advanced Battle Management System (ABMS), an ambitious project designed to allow Air Force aircraft, Army ground forces, U.S. Navy ships and aircraft at sea, and special operations forces to pass data among one another. The system was originally meant to replace the E-8C JSTARS surveillance aircraft and later expanded into a much, much more ambitious multi-service data initiative.
ABMS is designed to allow the various services and systems, all using disparate, incompatible computer and communications systems, to draw sensor data from another to plan military operations. The system should even allow the F-22 Raptor to communicate securely with the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, something that is currently not possible.
U-2 Design, Flying for over 60 years
The U-2 is well suited for the task. The aircraft cruises at 70,000 feet, giving it direct line of sight to more ships and ground forces at sea level than airplanes flying at lower altitudes. It cruises at 410 miles an hour for up to 7,000 miles, giving it a total flight time of 17 hours; even if the U-2 is based 1,600 miles away from the battlefield could still spend up to nine hours supporting friendly forces.
The U-2 will play a key role in ABMS. A slow, long endurance, high flying aircraft, the U-2 can loiter over an area for hours at a time. Part one of adapting the aircraft for the role is a $50 million contract issued to Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works—the inventors of the U-2—to update the avionics on 31 U-2s. This refresh will include new cockpit displays and the new Enterprise Mission Computer 2, an open platform computer system designed to allow the U-2 to tie together different military platforms.
The U.S. Air Force is adapting the U-2 spy plane to act as a flying connector for the Advanced Battle Management System (ABMS), an ambitious project designed to allow Air Force aircraft, Army ground forces, U.S. Navy ships and aircraft at sea, and special operations forces to pass data among one another. The system was originally meant to replace the E-8C JSTARS surveillance aircraft and later expanded into a much, much more ambitious multi-service data initiative.
ABMS is designed to allow the various services and systems, all using disparate, incompatible computer and communications systems, to draw sensor data from another to plan military operations. The system should even allow the F-22 Raptor to communicate securely with the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, something that is currently not possible.