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U-2 DragonLady
The U-2, nicknamed Dragon
Lady, is a single-seat, single-engine, high-altitude
Surveillance aircraft flown by the United
States Air Force. It provides continuous day
and night, high-altitude (70,000 ft, 21,000
m plus), all-weather surveillance of an area
in direct support of U.S. and allied ground
and air forces. It also provides critical
intelligence to decision-makers through all
phases of conflict, including peacetime indications
and warnings, crises, operations other than
war, and major theater war. The aircraft also
are used for electronic sensor research and
development, satellite calibration, and satellite
data validation.
A classified budget
document approved by the Pentagon on December
23, 2005, calls for the termination of the
U-2 program by 2011, with some planes being
retired as early as 2007. The U-2 would likely
be supplanted by the Northrop Grumman's high-altitude
Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle.[1]
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