Lockheed Wins USAF’s $50M U-2 Modernization Deal

The US Air Force has awarded Lockheed Martin $50 million to upgrade avionics, computer systems and cockpit displays for their U-2 Dragon Lady ultra-high altitude reconnaissance aircraft.

The contract includes the following upgrades to the Dragon Lady:

• An updated avionics suite that modernizes the U-2’s onboard systems to readily accept and use new technology.
• A new mission computer designed to the USAF’s open mission systems (OMS) standard that enables the U-2 to integrate with systems across air, space, sea, land and cyber domains at disparate security levels.
• New, modern cockpit displays to make everyday 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.

In February 2019, the latest variant of Senior Year Electro-Optical Reconnaissance System sensor, the SYERS-2C, was fitted on USAF U-2 planes. The 10-band, high spatial resolution SYERS-2C sensor provides the ability to find, track and assess moving and stationary targets. It has been developed with open mission systems standards to enable command, control and data exchange with fifth generation platforms.

The single-jet engine "Dragon Lady" aircraft provides day and night, high-altitude (21,000m) intelligence gathering.