Francis Gary Powers- CIA Lockheed U-2 pilot. Shot down over Soviet airspace, 1 May 1960...More info >>>>
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Gary_Powers
The U2 isn’t 50 years old, those birds were built in the mid 80’s and have about 80% of their airframe life left in them.
In addition, they are much more versatile and can carry a variety of larger payloads that the Global Chicken can’t.
The U2 can divert to a different mission in a matter of minutes, the Global Chicken cannot.
The only advantage to the Global Chicken is endurance...period...it’s rate of climb and time to reach max ceiling are garbage compared to the U2.
What a purely political decision...
Francis Gary Powers was shot down in 1960. I remember because I was 12 at the time. He was flying a U-2 which was made a long time before 1980.
Your math is wrong..............
The U2 was designed and built in the late 1950’s...Francis Gary Powers was shot down over the USSR in 1960 in a U2 spyplane....
You are probably thinking of the SR-71 Blackbird....
“The U2 isn’t 50 years old, those birds were built in the mid 80’s and have about 80% of their airframe life left in them.”
“The U-2 spy plane was the brainchild of the Central Intelligence Agency, and it was a sophisticated technological marvel. Traveling at altitudes of up to 70,000 feet, the aircraft was equipped with state-of-the-art photography equipment that could, the CIA boasted, take high-resolution pictures of headlines in Russian newspapers as it flew overhead. Flights over the Soviet Union began in mid-1956. The CIA assured President Eisenhower that the Soviets did not possess anti-aircraft weapons sophisticated enough to shoot down the high-altitude planes.”
Just read up on Gary Powers. Yeah, the U2 is that old.
Really? First flight in'55, Powers was shot down on '60. Kinda fuzzy math you learned.
"...have about 80% of their airframe life left in them..."
Some of the TR-1s may have that left, but doubtful.
"The U2 can divert to a different mission in a matter of minutes, the Global Chicken cannot.
Incorrect. Global Hawk can be diverted just as quickly as U-2, perhaps even more so depending on mission length vs endurance.
"...it's rate of climb and time to reach max ceiling are garbage compared to the U-2."
Neither are an operational factor....climb to altitude is performed hundreds, if not thousands, of miles from hostile airspace.
"The only advantage to the Global Chicken is endurance..period."
Most folks might consider being unmanned an advantage, especially if it were your son sitting in a slow, unarmed target that sticks out like a sore thumb.
Sorry, but the initial U-2 airframe is a late 1950s product. I saw my first U-2, up close, in-flight, as it made its approach to the runway at Howard AFB, June 1962.
My mother and I ended up talking to some uniformed AF officers shortly thereafter - it took a while to convince them that we were sea shell collectors.