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The U.S. Air Force has decided to scrap its Northrop Grumman Corp high-altitude unmanned surveillance plane program and keep its Cold War-vintage U-2 spy planes flying into the 2020s, according to a government official and a defense analyst. Loren Thompson, chief operating officer of the Virginia-based Lexington Institute, said the Air Force decision was based on the cost of the RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned planes, and said the service would investigate using a marine version with different sensors that Northrop is developing for the Navy. The Navy is proceeding with its plans to buy 68 of that version of the...

A U-2 pilot completed the final manned intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance mission over Iraq Dec. 18, as the last American troops withdrew into neighboring Kuwait. Maj. Steve flew his first mission over Iraq during Operation Southern Watch in the early '90s, so it was fitting for the 99th Expeditionary Reconnaissance Squadron Airman to close out this chapter of his unit's history. The major, deployed from Beale Air Force Base, Calif., said he was proud to be part of this landmark event. "The best part about it was it was quiet for the folks on the ground," said Steve, a Lake...

This has been seen before by a few of us, but it's not a bad repeat.... http://www.wimp.com/breathtakingfootage/

Two Chinese warplanes intercepted an American spy plane over the tense Taiwan Strait last month in China’s most aggressive challenge to U.S. surveillance flights since a 2001 collision that touched off an international crisis. According to defense officials, the intercept took place June 29. The two Chinese jets flew from a base in China to head off an Air Force U-2 spy plane over the dividing line in the 100-mile wide Taiwan Strait. “In general, these reconnaissance flights are conducted in international airspace, as are the PRC [Chinese] intercepts, which happen fairly routinely,” said a Pentagon official familiar with the...

Cuba’s leading dissident, Oscar Elias Biscet, said he “was shaking with happiness” as he learned Thursday that rock star and social activist Bono had sung his praises during a jam-packed U2 concert in Miami. The 73,000-strong audience at the Sun Life stadium roared with delight Wednesday when Bono urged support for the 49-year-old Biscet and declared that “some day soon Cuba will be free.” “As you read me what he said, I was shaking with happiness because it showed it’s good when one is chosen as a symbol of his people,” Biscet told El Nuevo Herald, which first told him...

U2 and its frontman Bono, known for their global poverty-fighting efforts, were accused of dodging taxes in Ireland by activists who crashed their performance at England's Glastonbury festival. The anti-capitalist group Art Uncut inflated a 6-metre balloon emblazoned with the message "U Pay Your Tax 2." Security guards wrestled them to the ground before deflating the balloon and taking it away. About 30 people were involved in the angry clash. "Tax(es) nestling in the band's bank account should be helping to keep open the hospitals, schools and libraries that are closing all over Ireland," Art Uncut member Charlie Dewar said...

Obama or Bono? While Obama addressed the nation Wednesday night to lay out plans for troop reductions in Afghanistan, it appears that House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi rocked it out at a U2 concert in Baltimore... Pelosi reportedly was watching the famed Irish band sing “Beautiful Day”

[snip] Before Thursday's vote, commission staff reports twice recommended the project be rejected, saying it would disturb sensitive habitat and scar a scenic hilltop visible from much of the Malibu coast. Staff members also had expressed concern that the 156-acre development, if approved, could have paved the way for other earth-altering housing projects throughout the Santa Monica Mountains. Evans' house is planned as a 12,785-square-foot contemporary abode, called "Leaves in the Wind," so named for the undulating green roof meant to emulate fluttering leaves. A website explains that the five houses were designed to meet the highest environmental standards by...

MILITARY PHOTOS2009 Military Photo Index   2008 Military Photo Index   2007 Military Photo Index   2006 Military Photo Index   2005 Military Photo Index Gary Sinise in the Dragon Lady Posted 6/12/2011 Gary Sinise looks out the cockpit window of a U-2 Dragon Lady June 8, 2011, at Beale Air Force Base, Calif., after returning from a high flight at 70,000 feet. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Sarah Brown)

R.I.P. Hervey Stockman, First Pilot To Fly A Spy Plane Over Soviet Territory retweet By Adrian Covert on February 24, 2011 at 2:12 PM Hervey Stockman passed away today, leaving behind a legacy as the first man to pilot a dedicated spy plane in Soviet airspace. Taking the Lockheed U-2 into Communist territory in the middle of the Cold War, Stockman was able to collect data on the USSR while evading MiGs trying to intercept him. Stockman also happened to be the uncle of Giz reader Willy Pell, who has graciously shared some personal anecdotes told to him by Stockman.

"The Edge" wants to build five ridge-top homes in the mountains above Malibu, but the California Coastal Commission staff says the project would violate state law by ruining a wild area and scarring hillsides visible from Pacific Coast Highway. In an analysis released late Friday, the commission's staff said the 156- acre project north of Malibu's landmark pier would violate the Coastal Act in several aspects. Among other problems cited by the state is that nearly 50,000 cubic yard of rock and soil must be mined and moved. A proposed private access road up the mountain would have a 19...

There goes U2's Bono again, imposing his will on the Major League Baseball schedule. As it attempts a reboot of its canceled 2010 tour, the world's biggest rock 'n' roll band is booting the Seattle Mariners and Florida Marlins from Sun Life Stadium for their interleague series on June 24-26. Instead of home games in Miami Gardens, the Fish will take on Ichiro(notes) at Safeco Field in Seattle using National League rules. This apparently means 84 home games for the M's and 78 for Florida. Uneven! It also could mean that AL Cy Young winner King Felix Hernandez(notes) (pictured holding...

British officials complained to U.S. diplomats about secret American spy flights using foreign U.K. airbases, fearing that the data collected during those missions could implicate their country in potential human rights violations, according to secret diplomatic memos released by WikiLeaks. The British officials demanded from American diplomats that all such flights in the future be cleared by London, according to the cables sent by U.S. Embassy in London in 2008, and which were released by WikiLeaks on Wednesday. American officials dismissed the British concerns and demands as burdensome and obstructive to counterterrorism efforts, the cables showed.

Bono in Tokyo in 2008: My prayer is that we become better in looking after our planet.And the Keen for Green group applauds: If your (sic) looking for an environmental role model, Irish rockstar, Bono (born Paul David Hewson, May 10, 1960), of the band U2 is a good place to start. Bono ... participated in a tree planting ceremony in Tokyo Bay, Japan, in 2008, where efforts are being taken to turn a landfill into an 88 hectare forest. Bono has also been active in the Greenpeace community since 1993 when his entire band participated in a protest against...

On May Day, 1960, Francis Gary Powers left the US base in Peshawar on a mission to photograph ICBM sites inside the Soviet Union. It would be the twenty-fourth U-2 spy mission over Soviet territory. Although it was a Soviet holiday, all units of the Soviet Air Defence Forces were on red alert as they suspected a U-2 flight and Powers was subsequently shot down. The United States used NASA to issue a statement saying the plane was a research vessel, but soon Moscow was full of rumors of a downed American spy plane. THe American story was made up...

1962 the Soviets swapped a U.S. airman to the Americans in return for their spies, but they kept the pilot's plane. Here's what happened to it. By Joe Pappalardo It looks like Russia and the U.S. are negotiating the biggest spy swap since the Cold War ended, as accused and convicted spies in both nations are set to be bartered, and some being moved from prisons in America to Vienna in anticipation of a deal. The episode harkens to the 1960s, when spies were traded to maintain the brittle peace between nations. The most famous of these cases involved Francis...

SOUTHWEST ASIA -- In the first three months of 2010, Airmen supporting the U-2 Dragon Lady deployed operations with the 99th Expeditionary Reconnaissance Squadron of the 380th Air Expeditionary Wing flew nearly 200 combat sorties in support of operations in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility. When averaged out in flight time, that means a U-2 is flying in the AOR 24 hours a day, seven days a week. In those 200 missions, U-2 Airmen supported more than 70 "troops in contact" events where deployed ground forces were supported by the U-2's intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities, said Mr....

MOSCOW (AFP) – Fifty years after his father was shot down by the Soviets in an incident that marked a turning point in the Cold War, Francis Gary Powers Jr on Friday visited the wreckage of his dad's U-2 spy plane. "It's a wonderful display," Powers Jr said while standing in the hall of the Central Armed Forces Museum in Moscow which holds the wrecked plane and other material commemorating the so-called "U-2 incident" of May 1, 1960. On that day, Francis Gary Powers, a US pilot carrying out a secret mission for the CIA to photograph Soviet nuclear sites,...

MOSCOW — Fifty years ago Saturday, U.S. pilot Francis Gary Powers was shot down while flying a U-2 spy plane over the Soviet Union, a dramatic episode of the Cold War that pushed the rival superpowers closer to confrontation. Now his son has come to Moscow on a mission of his own: By telling his late father's story, he hopes to help preserve Cold War history and prevent future generations of Russians and Americans from ever again facing the threat of nuclear war. On May 1, 1960, Powers was in the cockpit of the world's highest-flying plane, concentrated on keeping...

The Pentagon was on the verge of retiring the U-2 spy plane four years ago, but Congress blocked the mothballing, saying the plane still had plenty of life and utility. The plane, which was designed to detect nuclear missiles during the Cold War, is now playing a greater role in spotting roadside bombs in the war in Afghanistan, according to an article in The New York Times. The plane can fly at twice the height of commercial jets to evade anti-aircraft missiles, but its sensors can detect spots where dirt has been disturbed to plant roadside bombs. This capability, which...

Ride along on a Lockheed U-2 spyplane and check out the amazing view cruising at 70,000ft as the sky above turns black

Deployed U-2 pilot achieves rare feat of 100 combat missions by Master Sgt. Scott T. Sturkol 380th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs 3/15/2010 - SOUTHWEST ASIA -- For Maj. William Gottenberg, he's been helping the Dragon Lady breathe a lot of fire lately. The 16-and-a-half-year Air Force veteran and pilot recently achieved 100 combat missions in the U-2 in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility. "It's a good feeling because it's an awesome mission and the fact that I was able to have the opportunity to come out here enough to get the chance to get 100 is great,"...

Bono's Investment Firm Still Hasn't Found What It's Looking For By Rachel Bailey 24/7 Wall Street recently had some strong words to say about U2 frontman Bono. Namely, based on a string of disastrous choices made by his investment firm, Elevation Partners, that he’s the Worst Investor in America. Among the companies Elevation has poured money into is Palm, maker of the unsuccessful Pre smartphone. “There is a 90% chance that they go bankrupt or get acquired within a year," a hedge fund managing partner told 24/7 Wall Street. Then there’s the restaurant review site Yelp, which was sued for...

The U-2 spy plane, the high-flying aircraft that was often at the heart of cold war suspense, is enjoying an encore. Four years ago, the Pentagon was ready to start retiring the plane, which took its first test flight in 1955. But Congress blocked that, saying the plane was still useful. And so it is. Because of updates in the use of its powerful sensors, it has become the most sought-after spy craft in a very different war in Afghanistan. As it shifts from hunting for nuclear missiles to detecting roadside bombs, it is outshining even the unmanned drones in...

February 24, suddenly Chinese official media CCTV for the first time published shock screens of shooting down U-2 high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft in June 1958, to warn B-2 of the United Stites. In these short-range high-definition screens, the moment of Sam missile into the sky shot down U-2 high-definition instant pictures are very stunning�

A U.S. Air Force spy plane will be based at Robins Air Force Base as it aids the Haiti-earthquake relief effort. The plane landed after 4 p.m. Wednesday at Robins. Base spokesman John Birdsong says the U-2 plane will take high-resolution photos of quake damage that will be used to pinpoint relief efforts. The plane can operate at altitudes of up to 70,000 feet for reconnaissance flights. Captain Cameron Sellers flew the plane from Beale Air Force Base in California to Georgia. He is one of three pilots who will fly the single-seat aircraft from Robins to Haiti, taking pictures...

The Pentagon will probably send the U-​​2 to Haiti so its unique multi-​​spectral imagery capabilities can be put to use spotting breaks in water and gas lines, chemical spills and similar problems. “My expectation is that we hope to get that deployed soon,” Col. Bradley Butz, vice commander of the Air Force’s 480th Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Wing at Langley Air Force Base, Va., told reporters this morning. The U-​​2 contains unique multi-​​spectral imagery equipment (the seven-​​band SYERS 2) that Global Hawk and Predator don’t possess. Butz said the multi-​​spectral tools would provide useful information about breaks in water and...

...I am seized by each, and moved by its potential to change our world. Return of the Automobile as a Sexual Object ...That’s why the Obama administration — while it still holds the keys to the big automakers — ought to put some style fascists into the mix... Intellectual Property Developers ...A decade’s worth of music file-sharing and swiping has made clear that the people it hurts are the creators... and the people this reverse Robin Hooding benefits are rich service providers, whose swollen profits perfectly mirror the lost receipts of the music business... An Equal Right to Pollute (and...

OSAN AIR BASE, South Korea — The once-secret U-2 reconnaissance plane is known for its high-value role in some of the Cold War’s most critical events. It’s also known as the world’s toughest plane to pilot. Capt. Michael Opresko, 29, knows first-hand how challenging it is to fly and land the U-2 Dragon Lady, and how punishing it can be on the body. U-2 pilots fly alone for eight to 12 hours, and so high they have to wear a space suit. “Going up to 30,000 feet cabin pressure is like going from sea level to Everest each day,” said...

It was born during the Cold War more than 50 years ago, and the Air Force deems it the world’s toughest plane to fly. But the high-altitude U-2 reconnaissance plane is so valued for its intelligence-gathering capabilities that, even in an age of high-tech unmanned drones, the old spy plane has found a whole new mission over the battlefields of Afghanistan and Iraq. The U-2 reconnaissance plane’s mission is changing. The new mission amounts to a landmark shift in how the venerable aircraft can be used: The U-2 now gives direct support to ground operations, including assisting troops in firefights....

Scientists have analysed DNA extracted from the remains of a 30,000-year-old European hunter-gatherer.> The researchers were able to assign the Kostenki individual to haplogroup "U2", which is relatively uncommon among modern populations. U2 appears to be scattered at low frequencies in populations from South and Western Asia, Europe and North Africa. Despite its rarity, the very presence of this haplogroup in today's Europeans suggests some continuity between Palaeolithic hunters and the continent's present-day inhabitants, argue the authors of the latest study. >

U2 performed a short set in Germany on Thursday, November 5th to mark the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. According to the Associated Press, the band kicked off show at the Brandenburg Gate with the hit song "One." Frontman Bono thanked the crowd "for coming out in the cold" before wishing Berlin a happy birthday. The 30-minute, six-song set also featured "Beautiful Day," "Vertigo," a cover of Bob Marley's "Get Up, Stand Up," as well as a special guest appearance by Jay-Z on "Sunday Bloody Sunday." But the free concert wasn't without controversy for the some...

Achtung, baby: U2 will play a free concert in Berlin to help the city celebrate 20 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall. Music network MTV said the Irish rockers will perform in front of the Brandenburg Gate on Nov. 5 during the MTV Europe Music Awards U2 manager Paul McGuinness said it would be exciting to be in Berlin, "20 years almost to the day since the wall came down."

In an e-mail blast sent out to fans today, U2 announced that it will stream Sunday night's concert on YouTube. The show begins at 8:30 p.m., Pacific time. - This marks the first time that YouTube is streaming a full length concert live. As previously reported, Sunday's U2 gig will be the largest-ever attendance for a concert at the Rose Bowl. The design of U2's 360 stage allows for a whopping 95,000 people to attend. Typically, Rose Bowl concerts top off at about 65,000 people.

Bono’s appearance in a pre-recorded video message at the Conservative Party Conference caused a bit of an internet uproar. Such was the outpouring of hostile comments on Twitter (with popular taglines including #Bonoisat— and #BonoToryScum) that the social networking site temporarily broke down. So you are a rock superstar for 30 years, a Nobel peace prize nominee and tireless charity proselytiser and what do you have to do to become a trending topic on Twitter? Talk to the Tories. (snip) If Bono speaks to the Labour party (as he did last week, introducing Gordon Brown’s key note speech), or sends...

RALEIGH, N.C. — Not everyone who paid to see Irish rock band U2 perform at Carter-Finley Stadium got to see the Saturday night show due to traffic back-ups. "We were really disappointed,” concertgoer Carrie White said. White spent $250 on U2 360° tour tickets for her husband’s birthday. She said they were stuck in traffic for three hours, and were then told no parking was available. "One of the state troopers told us, ‘Too late. All lots are full. Go home and see you next year,’” White said. The state Highway Patrol said the traffic congestion was not due to...

Bono and The Edge have described their forthcoming Spider-Man musical as "dizzy" and "not a straight take on the myth". Turn Off The Dark, the production the Dublin band has written music and lyrics for, is set to open on Broadway in New York in 2010. They also confirmed American actress Evan Rachel Wood would play the part of MJ and revealed more about the other characters. ...Bono said: "We've got a new villain, it's a girl. It's a very extraordinary role. We've taken it to a much more dizzy place than you'd expect. We've got big tunes. We're very...

’Something I’ve Never Seen Before’ Saturday 8 August 2009, by Corinne/Dead I had to write about this. I simply had to. I hope I’m not speaking out of turn here as this is U2’s site and hallowed ground for all of you but this story needs to be told. The shows so far on this tour have all been amazing and each night the crowd’s reaction to U2 has been loud and joyous and passionate. Last night in Poland though was something else. Hard to explain. Let me try. I have never in my life seen a crowd reaction like...

The big problem with renewable energy is that it just doesn’t renew itself. The sun does not shine enough and the wind doesn’t blow enough to power the towns, cities, factories, hospitals and schools that make our lives so livable. No environmentalist would ever allow their child to be treated in a hospital fully powered by “renewables”. They would not take the risk that the wind might stop whilst their baby was on the operating table. They would insist that the hospital and the life support systems had a fossil fuel powered back-up. And so it is with “sustainable development”....

Five former military personnel have come forward to reveal that they worked at the secretive Area 51 testing facility. While stationed at Area 51 they claimed they worked on top secret CIA and military projects including a supersonic jet that could travel at three times the speed of sound. The appearance and flight performance of the top secret OXCART program led it to being often mistaken as a UFO according to the whistleblowers. A Los Angeles Times article with their testimonies concluded that the UFO mystery has been solved. Before celebrating the solution of the UFO mystery, it’s worth considering...

[photo] Irish demonstrators have had enough. They’re tired of U2 rocker Bono haranguing world leaders to increase taxes when the hypocritical Hibernian band won’t pay its fair share of taxes. While the band staged an concert on the roof of BBC headquarters, a group of demonstrators staged a protest on the street below. They chastised the band for moving its business to the Netherlands to avoid increased Irish taxes. The protesters’ placards read “Bono: pay your taxes” and “Bono: don’t be a banker” and the poetic “We’ll downl’d it 4 free and give the money to charity.”... ...continued

Bruce Springsteen isn’t the rock ’n’ roll Obama. U2 is. The Boss tried to sell “Working on a Dream” as the flip side to “yes we can,” but Springsteen’s latest is W.-style art - blunt, burgers-and-fries, stay-the-course-through-diminishing-returns rock. It’s U2’s new “No Line on the Horizon” - now streaming for free on U2’s MySpace [website] page and in stores March 3 - that personifies No. 44. U2 was Obama before Obama was: political sloganeers of hope, from “Beautiful Day” to “Pride (In the Name of Love).”

NEW YORK The New York Times will start running Op-Ed columns from rock singer Bono of U2 on Sunday, the paper announced Friday. He will also do a podcast of the piece. Describing him as a "lead singer and anti-poverty activist," the announcement said he has been invited to write a column for the Times beginning this Sunday, and "his columns will appear occasionally on The New York Times Op-Ed page and online at nytimes.com/opinion and will cover a broad range of subjects." “Bono is a great addition to our Op-Ed line-up,” Andrew Rosenthal, Times editorial page editor, said in...

His humanitarian campaigning has earnt him the nickname St Bono. Off duty, however, the U2 singer seems to have been tempted into a spot of hell-raising. Pictures show the 48-year-old with his arm round two bikini-clad girls as they carouse at a beach bar in St Tropez. He also joined his angel-faced companions for more drinking and dancing aboard a private yacht. Bono is usually seen in his role as rock star, family man and anti-poverty campaigner, work for which he earned an honorary knighthood. Only last week, he appeared at a conference to make a call to ‘change the...

3/27/2008 - SOUTHWEST ASIA (AFPN) -- In its 50 years of flight, only six women pilots have been at the controls of the U-2 Dragon Lady. Three of those six are currently in the Air Force, and two of those three are currently fighting in operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom, flying with the 380th Air Expeditionary Wing's 99th Expeditionary Reconnaissance Squadron, the only U-2 squadron in Southwest Asia. Maj. Merryl Tengesdal and Capt. Heather Fox, both U-2 pilots with the 99th ERS and deployed from Beale Air Force Base, Calif., continue to add to women's and the U-2's history,...

Paul McGuinness, long-time manager of rock band U2, on Monday launched a verbal attack against illegal music downloaders, as well as internet service providers, device makers, Silicon Valley and even hippies in a speech at a conference in France. McGuinness blamed these forces for "destroying the recorded music industry," with illegal downloading through peer-to-peer file-sharing networks the single biggest reason for why the business is in decline. ISPs have for years profited from that illegal downloading, which occurs on their networks, and their arguments that it isn't their job to police the internet are no longer valid, he said. The...

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates was unfased when he met U2 rock star Bono - as he had no idea who he was. The With Or Without You star met the politician at the Pentagon in Washington D.C. on Thursday (24Jan08), as part of his efforts to persuade world leaders to increase aid to developing nations. The U2 frontman and humanitarian has already pressed French president Nicolas Sarkozy to stick to plans to raise development assistance to poorer countries, particularly those in Africa, and he continued his campaign with a low-key meeting with Gates. But the 64-year-old admits he was...

U2 has two big projects for the coming year — a new album and a Broadway musical of "Spider-Man" directed by "The Lion King" guru Julie Taymor. At last week’s Broadway premiere of "Young Frankenstein," sharp-eyed observers noticed U2’s own guru, manager Paul McGuiness, scoping out the Hilton Theater on 42nd Street with an eye toward putting "Spider-Man" in there. The show requires a very high ceiling stage for all the flying that will go on. Alas, McGuiness is said to have commented, "I guess we’re out of luck" when he saw how successful "Young Frankenstein" is going to be.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- American U2 reconnaissance planes have been flying over the Turkey-Iraq border to observe military movements, said three U.S. military sources Wednesday.Word of the flights comes a day before top-level meetings between U.S. and Turkish government officials and prior to a regional conference aimed at easing tensions between Ankara and Kurdish rebels across Turkey's border with Iraq. Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell confirmed Wednesday that U.S. military and intelligence communities are sharing information with Turkey to help them fight members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, who have made cross-border attacks. "We are assisting by supplying them, the...

Big Paychecks for U2 Millionaires Oct. 26, 2007 The Associated Press U2 Ltd., the Irish band's music publishing company, raked in $30 million-plus last year — and $25.8 million of it went to five unidentified "employees," according to documents obtained Friday by The Associated Press. Those "employees" are suspected to be the band members and their longtime manager, Paul McGuinness. But U2's public relations firms in Dublin and London refused to confirm that. While Bono has won accolades worldwide for raising awareness of Third World poverty, he has been criticized for moving U2's corporate offices out of Ireland to avoid...