US Air Force prepares to decommission iconic U-2 Dragon Lady aircraft in 2026

The US Air Force has made another attempt to retire the legendary U-2 Dragon Lady aircraft. If the US Congress approves the request, the scouts will be retired in the middle of this decade.

Here's What We Know

The US Air Force's FY2021 and FY2022 requests foreshadowed the retirement of the U-2s in the middle of this decade. Following the publication of the FY2023 request, it was learnt that funds for the modernisation of the reconnaissance aircraft fleet would be zeroed out after 2025.

The US Air Force plans to keep the U-2 in service until the end of September 2025, after which funding will be diverted to higher priorities. The service hopes that the US Congress will allow the planes to be retired in FY2026.

Initially, the replacement for the U-2 was the RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle. However, the US Air Force now wants to retire the Northrop Grumman drones as well. In the future, the service plans to use the satellites to collect the information now being mined by Dragon Lady and Global Hawk.

The US Air Force has 27 U-2s in service. They are stationed at Bill in California, but can travel to various military sites around the world. The Dragon Lady is the only aircraft in US service that can fly at altitudes above 21 km.

This feature allowed the U-2 to be used in an operation to destroy a Chinese aerostat, which was hovering at an altitude of about 20 km. The Dragon Lady pilot even managed to take selfies with the balloon.

Source: Defence News