U-2S Dragon Lady Aircraft Deployed to Protect NATO's Eastern Flank

According to the essanews.com website,a Lockheed Martin U-2S Dragon Lady aircraft was spotted over Denmark on 5 January 2024.Another U-2S was spotted over Poland in December 2023.These are part of operations mainly focused on the Eastern Baltic Sea Region,including surveillance of the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad between Poland and Lithuania,plus mainland Russia,Finland and Belarus.This surveillance of Russian movements is considered vital to the defence of NATO Allies.In particular,the US Air Force needs to gather intelligence about Russian activities intended to disrupt the lines of communication of NATO Allies.*The U-2S has recently received upgrades such as advanced communications;navigation;imagery technology;avionics gear;and new mission computers compatible with the new Open Mission Systems (OMS) standard of the US Armed Forces.*The Department of the Air Force (DAF) plans to retire its fleet of U-2S aircraft and the uncrewed RQ-4 Global Hawk aircraft in favour of new uncrewed aircraft because of the high expense of operating the U-2S and the need to accelerate technologically.*The DAF wants to do this by 2026.One likely candidate for the programme is the Northrop Grumman RQ-180 stealth uncrewed aircraft,which is a highly classified project.Secretary of Defense General Lloyd J. Austin III,US Army retired,has signed a waiver to make the move a reality.The Air Force has a fleet of 27 U-2S aircraft,including a small number of TU-2S two seat trainers.Congressional regulations prevent the retirement of the U-2S and RQ-4 Global Hawk unless they are replaced with a capability equal to or exceeding the current fleets.Congress reserves the right to limit the retirement of the U-2S and RQ-4 if it is dissatisfied with the justification of the waiver.*The DAF told The War Zone publication that:it must move into the future and begin to field more capable systems providing decision-quality intelligence throughout competition,crisis,and conflict.The DAF is developing and investing in various technologies to address critical National Defense Strategy (NDS) priorities focused on Great Power Competition.The DAF plans to invest in more survivable and persistent space-based sensors,along with exisiting and planned Joint Force assets.The ability to win future high-end conflicts requires accepting short-term risks by divesting legacy Intelligence,Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) assets that offer limited capability against our pacing challenge.*The RQ-180 is thought to resemble other Northrop Grumman stealth aircraft,such as the B-2 Spirit and B-21 Raider strategic bombers.The RQ-180 is believed to be close to entering service,if it is not already operating.*For its part,the Lockheed Martin Skunk Works may be working on a complement to,or even replacement for,the RQ-180,acccording to a new,unconfirmed report.Lockheed had previously suggested it had produced an uncrewed hypersonic aircraft called the SR-72.*Last year the DAF awarded to Leidos Holdings a contract to design a new,uncrewed hypersonic aircraft as part of classified Project Mayhem.A network of space-based sensors and uncrewed aircraft are the DAF's vision for future ISR capabilities.*Leidos Holdings Inc (LDOS),Lockheed Martin (LMT),Northrop Grumman (NOC)