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)

How Denmark Helps NATO Protect the North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans - plus a US Army technology demonstrator aircraft

The Royal Danish Navy frigate HDMS Triton (F358) is one of four patrol vessels deployed to the North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans at any given time.Although the Triton is not an icebreaker,it is hardened for breaking ice up to meduium thickness.These warships are under Denmark's Joint Arctic Command (JACO),an operational command based in Nuuk (pronounced Nook),the capital of Greenland.JACO also oversees Bombardier Challenger 650 militarised patrol aircraft;and the Sirius dog sled patrol,which is the elite naval unit that patrols Eastern Greenland on dogsleds in two-year rotations.Greenland and the Faroe Islands are autonomous possessions of the Kingdom of Denmark.*Climate change is opening up more of the North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans to navigation,raising the spectre of ever more competition with near-peer adversaries Russia and China.Russia has been building up its military capabilities in the Arctic Region in recent years,adding new facilities and restoring Cold War facilities.At the same time,China styles itself as a near-Arctic state,developing new icebreakers for increased Arctic presence.NATO views this presence with concern,the Alliance says,as five of the six countries bordering the Arctic Ocean are NATO Allies:Canada,Denmark,Iceland,Norway and the US.*The Greenland Iceland UK Gap (GIUK) is a strategic transit route formed by two stretches of open ocean between the three land masses.It separates the Norwegian Sea from the open Atlantic.Denmark has taken strategic leadership of the GIUK on behalf of its NATO Allies,looking to expand its spending,surveillance and military presence in the Arctic Region and North Atlantic.Its ties to Greenland and the Faroe Islands make it a natural leader in the Arctic and North Atlantic's geopolitical and great-power concerns.The GIUK is a key supply line between North America and Europe.In 2021,Denmark invested 250 million dollars in its surveillance capabilities in Greenland and the Faroe Islands.The Ukraine war has made the GIUK more significant than ever.Surveillance of the GIUK is essential to keep Sea Lines of Communication (SLOC) and supply lines open between North America and Europe.Moreover,Denmark has been equipping its anti-submarine warfare (ASW) frigates with improved sonar;while equipping its MH-60 Seahawk helicopters with sonar and torpedoes.The upgrades are to be completed by no sooner than 2024.*SLOCs are vulnerable to attack on their many undersea cables by Russia and China.Russia's Northern Fleet uses the GIUK as a major transit route.In a crisis,the UK Royal Navy would need to use the GIUK as a transit route to the open Atlantic.In 2019,ten Russian Northern Fleet nuclear-powered submarines staged an exercise to cross the GIUK undetected during drills lasting up to two months.*For its part,the Royal Danish Air Force has enlisted a militarised version of the Bombardier Challenger 650 business jet to monitor Denmark's sovereignty.The US Army has also converted the Challenger 650 business jet to fly regular missions along the Polish-Belarus border to monitor Russian ground forces in and around Ukraine.It is the Leidos Special Mission Aircraft (LSMA),and is outfitted with the Aerial Reconnaissance and Targeting Exploitation Intelligence System (ARTEMIS).According to AIN Online,the Army said the aircraft provides:high-altitude sensing capabilities against near-peer adversaries and bridges gaps in Multi-Domain Operations mission.*The LSMA aircraft was operating out of Constanta International Airport,Romania.Furthermore,the LSMA is believed to have electronic intelligence (ELINT) sensors and side-looking radar for tracking ground vehicles.*Bombardier Inc (XTSE:BBD.B),Leidos Holdings Inc (LDOS)