Preview

What Is The First Generation Of The Lockheed Martin U-2a?

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
962 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
What Is The First Generation Of The Lockheed Martin U-2a?
Key Judgments
Background:
Three Generations of Stealth
The first generation of the Lockheed Martin U-2 was created in 1955 and was labeled U-2A. It was developed to allow the U.S. a glimpse into the Soviet Union. It was in direct response to the Soviet’s development of the Myasishchev M-4 bomber (“Hammer”) and the alleged bomber gap. President Eisenhower called for designs of a stealth aircraft that could fly near and over Soviet airspace without the risk of being shot down. It was developed by a team of Lockheed Martin employees called Skunk Works. The U-2A was revolutionary for its time being able to fly at altitudes of 70,000 feet and for fly for 3000 miles. It had a payload of 700 pounds of the latest photoreconnaissance equipment. Shortly
…show more content…
The U-2S Dragon Lady has an operating ceiling higher than 70,000 feet. The U-2S can climb to an altitude of 50,000 feet in just 20 minutes and 65,000 feet within an hour. The Dragon Lady also can take off in any weather conditions. The flight range is larger than 7,000 miles. The U-2S has a cruise speed of 475 miles per hour. It has a payload of interchangeable reconnaissance and intelligence sensors and platforms that weigh up to 5,000 pounds. The U-2S is matte black because it is rumored to have radar absorbing paint. The U-2S has many different configurations it can fly with to support its missions. In the picture on the cover page, the black pods or “super-pods” as they are called, are used for carrying intelligence surveillance equipment. They can host a variety of different cameras, sensors, as well as different data-links. The main sensors and equipment that are housed in these super-pods are in support of COMINT, SIGINT, and ELINT. The U-2S can also be configured with various sets of antennas that can communicate with ground forces. Another configuration that the U-2S can run is the ASARS-2 or Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar System. This system is capable of locating moving and stationary ground targets. It is also able to produce extremely accurate images at long ranges. It can operate in all different types of weather and smoke as well as day and night. A U-2 Dragon Lady can also fly with the SYERS or Senior Year Electro Optical Reconnaissance System platform. This platform is capable of multiple different spectral of imaging. It can see through smoke, light-fog, and transient weather. SYERS has been upgraded to include infra-red technology so if the enemy was camouflaging their true intentions, the U-2S’s imaging platform could detect the true threat. The Dragon Lady also has the ability to send it’s sensor data around the globe in a split-second because the of the dome located

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Nike System Effectiveness

    • 866 Words
    • 4 Pages

    In order to understand the Nike system’s effectiveness in defending the US, the hostile actions and aerial strength of the USSR must be put into context. The main reason for the creation of the Nike missile system was to defend and deter the rapid technological advances of the USSR. After World War II, the USSR was able to acquire German scientists that had been working on the infamous V-2 rockets, as well as nuclear research. In addition, the USSR was also able to acquire some of the US’s bombers. For example, in 1944 three B-29 superfortresses, the same type of aircraft that dropped the atom bombs over Hiroshima and Nagasaki, had landed in the USSR for emergency purposes. The bombers immediately became the property of Joseph Stalin and…

    • 866 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Area 51 Conspiracy Theory

    • 1037 Words
    • 5 Pages

    But to the reluctance of the government to address the claims of extraterrestrial activity, the conspiracy theories grew popular through the 1950s to the present. A poll showed that 57% of U.S. citizens believe that UFOs are real, therefore, beliefs in UFOs will not quickly dissipate. But recent evidence and personal accounts provide logical arguments with support to show that the claims of extraterrestrial interactions with the U.S. government in Area 51 is not true. Rather the lights and unidentified flying objects reported by people near Groom Lake were prototype aircraft that were being designed to aid the U.S. in the Cold War against the Soviet Union. The reports of UFOs only happened after the testing of experimental aircraft throughout the 1950s and 1960s, thus the correlation between the testing of the prototype planes and reports of UFOs verify that it was the aircraft tested by the U.S., not aliens flying over Area 51. The testimony by Robert Lazar is contested by retired service members who worked in Area 51 and Lazar’s questionable credibility. While there is no proof to support the conspiracy theories surrounding Area 51, people still believe and argue that the government has fabricated stories and that aliens do exist. But with no tangible…

    • 1037 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    This source was a government program designed by Presidents Johnson’s cabinet secretaries and their departments, such as the Defense Research and Engineering. The program created was a strategic nuclear arm discussion relating to the relationship the U.S had with the Soviets at the time. Within this top-secret document, it details the creation, testing, political agendas, and objectives, in creating an MIRV (A Multiple Independently Targetable Reentry Vehicle).…

    • 663 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Dragon Lady Essay

    • 1131 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The Dragon Lady flew through the air at a maximum altitude of seventy-thousand feet snapping high quality photographs for the Central Intelligence Agency back in the United States. At altitudes limiting the effect of enemy air defense missiles the Dragon Lady flew mission after mission providing images of Soviet missile systems and other military apparatus. On May 1, 1960, advanced Soviet air defense missiles shot down the first Dragon Lady with its pilot, Francis Gary Powers, over Soviet territory. The Dragon Lady, more commonly known as the U-2 Spy plane, did not survive, but Powers did not share the same fate. Markus Wolf, head of the East German foreign intelligence, states that, “Powers was sentenced to only ten years in jail, and my KGB…

    • 1131 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Research Paper On Roswell

    • 1374 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Technology has increased so much since 1947 that we are able to prove that what the military said was true or false. I wonder how sticks, tape, tinfoil, and paper could make a device capable of spying on the soviet bomb shelters. I am positive that the UFO "debris" couldn't not have been a device the government used to spy on Russia or a NASA test craft if it was made of tin foil.…

    • 1374 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    World War II had past, yet many counties were still devastated by it; Russia had used outdated and old fashioned weaponry throughout the war, and felt the need to prove themselves as technologically superior to other nations. They did just that as they shocked the entire world with the launch of Sputnik, the first man-made object ever to orbit the Earth. In order to launch their satellite before the Americans, Russian scientists designed a “simple satellite made of two hemispheres containing sensors, a radio and a battery pack,” (Sputnik, the tiny sphere that launched the space race). Originally, the Russian satellite was designed to be “a large satellite with a mass of up to 3,000 pounds” that would take “measurements of the upper…

    • 698 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the summer of 1959, Vice President Nixon visited Sverdlovsk, Russia. During his travels, CIA agents were busy photographing Russian threats by aircraft on the way to and from Vice President Nixon’s visit. These photographs identified SAM (Surface to Air Missile) sites and other missile sites that posed a threat to incoming aircraft. These photographs were paramount in the planning of the Lockheed U-2C spy plane’s future flights.…

    • 515 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    As the development of nuclear weapons during World War II gave rise to an age of great technological advancements, it also created an era of panic because if in the wrong hands, it could potentially lead to the destruction of the world. Both Allied and Axis powers devised several programs to construct weapons of mass destruction, but were in dire need of a single key ingredient that was scarcely available in large enough quantities. As Nazi submarine, U-234, surrendered to U.S forces on May 16th, 1945, the United States seized a considerable amount of uranium necessary to contribute to the atomic bomb tests conducted under the Manhattan Project. Therefore with the confiscation of German uranium, the United States was then able to utilize the uranium in the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs initiating a nuclear age of warfare thus changing the course of not only military history, but U.S. history as well.…

    • 289 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    It was not seen as a necessity for all platforms until the sinking of the Israeli ship Eilat by the Soviets in 1967. The following year, the US Navy began advanced research in anti-surface submarines missiles. An official proposal request was issued in January 1971, and within that year the McDonnell Douglas Corporation won the development contract. The name Harpoon was given to this project. The first harpoon, AGM-84A was only air-launched. But with advancements in technology, ship launched (RGM-84A), and a submarine-launched (UGM-84A) missiles were developed. The first test missile flew on October 1972, and operational testing was completed by 1978. Pilot production began in 1975, and the missile entered the Navy with the USS Sterret (CG 31). The first UGM-84 became operational on Submarines in 1981, and since then, the harpoon has been used in several battles. The missile was utilized in Persian Gulf against Iraqi forces, as well as in engagement against Libyan Forces on March 24, 1986. In September 1989 McDonnel Douglas received a contract to develop the Harpoon Block 1D. Along with the 1D, unarmed training versions were created. They were the ATM-84A, RTM-84A, and UTM-84A. In order to provide a more precision-attack air-launched weapon, Douglas created the SLAM (Stand-off Land Attack Missile). This became functional in November 1988, and was test-fired by the USS Ticonderoga. Air Launched SLAM were later utilized in operation desert storm against Saddam’s…

    • 1945 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Best Essays

    Aircraft Apu

    • 2773 Words
    • 12 Pages

    The development of an aircraft Auxiliary Power Unit was first undertaken by British aircraft designer and manufacturer Noel Pemberton Billing in 1916 (Andrews & Morgan, 1987). His P.B.31.E prototype “Nighthawk”, was a quadruplane designed to hunt German airships at night during WW1. For that purpose, it was equipped with a nose-mounted searchlight powered by a 5 horsepower, 2stroke gasoline piston engine, courtesy of the All British Engine Company (ABC) (Andrews & Morgan, 1987). Although the Nighthawk never entered service, it has achieved historical significance as the first ever example of an APU equipped aircraft.…

    • 2773 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Good Essays

    Stealth Technology

    • 284 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Development in the United States occurred in 1958,[3][4] where earlier attempts in preventing radar tracking of its U-2 spy planes during the Cold War by the Soviet Union had been unsuccessful.[5] Designers turned to develop a particular shape for planes that tended to reduce detection, by redirecting electromagnetic waves from radars.[6] Radar-absorbent material was also tested and made to reduce or block radar signals that reflect off from the surface of planes. Such changes to shape and surface composition form stealth technology as currently used on the Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit "Stealth Bomber".[4] The concept of stealth is to operate or hide without giving enemy forces any indications as to the presence of friendly forces. This concept was first explored through camouflage by blending into the background visual clutter. As the potency of detection and interception technologies (radar, IRST, surface-to-air missiles etc.) have increased over time, so too has the extent to which the design and operation of military personnel and vehicles have been affected in response. Some military uniforms are treated with chemicals to reduce their infrared signature. A modern "stealth" vehicle is designed from the outset to have a chosen spectral signature. The degree of stealth embodied in a particular design is chosen according to the predicted threat…

    • 284 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    - Historian Paul Campagna suspects that the US had threatened John Diefenbaker and George Pearkes into scrapping the Avro Arrow due to the fact that its technology was superior to that of the American spy planes at the time. This will be put in the section of the essay where I will explain why the explanations given by Diefenbaker and Pearkes were unsatisfactory. kaap.purpleglen.com…

    • 549 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Existence Of Aliens

    • 579 Words
    • 2 Pages

    There have been many U.F.O sightings around the world one sighting was on June 24th 1947 Kenneth Arnold was flying over the Cascade Mountains when a set of nine strange looking objects flying across the sky. At first he thought they were reflections of the sun but after looking at them more closely he realized that they were objects flying in formation. The objects he saw had wings what were curved and shaped like a crescent moon. His next thought was that they were some new aircraft that the Air Force was developing and he started to time them on his clock. He calculated that they were flying much faster than any aircraft he had read about. This was a strange case indeed was this alien space ships or was the government making aircrafts if so why where they never reviled.…

    • 579 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Best Essays

    In today 's military, leaders are continuously seeking ways to incorporate new technology to take the place of human soldiers. It has long been an important goal to be able to remove the human element from the modern battlefield, thus enabling high risk or sensitive political operations to be conducted without the fear of capture or exploitation of US military personnel. One such incident occurred during the Cold War, on May 1, 1960, during the presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower and during the leadership of Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, when a United States U-2 spy plane was shot down over the airspace of the Soviet Union. The United States government at first denied the plane 's purpose and mission, but then was forced to admit its role as a covert surveillance aircraft when the Soviet government produced its intact remains and surviving pilot, Francis Gary Powers, as well as photos of military bases in Russia taken by Gary Powers.…

    • 3388 Words
    • 14 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Stealth Technology

    • 4361 Words
    • 18 Pages

    Modern stealth aircraft first became possible when a mathematician working for Lockheed Aircraft during the 1970s adopted a mathematical model developed by Petr Ufimtsev, a Russian scientist, to…

    • 4361 Words
    • 18 Pages
    Powerful Essays