Originally Posted by
Grumble
If you guys have SIPR access go to Beales website, the 9th RSS has some really good briefs on there wrt to capes and lims of both the U-2 and Global Hawk. Bottom line, it was still a long LONG way from ever competing with the U-2 for capability. Even several in the air at once.
There have been many studies going on about the subject for the last 3 years regarding capability vs cost and so on. Global Chicken has been a money sink hole since it arrived. Reliability and capability just aren't there. And, while I'm sure NG would love to modify the aircraft to whatever the USAF wanted, the cost would be more astronomical.
The U-2 can exploit the full spectrum of reconnassaince at will. Global Hawk cannot. I forget the cost comparison per hour but the U-2 was less than half the cost. That includes the cost of the U-2 pilot.
Bottom line, the Global Hawk can fly for twice as long as the U-2, but it produces 20% of the intelligence in that time for over double the hourly cost.
And, a kudo for Congress for once, they have prevented the USAF twice from retiring the U-2 to free up funds for more Global Hawk improvements..........
Basically, wrote it into law that the U-2 cannot be retired until the USAF could prove that the replacement could perform to the same level.
Sure, the technology will one day be there to replace it. Just not tomorrow. And, as the USAF learned the hard way, just because the Predator family was such a success doesn't mean it will directly translate to a truly different mission.
I also have to wonder what if any impact the UAV loss into Iran may have had in this final decision to what really has been a heated but confidential debate on the subject.
Cheers,
Lee