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

 

Respectfully steering this thread into a U-2 appreciation thread with the submission of the following:



and

A bit of a layman's tour of the cockpit, but it is cool to see just how far the avionics have been improved.

 

What becomes of these guys?

U.S. AIR FORCE Firsts Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) Pilots Graduate 1/13/12 - YouTube

 

There are still Predators and Reapers...I'm sure there will be others, too. Those platforms are fairly effective. The RPA guys will still go there.

The Global Hawk is the issue. Just too expensive for what it gave back.

 

We should have left the conversation about 5 posts ago. You all use your heads. Loose lips sink ships.

 

They're still doing their thing. As much as we all want to see this happen, for whatever the reason, the word that we need to pay attention to is that this is just a "proposal" and until Congress signs the budget into effect GH ain't going anywhere. But, I'll be honest and say the writing is on the wall. Now we just have to wait for the budget to be approved....that should go perfectly. HA

 

As stated above this is just a proposal. There is still funding for the Navy's BAMS jets, and the block 40's. I feel for the U-2 guys that may lose their jobs one day, but how many U-2 pilots are flying GH's for Northrop now? You only hate em until they put food on the table.

 

Global Hawk..we'll see.

Drones? In for now.

Military Prepares Realignment: More Drones, Special Forces - WSJ.com

 

Nothing was stated you couldn't find in Janes/Aviation Week/A Chinese bathroom wall.

 

For those getting excited at the potential loss of the US' ability to project power and gather intelligence, don't get too worked up. This is more of a prevention of concurrent developmental efforts, both the USAF and the USN don't need to fund parallel developmental programs. One service can work the baseline development and the other service can do incremental programs for service-specific requirements if they decide to pursue them at a later date. FWIW, I was quite impressed with the developments that the USN is planning on pursuing and I would have made the same decision. There are some very real limfacs on the current versions that the USN is planning on eliminating (sensor and airframe), and I'd like to see them be successful. The Block 40 versions the USAF wants are being pursued for the sensor suite.

For those comparing the Global Hawk and the U2; think of two people arguing over which is better, the F-16 or the A-10 without first laying down the framework of what the employment scenario/environment is. For all of its limitations (which in time will lessen), there are PLENTY of scenarios where a Global Hawk can do what a U2 can't.