Message posted by alan j on March 07, 2014 at 11:39:57 PST:

The U-2 retirement would begin in fiscal 2016, but is slightly more complicated. Eric Fanning, Air Force undersecretary, told a Feb. 20 McAleese/Credit Suisse conference the U-2 would not be divested until the Global Hawk has achieved capability “parity.”

“In picking the Global Hawk, we are committed to getting it to parity with the U-2 before we divest the U-2 fleet,” he said.

While Fanning did not go into details, Lt. Gen. Charles Davis, the service’s deputy for acquisition, said the Air Force is looking at upgrading the Global Hawk’s sensor package and weatherization capabilities.

Cost estimates to upgrade those sensors have ranged up to $1 billion So its going to cost approx $1b To get the Global Hawk to do what the U-2 does now, wheres the money saving in that?.

In Reply to: Re: And the End of the Dragon Lady. posted by Gimbal on March 07, 2014 at 6:56:52 PST:

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