First TU-2S Dragon Lady bows out. The beginning of the end

A five minute read about the U-2 and its current status
On 11 January 2024, BB coded Lockheed (Martin) dual seat TU-2S 80-1065 Dragon Lady made her final flight at Beale AFB (CA).

This particular TU-2S trainer, belonging to the 1st Reconnaissance Squadron/9th Reconnaissance Wing, was part of the Elephant Walk at Beale on 4 January 2024. On that day, six U-2S Dragon Ladies from the 99th Reconnaissance Squadron, two TU-2S Dragon Lady trainers and nine T-38A Talons from the 1st Reconnaissance Squadron and and two KC-135R Stratotankers from the 314th Air Refueling Squadron/940th Air Refueling Wing performed an Elephant Walk at Beale.

While "1065" is the first to be divested off, the story about getting rid of the USAF U-2 fleet has been going around for years. Scramble Mgazine assesses that it remains to be seen whether this will happen in the short term.

On 8 March 2020, Scramble Magazine first wrote about the U-2 carrying out missions well beyond 2025. During May and June 2023, the Dragon Lady performed exceptionally while participating as an asset during the capstone event of the USAF Weapons School 23-A cycle at Nellis AFB (NV). The Weapons School, also known as the Weapons Instructor Course (WIC), trains leaders, pilots, weapons officers, weapons instructors, advanced instructors, and Intelligence officers with advanced training within their respective specialties. This is where the U-2 comes into "Play". With their unparalleled capabilities, they are tasked to provide time-sensitive, critical Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR).

The Weapons School graduates 150 students in each class. To earn the prestigious 'Graduate' patch, students need to perform (plan, brief, execute and debrief) in the capstone event, a Large Force Exercise (LFE) known as the Weapons School Integration (WSINT) phase, in which each student provides an asset from their home unit. The collaboration of these assets, including U-2s, are used to create scenarios for WSINT simulating current and future threat arenas.

Leading a combination of airpower capabilities during WSINT allows students to demonstrate multi-domain command and control through their ability to lead and instruct while integrating multiple weapons systems. While the USAF Looks to fill intelligence gaps from Space, and aircraft, like the E-8 Joint Stars, have been retired, the U-2 can carry out the tasks to make integrated exercises a success.

With some 30 U-2 aircraft left, Lockheed Martin claims the airframes have the ability to fly until at least 2050. This seems a bit far stretched. Although the USAF originally planned, in its Fiscal Year 2024, to phase out the Dragon Lady during 2025/2026, no firm decisions have been made yet. The world is not getting any calmer.
Multiple U-2s are still deployed around the world. While Dragon Ladies are still updated and modernised by Lockheed Martin at Palmdale (CA) it could surely fly a little longer than 2030.

Recently it became known that Beale AFB will host a big Air Show on 7 and 8 June 2025. While the U-2 is certainly on its way out, it is expected that multiple Dragon Ladies can be seen during those days.

Credit photos: USAF