The Lockheed U-2, nicknamed "Dragon Lady", is an American single-engine, high altitude reconnaissance aircraft operated since the 1950s by the United States Air Force (USAF) and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). It provides day and night, high-altitude (above 70,000 feet, 21,300 meters), all-weather intelligence gathering. [1]

Experience unmatched capabilities of the U-2S Dragon Lady, a reconnaissance aircraft excelling in strategic operations, setting the bar for future innovations.

Mar 13, 2025 · U-2, single-seat, high-altitude jet flown by the United States for intelligence gathering, surveillance, and reconnaissance. Perhaps the most famous spy plane ever built, the U-2, also known as the Dragon Lady, has been in service since 1956.

The U-2 is a single-seat, single-engine, high-altitude/near space reconnaissance and surveillance aircraft which delivers critical imagery and signals intelligence to decision makers throughout all phases of conflict, including peacetime indications and warnings, low-intensity conflict, and large-scale hostilities.

Beginning in the summer of 1956, Lockheed’s U-2 would prove him wrong. On July 4, Hervey Stockman flew a U-2 from Wiesbaden, West Germany, deep into the heart of the Soviet Union, capturing detailed photos of airfields, factories and shipyards previously unattainable by …

Soaring 13 miles high and carrying nearly 2.5 tons of the world’s most sophisticated equipment, today’s U-2 is on duty collecting unique information to support tactical warfighters and inform strategic national security advisors every hour of every day …

Dec 11, 2020 · Nearly twice as wide as it is long, the Lockheed U-2 spy plane is one of the most distinctive aircraft in the United States Air Force – and the hardest aircraft to fly, earning itself the...

With sailplane-like wings suited for the thin atmosphere above 55,000 feet (over 70,000 feet for later models), this single-engine aircraft made its first flight in August 1955.

The US Air Force used the U-2 for reconnaissance missions during the Cold War—and still uses it today. Lockheed’s highly classified Skunk Works division designed the U-2 for high-altitude photographic and communications intelligence, making …

Mar 17, 2025 · A U-2 Dragon Lady flies above the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range in California in March 2016. ... that can fly at over 70,000 feet and collect intelligence. Made by Lockheed Corporation, it was ...