US Air Force awards Lockheed Martin Avionics Tech Refresh contract to advance U-2's capabilities for the future battlespace.

Lockheed Martin Skunk Works continues to evolve the U-2 Dragon Lady to support future battlespace needs under a recent contract award from the U.S. Air Force valued at $50 million.

Today, the U-2 Dragon Lady is not only ensuring global security 24/7/365 as the most capable, high-altitude intelligence surveillance reconnaissance (ISR) system in the fleet, but it’s also helping to bridge to the Air Force’s vision for the Advanced Battle Management System (ABMS), a program that will bring to life the ‘internet of things’ for the military (Picture source: Lockheed Martin)

The contract includes the following upgrades to the Dragon Lady:

- An updated avionics suite that modernizes the U-2’s onboard systems to readily accept and use new technology.

- A new mission computer designed to the U.S. Air Force’s open mission systems (OMS) standard that enables the U-2 to integrate with systems across air, space, sea, land and cyber domains at disparate security levels.

- New, modern cockpit displays to make everyday pilot tasks easier while enhancing presentation of the data the aircraft collects to enable faster, better informed decisions.

“As a proven, agile and reliable aircraft, the U-2S is the most capable high-altitude ISR system in the fleet today. The Avionics Tech Refresh contract will continue our commitment of providing a premier aircraft to our warfighters, ensuring global security now and into the future,” said Irene Helley, U-2 program director.

Under this contract, Lockheed Martin will lead the design, integration and test of the new advanced aircraft components, which will enable the U-2 to be the first fully OMS-compliant fleet. Interim fielding is anticipated to begin in mid-2021, with fleet modification expected in early 2022.

The ATR (Avionics Tech Refresh) upgrades, highlighted in boxes above, will prepare the U-2 for additional modernization efforts that will provide a quantum leap in capability for the warfighter and a bridge to capabilities needed in the future battlespace (Picture source: Lockheed Martin)