The giant defense
contractor Lockheed Martin has a plan to build a new high-altitude spy
plane. The plane, dubbed TR-X, would use parts from the venerable U-2 as
well as from the newer Global Hawk drone.
The
unmanned aircraft, developed by the company's legendary Skunk Works
division, will take ten years to develop. According to LockMart, the
aircraft's exterior design has been completed but not released to the
public, due to features they'd prefer to keep secret for now. What you
see above is a previously released artist's concept.
The new plane is designed to cannibalize the existing U-2S Dragon Lady and RQ-4 Global Hawk airplanes, converting them into new planes as they are brought in for maintenance. According Flightglobal,
up to 80 percent of the hardware and 90 percent of the sensors,
avionics, and other internal systems of the older planes would be
recycled into the new plane. TR-X will also use the engine of the U-2S, which itself is a derivative of the engine used to power the B-2 stealth bomber.
Despite
such intensive recycling, the new plane is still going to take a lot of
time and money to develop. Lockheed estimates it will cost $3.8 billion
for 30 planes. That's $126 million per plane, or about the cost the
F-35.
What does $126 million get the Air Force? An unmanned plane that will fly at 70,000 feet, using a Raytheon ASARS-2B synthetic aperture radar and a MS-177 multispectral sensor
to give foreign countries side eye from beyond their borders. Such
sensors can see through clouds and other weather phenomena, giving TR-X
an all-weather capability.
The
U-2 first flew in August 1955. Re-using the U-2S engine would mean the
U-2, even in recycled parts, could remain continuously in service for up
to 100 years.
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