Costly Drone is Poised to Replace U-2 Spy Plane. NYT

[Stuart G]

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/03/business/global-hawk-is-poised-to-replace-u-2-spy-plane.html?_r=1&hp


Costly Drone Is Poised to Replace U-2 Spy Plane

By CHRISTOPHER DREW

Despite countless delays and budget battles, the Air Force is betting that a $12 billion program of unmanned drones is ready to gather intelligence from heights only dreamed of.


Work tables surround a handful of fuselages, and an unusually long wing — needed to slip through the thin air at 60,000 feet — is ready to be bolted into place. Open panels await controls for cameras and eavesdropping gear, and bright blue tool bins and parts vats are scattered around the concrete floor.
Just 50 people work in the factory and a test hangar, and only five of the drones will be built this year. But despite a spate of delays, second-guessing and cost overruns, the Global Hawk is once again on track to replace one of America’s most noted aircraft: the U-2 spy plane, famed for its role in the cold war and more recently Afghanistan.

The Air Force decided last month to stick with its $12 billion Global Hawk program, betting that the unmanned drone can replicate the aging U-2’s ability to sweep up a broad mix of intelligence from commanding heights, and do it more safely and for much longer stretches than the piloted U-2. The Navy is also onboard, with plans to spend $11 billion on a version that could patrol vast ocean areas.
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12 Billion for a spy plane..not just any spy plane, unmanned and special spy plane. Now is that too much?
Could we help give people jobs with 12 Billion or help care for our children. No, we need a special spy plane.
12 Billion Worth ..? think about it for a moment

[xchrom]

1. Recommend

[leveymg]

2. Would that be this thing?

[Stuart G]

3. No, it looks a little different...

http://www.fas.org/irp/program/collect/global_hawk.htm


you can see it at link above. perhaps someone can bring up an image..thanks.

[obxhead]

4. Here you go.

[leveymg]

7. $200M each for a scaled-up Predator? They've gotta be kidding . . . I wonder how much the

hypersonic arrowhead surfboard thingy costs . . .

[msongs]

5. plus another 11 bil for the navy versions, the bathtub admirals can't be left out lol nt

[caraher]

6. It's this:

Including development costs (which I think we've mostly paid for already) they'll run a bit over $200 million each. The alternative at the moment would be postponing retirement of the U-2 fleet. The U-2 is not exactly a cost-free alternative - http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2011-03-28-U228_ST_N.htm">Obama recently requested $91 million to keep them in the air, plus http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/22/business/22plane.html">they're somewhat dangerous to their pilots, both because the plane is notoriously tricky to fly (at high altitude it needs to be kept within a rather narrow range of airspeeds) and because pilots tend to get "the bends" (which has apparently become a bigger problem in Afghanistan, where the sortie rate is quite high).

So canceling it wouldn't free up $12 billion, maybe half that at best, and lead to spending on alternatives (either a developing a cheaper drone or yet another extension program for the U-2).

[saras]

8. With a spy plane, you can shoot it down. With these, you have to shoot at the country sending them.

This is NOT an improvement unless you have all your money invested in anti-terrorism technology.