Popular Mechanics:
America’s longest-flying spy plane could pick up a new mission that would keep it flying for several more decades. First flown in the mid 1950s, the iconic U-2 “Dragon Lady” is being considered as a missile defense platform to shoot down enemy ballistic missiles as they ascend to low earth orbit.
According to Aviation Week, the U-2 is a candidate for the U.S. Missile Defense Agency’s “stratospheric UAV-borne laser demonstrator program.” The goal is to shoot down missiles, including those possibly armed with nuclear and chemical warheads, during the so-called “boost phase” shortly after the missiles have taken off from the ground. An earlier plan to do this by outfitting a Boeing 747 with a chemical laser, the YAL-1 Airborne Ballistic Laser, failed.
The U-2 is a strong candidate for this role because of its “structural integrity, modular payload bays, high power output, and open mission system architecture.” Under the proposal the U-2 would be adapted to fly unmanned, opening up even more internal volume for a laser weapon. Over its decades in the sky the U-2 has evolved into an adaptable platform for long-endurance spying missions, a trait that would serve it well as a laser-armed hunter loitering high above missile launch sites, waiting for the enemy’s move.
Unlike the earlier YAL-1 program, which required a 747-sized aircraft to store large amounts of chemicals, the U-2 would use onboard electricity generation to power a solid state laser. In early 2015, for examplek General Atomics introduced a 150-kilowatt scaleable electric laser weapon that fit aboard an Avenger unmanned drone.
