The Pentagon is, once again, reversing its own position on which platform to use for its high-altitude reconnaissance mission – the venerable U-2 or Global Hawk unmanned aircraft.
The Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) has directed the U.S. Air Force to restart modest funding not only for operations of the high-flying U-2, but also to invest some funding in research and development and procurement, according to industry sources. The funding is coming from a topline increase for the service, meaning OSD has provided the cash to pay for it, and is slated for inclusion in the fiscal 2016 budget request going to Congress next month.
The roughly $150 million in investment spending over three years is a signal that last year’s proposal to retire the U-2 fleet and quickly transfer the high-altitude collection mission to the unmanned Northrop Grumman RQ-4B Global Hawk was a bridge too far. It shows that the service will not only operate the fleet it has, but pay for upgrades to keep the U-2 relevant. In addition, funding for U-2 operations will be restored for three more years – fiscal 2016-18, the sources say. Though operations at the height of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars ran about $400 million annually, the service is now targeting about $350 million a year to operate the U-2 globally.
A congressional staffer says keeping the U-2 and Global Hawk will "please everyone" on Capitol Hill. So this move is, perhaps, a concession to lawmakers on one of the less contentious proposals being reviewed now in the fiscal 2015 budget request. Among the other unpopular pitches by the Air Force last year was a plan to retire the A-10, for example.
The Air Force declined to provide a rationale for the move. "All this is pre-decisional until the president’s budget is signed," a service spokeswoman says.