Costly high fliers - Curt Lewis

Lockheed's 30-aircraft TR-X plan priced at $3.8 billion

Lockheed Martin's plan to construct a fleet of 30 high-altitude, single-engined tactical reconnaissance aircraft from cannibalised U-2S Dragon Lady and RQ-4B Global Hawk components would take 10 years and cost approximately $3.8 billion if adopted, a company official says.

Called TR-X, the programme would furnish low-observable airframes - powered by the U-2's GE Aviation F118 non-afterburning turbofan engine - with sensor suites and antennas from the manned Lockheed U-2 and remotely piloted Northrop Grumman RQ-4B.