The Lockheed Martin U 2 Dragon Lady Spy Plane HIGH ALTITUDE RECONNAISSANCE

The Lockheed U2, nicknamed Dragon Lady, is an American singlejet engine, high altitude reconnaissance aircraft operated by the United States Air Force (USAF) and previously flown by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). It provides day and night, highaltitude (70, 000 feet, 21, 300 meters), allweather intelligence gathering. Lockheed Corporation originally proposed it in 1953, it was approved in 1954, and its first test flight was in 1955. It was flown during the Cold War over the Soviet Union, China, Vietnam, and Cuba. In 1960, Gary Powers was shot down in a CIA U2C over the Soviet Union by a surfacetoair missile (SAM). Major Rudolf Anderson Jr. was shot down in a U2 during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. U2s have taken part in postCold War conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, and supported several multinational NATO operations. The U2 has also been used for electronic sensor research, satellite calibration, scientific research, and communications purposes. The U2 is one