Editing Lockheed U-2 (section)

{{short description|American single-jet-engined, subsonic, ultra-high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}}
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{{Infobox aircraft
 |name= U-2
 |image= File:usaf.u2.750pix.jpg
 |caption= A Lockheed U-2 in flight
 |alt=
 |type= High-altitude [[reconnaissance aircraft]]
 |national_origin= United States
 |manufacturer= [[Lockheed Corporation|Lockheed]] [[Skunk Works]]
 |designer = [[Kelly Johnson (engineer)|Clarence "Kelly" Johnson]]
 |first_flight= {{Start date and age|1955|08|01|df=yes}}
 |introduction = 1956
 |status = In service
 |primary_user= [[United States Air Force]] <!-- List only one user; for military aircraft, this is a nation or a service arm. Please DON'T add flag templates, as they limit horizontal space. -->
 |more_users = [[Central Intelligence Agency]] (historical) <br />[[NASA]] <br />[[Republic of China Air Force]] (historical) <!-- Limited to THREE (3) "more users" here (4 total users). List users with {{plainlist}} or {{unbulleted list}}. -->
 |produced = 1955–1989 <!--Years in production (e.g. 1970–1999) if still in active use but no longer built -->
 |number_built= 104
}}

The '''Lockheed U-2''', nicknamed "''Dragon Lady''", is an American single-engine, high altitude [[reconnaissance aircraft]] operated since the 1950s by the [[United States Air Force]] (USAF) and the [[Central Intelligence Agency]] (CIA). It provides day and night, high-altitude (above {{convert|70000|ft|m|sigfig=3|disp=comma|abbr=off|sp=us}}), all-weather [[intelligence gathering]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Drew |first=Christopher |date=2010-03-22 |title=U-2 Spy Plane Evades the Day of Retirement |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/22/business/22plane.html |access-date=23 March 2010 |archive-date=28 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190828214945/https://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/22/business/22plane.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[Lockheed Corporation]] originally proposed the aircraft 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 War|Vietnam]], and [[Cuba]]. In 1960, [[Francis Gary Powers|Gary Powers]] was [[1960 U-2 incident|shot down]] in a CIA U-2C over the Soviet Union by a [[surface-to-air missile]] (SAM). Major [[Rudolf Anderson|Rudolf Anderson Jr.]] was shot down in a U-2 during the [[Cuban Missile Crisis]] in 1962.

U-2s have taken part in post-Cold War conflicts in [[War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)|Afghanistan]] and [[Operation Iraqi Freedom|Iraq]], and supported several multinational [[NATO]] operations. The U-2 has also been used for electronic sensor research, satellite calibration, scientific research, and communications purposes. The U-2 is one of a handful of aircraft types to have served the USAF for over 50 years, along with the [[Boeing B-52]], [[Boeing KC-135]], [[Lockheed C-130 Hercules|Lockheed C-130]] and [[Lockheed C-5 Galaxy|Lockheed C-5]]. The newest models (TR-1, U-2R, U-2S) entered service in the 1980s, and the latest model, the U-2S, had a technical upgrade in 2012. The U-2 is currently operated by the USAF and NASA.