Editing Lockheed U-2 (section)

====1970–2000====
[[File:Lockheed ER-2 809 in flight.jpg|thumb|One of NASA's ER-2s in flight over the California desert. (2001) A NASA ER-2 set the world altitude record for its weight class.]]

In August 1970, two U-2Rs were deployed by the [[National Reconnaissance Office]] (NRO) to cover the Israeli-Egypt conflict under the code name ''EVEN STEVEN''.<ref name="NRO_NRP1972">McLucas, John L. [http://www.nro.gov/history/csnr/gambhex/index.html "The Gambit and Hexagon Programs."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120915093330/http://www.nro.gov/history/csnr/gambhex/index.html |date=15 September 2012 }} ''National Reconnaissance Office,'' 18 December 1972. Retrieved: 7 December 2015.</ref>

In June 1976, the U-2s of the 100 SRW were transferred to the [[9th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing]] (9 SRW) at [[Beale Air Force Base]], California, and merged with [[Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird|SR-71]] aircraft operations there. When the [[Strategic Air Command]] (SAC) was disbanded in 1992, the wing was transferred to the new [[Air Combat Command]] (ACC) and redesignated the [[9th Reconnaissance Wing]] (9 RW).

In 1977, a U-2R was retrofitted with an upward-looking window so that it could be used for high altitude astronomical observations of the [[cosmic microwave background]] (CMB). This experiment was the first to measure definitively the motion of the galaxy relative to the CMB and established an upper limit on the rotation of the universe as a whole.<ref>Smoot, G.F., M.V. Gorenstein, and R.A. Muller. "Detection of Anisotropy in the Cosmic Blackbody Radiation."''Physical Review Letters'' 39, pp. 898–901.</ref>

In 1984, during a major [[NATO]] exercise, RAF Flight Lieutenant Mike Hale intercepted a U-2 at a height of {{convert|66000|ft|m|-2}}, where the aircraft had previously been considered safe from interception. Hale climbed to {{convert|88000|ft|m|-2}} in his [[English Electric Lightning|Lightning F3]].<ref>Ross, Charles. [http://xr724.co.uk/oct04sotm.html "Lightning vs Concorde."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180907032331/http://xr724.co.uk/oct04sotm.html |date=7 September 2018 }} ''xr724.org.uk'', Lightning Association, 14 November 2004. Retrieved: 13 October 2018.</ref>

In 1989, a U-2R of 9th Reconnaissance Wing (RW), Detachment 5, flying from [[Patrick Air Force Base]], Florida successfully photographed a space shuttle launch for [[NASA]] to assist in identifying the cause of tile loss during launch, which had been discovered in the initial post-''Challenger'' missions.

On 2 January 1993, an Iraqi [[Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25|MiG-25 Foxbat]] attempted to intercept a USAF U-2 taking part in UN operations over Iraq. The [[R-40 (missile)|R-40 (AA-6 Acrid)]] missile missed the U-2 and the MiG was 'chased off' by [[McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle|F-15 Eagles]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2006-09-25 |title=Gulf War Chronology: 1993 Operations after the war |url=http://www.sci.fi/~fta/1993-ops.htm |access-date=2023-02-23 |archive-date=25 September 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060925163624/http://www.sci.fi/~fta/1993-ops.htm |url-status=bot: unknown }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last1=Gellman |first1=Barton |last2=Devroy |first2=Ann |date=14 January 1993 |title=U.S. Delivers Limited Air Strike on Iraq  |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1993/01/14/us-delivers-limited-air-strike-on-iraq/1f0dad2d-dbf7-4452-84a6-24459c5e3923/ |access-date=22 February 2023}}</ref>

On 19 November 1998, a NASA ER-2 research aircraft set a world record for altitude of {{convert|20479|m|ft|sp=us|sigfig=4}} in horizontal flight in the {{convert|12000|to|16000|kg|lb|sp=us|abbr=on}} weight class.<ref name=sd1>[https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/1998/11/981124064046.htm "NASA aircraft sets new world altitude record."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180323030724/https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/1998/11/981124064046.htm |date=23 March 2018 }} ''Science Daily'', 24 October 1998. Retrieved: 8 March 2009.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://records.fai.org/general_aviation/aircraft.asp?id=2050 |title=List of records established by the 'Lockheed Martin ER-2': Database ID 5795 |access-date=12 September 2008 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090410053050/http://records.fai.org/general_aviation/aircraft.asp?id=2050 |archive-date=10 April 2009 }} ''General Aviation World Records'', ''Fédération Aéronautique Internationale'' (FAI), Lausanne, Switzerland. Retrieved: 30 June 2011.</ref>