U-2 Vs drones - the "warbird" wins out

[Liberator]

http://news.yahoo.com/exclusive-u-air-f ... 34585.html

Seems Drones arent the current solution and warbirds like the U-2R will keep flying.

Win for manned recon.

Obviously the U-2 concept puts a man in a flying target at risk compared to a unmanned drone but for whatever reason the Global hawk has lost out and the war experienced aircraft U-2 survives...

[Mike]

That's not the way I understood the article. What apperars to be happening is that the final 10 Global Hawks will not be funded due to budget cutbacks, and the U-2s will have their retirement delayed to cover the capability shortfall. Not a case of the Global Hawk losing out to the U-2.

[Speedy]

http://news.yahoo.com/exclusive-u-air-force-halt-northrop-unmanned-plane-013134585.html

Seems Drones arent the current solution and warbirds like the U-2R will keep flying.

Win for manned recon.

Obviously the U-2 concept puts a man in a flying target at risk compared to a unmanned drone but for whatever reason the Global hawk has lost out and the war experienced aircraft U-2 survives...

One of these days we're going to get into some real trouble. We're going to stick our nose somewhere we shouldn't and we'll end up facing an adversary of a bit higher capability--both in equipment and in leadership--than we've been engaged in over the last 20+ years. When we face someone who might actually be able to fight back all these fancy drones and pet projects that have made us feel invincible, we're going to have our pants around our ankles. Talk about having a false sense of security!

Nothing will ever replace a pilot IN the seat of an airplane to use as an effective tactical weapon.