The Air Force and prime contractor Northrop Grumman chose a Pratt & Whitney engine to replace the existing P&W engines on the service’s fleet of 19 E-8 Joint STARS ground surveillance aircraft. A P&W statement called its JT8D-219 propulsion system the “most cost-effective approach.” And, a Northrop release asserted that, over the life of the program, the new engines “will pay for themselves in cost savings” when compared to the cost to maintain the older, existing engines.
A year away from its likely retirement—and 70 years to the day after the first U-2 flight—a two-seat version of the Dragon Lady from the 9th Reconnaissance Wing at Beale Air Force, Calif., set records for distance covered and endurance on a single mission, demonstrating the venerable type’s continuing capability.