The Air Force has dispatched the last of the Block 10 U-2 high-flying reconnaissance airplanes to be made over into the Block 20 configuration. Technicians at Lockheed Martin’s Palmdale facility will transform the U-2, tearing it down to “its ribs and basic frame,” says 2nd Lt. Carlos Reyes, 9th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron assistant officer in charge at Beale AFB, Calif., by replacing its round-dial cockpit with a new digital “glass” cockpit. SSgt. Zachary Wilson reports that the revamped U-2 will return to the fleet sometime next year. The Air Force has retirement in mind for the entire U-2 fleet, but it pursued the upgrade to keep the fleet viable until at least 2011. Some lawmakers and the head of US Strategic Command, Marine Corps Gen. James Cartwright, question whether U-2 retirement will create an intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance gap.
The U.S. military is sending more fighter jets to the Middle East to step up its war with Iran, adding to what is already the largest buildup of airpower in the region since the 2003 invasion of Iraq. For now, the operation shows little sign of coming to a quick…