ABC News correspondent Jonathan Karl finally got his long-sought flight in a high-flying U-2 reconnaissance aircraft. He made the flight—one of the very few civilians to do so—last week, after completing two days of indoctrination and preparation. The Air Force has been making upgrades to the U-2 fleet, but it does plan to retire them around 2011.
Bell Textron has won DARPA's contest for a no-runway, high-speed drone that will prove out technologies useful for special operations forces and possibly the Air Force's Agile Combat Employment concept. Bell's design converts a tiltrotor to a jet-powered aircraft able to fly at up to 450 knots.