Air Force Secretary Michael Donley said Friday the service will start closing down the U-2 depot support capability soon, and that the venerable surveillance aircraft may depart the inventory circa 2015. USAF officials “adjusted” that date to account for the fact that the service has “truncated” its buy of RQ-4 Global Hawk Block 40 aircraft from 22 to 11 aircraft, he told reporters at AFA’s Air Warfare Symposium in Orlando, Fla.
The Air Force wants more companies able to produce its new, multi-use, anti-radar missile that one expert says will prove vital in any future peer conflict and would be in high demand for the war in Iran if stocks were available now.