Air Force, Lockheed Martin, Collins Aerospace upgrade U-2

The U.S. Air Force, Collins Aerospace Systems, and Lockheed Martin Skunk Works recently completed flight testing and deployment of the latest variant of the Collins Aerospace Senior Year Electro-Optical Reconnaissance System (SYERS) sensor, SYERS-2C, on the U-2. With this milestone, the entire U-2 fleet has upgraded electro-optical/infrared sensor capability which provides increased optical performance and highly accurate long-range tracking for threat detection in a wider range of weather conditions.

Kevin Raftery, vice president and general manager, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) and Space Solutions for Collins Aerospace, said, "The U-2 has been the cornerstone of the Air Force's ISR inventory and with upgrades like SYERS-2C, the system can continue to provide increasingly valuable multi-intelligence information to the warfighter for years to come."

The 10-band, high spatial resolution SYERS-2C sensor can find, track, and assess moving and stationary targets. Developed with open mission systems standards to enable command, control, and data exchange with 5th-generation platforms, the sensor has become a critical asset to theater commanders bringing advantages to joint operations across the battlespace.

Irene Helley, U-2 program director, Lockheed Martin Skunk Works, adds, "This milestone continues our commitment to increase the flexibility of the aircraft using open mission systems to support the multi-domain battlespace."

Flying 24/7 around the world at record-high operational rates, the U-2 Dragon Lady can rapidly reconfigure, collect, analyze, and share data with disparate systems across the battlespace.