Lockheed U-2 variant
Lockheed U-2 TR-1A
A third production batch of the U-2R airframe, ordered in 1979 for high-altitude tactical reconnaissance with the ASARS-2 side-looking radar, new avionics and improved countermeasures. It flew on 1 August 1981 and 33 were built, structurally identical to the U-2R; in 1992 all reverted to the U-2R designation.
- 33
- Units built
History
Reopening the line
After twelve years without U-2 production, in 1979 the USAF ordered a new run of the U-2R airframe as the TR-1A, intended for standoff surveillance of Eastern Europe from outside hostile airspace. What made it worthwhile was a new generation of cameras and sensors able to look some 300 miles from the aircraft. The first TR-1A flew on 1 August 1981 and 33 were completed, structurally identical to the U-2R and marked by the same underwing superpods. Its signature sensor was the ASARS-2 side-looking synthetic aperture radar, backed by new avionics and improved electronic warfare equipment.
European service
The 17th Reconnaissance Wing at RAF Alconbury in England flew operational TR-1As from 1983 until 1991, precisely the period the aircraft had been conceived for. The last U-2 and TR-1 airframes were delivered to the USAF in October 1989.
From TR-1 back to U-2
With the Soviet Union gone, in 1992 the whole TR-1 fleet was redesignated U-2R to unify the nomenclature, and the two-seat TR-1B became the TU-2R. From 1994 these aircraft were re-engined with the General Electric F118-101 turbofan and became the U-2S still flying today. One of NASA’s two ER-2s, serial 80-1097, is in fact a converted TR-1A.