Lockheed U-2 variant
Lockheed U-2 TU-2S
The modern fleet’s two-seat trainer, produced by re-engining the former TR-1Bs (previously redesignated U-2R(T)) with the F118; five aircraft were converted. Beyond training duties it has featured in two recent milestones of the programme: shadowing the Chinese balloon in 2023 and a record endurance flight in 2025.
- 5
- Units built
History
Origin
The two conversion trainers built as TR-1B were redesignated U-2R(T) and, once fitted with the General Electric F118 turbofan, became TU-2S. Five aircraft went through that conversion and they form the fleet’s training component today, carrying two pilots on zero/zero ejection seats. Learning to land the U-2 — the manoeuvre that defeated Tony LeVier in 1955 — remains the reason the version exists.
Accidents and milestones
On 20 September 2016 a TU-2S crashed on take-off from Beale AFB, killing one pilot and injuring the other. On 3 February 2023, by contrast, the two-seater saw its first operational use: two U-2s intercepted and photographed the Chinese intelligence balloon crossing the central United States. And on 31 July 2025, with fleet retirement already under discussion, a TU-2S flew from Beale for fourteen hours and some 11,100 kilometres over all 48 contiguous states, an endurance record for its class flown to mark seventy years since the type’s first flight.