Lockheed U-2

[Hawkeye60]

The Lockheed U-2, nicknamed "Dragon Lady", is an American single-jet engine, ultra-high altitude reconnaissance aircraft operated by the United States Air Force (USAF) and previously flown by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). It provides day and night, high-altitude (70,000 feet; 21,000 m), all-weather intelligence gathering.

 

 

Model by Pedro Caparros
Used with permission.

With a big thanks to Backy51 who provided invaluable assistance with the lua data.

 

ai only

Beta release.

Improvements as needed.

 

Enjoy!

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/rn8ys5k1lkp1gg1/Lockheed U-2 - Dragon Lady ai V1.4.rar?dl=0

 

[flyingscotsman]

Brilliant, thanks. Remember sat outside Akrotiri ATC in Sept 79 about 5am, enjoying the sunrise and the U2 was being walked up to it's take off point, About 20 mins later the roar of the jet as it came down from the right, then before it had covered much of the runway, it tilted upwards and was away, climbing, literally like a rocket. We used to here it at Episkopi across the bay, but being right under it was something else

[FETUS]

Very cool, I lived near Plant 42 and Edwards AFB for a bit. Always cool seeing the U2 do its climb on takeoff.

[El Phantasmo]

I noticed this thing has a problem with take off. I cant seem to find a runway long enough for it to take off. Just keeps rolling into the dirt and crash at the end of the ramp.

[Hawkeye60]

Up-date 8.11.2021

 

New lua to correct all data.

New engines for shorter take offs.

 

Carrier capability added!

From the wiki,

 

"U-2 carrier operations

At one time, in an effort to extend the U-2's operating range and to eliminate the need for foreign government approval for U-2 operations from USAF bases in foreign countries, it was suggested that the U-2 be operated from aircraft carriers. Three aircraft were converted for carrier operations by the installation of arrester hooks, and carrier-qualified naval aviators were recruited to fly them.

It turned out to be possible to take off and land a U-2 from a carrier. Testing in 1964 with the USS Ranger and in 1969 with the USS America proved the concept. The only operational carrier use occurred in May 1964 when a U-2, operating from USS Ranger, was used to spy on a French atomic test in the Pacific.

In 1969, the larger U-2Rs were flown from the carrier America. The U-2 carrier program is believed to have been halted after 1969."

 

This should solve all the issues noted above and add a higher max speed.

 

Let me know!

 

Cheers.

 

File attached below.

UN-zip and place in the main aircraft folder.

Allow overwrite.

 

dragon_lady.rar

[D4n]

So, I managed to make the mod flyable (3rd person for now, but we'll hopefully soon have the viewport at the right spot), for now no download link, as it seems to me that the flightmodel still needs tweaking to for it to be able to reach the legendary ~80.000 ft., which Hawkeye will take care of, soon, afaik)

 

at some airbase in the western US during the 1950s...

 

Edited October 31, 2021 by D4n

[flyingscotsman]

That's really nice, These used to be our early morning alarm clock in Cyprus....nothing like a 6 am start....and we lived 15 miles away....lol

[HawaiianRyan]

Fixed the wingtip vortices.

Edit dragon_lady.lua with the following substitution:

wing_tip_pos = 	{-4.407,	-1.45,		16.4},

 

As an aside, I think the aero tables are really off. The plane won't achieve stable level flight above ~53k feet; it should be okay through at least 70k feet.

I toyed with increasing the thrust thinking it would be a quick fix, but AoA quickly climbs out of control (> 20 degrees) regardless of thrust.

Maybe someone with the appropriate background and tools can find the proper numbers for NACA63-409.

Edited December 28, 2021 by HawaiianRyan

[Ronin_Gaijin]

On 12/28/2021 at 9:48 PM, HawaiianRyan said:

Fixed the wingtip vortices.

Edit dragon_lady.lua with the following substitution:

wing_tip_pos = 	{-4.407,	-1.45,		16.4},

 

As an aside, I think the aero tables are really off. The plane won't achieve stable level flight above ~53k feet; it should be okay through at least 70k feet.

I toyed with increasing the thrust thinking it would be a quick fix, but AoA quickly climbs out of control (> 20 degrees) regardless of thrust.

Maybe someone with the appropriate background and tools can find the proper numbers for NACA63-409.

 

Any updates on this?
Attached, U-2 over Kola peninsula.

[Scoop]

I managed to change a few parameters in the lua file and was able to climb to 70,000ft but it is flying on the edge and any sort of banking has the potential to make the flight unstable and depart into a stall all the way to the ground. More work needed on the lua so I will keep going but it will be difficult to get beyond 70,000.

My best is 70,000 at 96kts indicated as in the picture. This was from take off on the Persian Gulf map with a nice flight over Iran until the AI banked, airspeed was lost below 90kts indicated and pitch and AOA increased to above 10% and then it was all over.

 

[Stratos]

IIRC the real aircraft had a very tight limits were it can fly, the speed margin is really tight, so your experience sounds similar to the ones I read over the years.

[plott1964]

1 hour ago, Scoop said:

I managed to change a few parameters in the lua file and was able to climb to 70,000ft but it is flying on the edge and any sort of banking has the potential to make the flight unstable and depart into a stall all the way to the ground. More work needed on the lua so I will keep going but it will be difficult to get beyond 70,000.

My best is 70,000 at 96kts indicated as in the picture. This was from take off on the Persian Gulf map with a nice flight over Iran until the AI banked, airspeed was lost below 90kts indicated and pitch and AOA increased to above 10% and then it was all over.

 

what parameters did you change?

[Oban]

On 8/8/2021 at 6:54 PM, flyingscotsman said:

Brilliant, thanks. Remember sat outside Akrotiri ATC in Sept 79 about 5am, enjoying the sunrise and the U2 was being walked up to it's take off point, About 20 mins later the roar of the jet as it came down from the right, then before it had covered much of the runway, it tilted upwards and was away, climbing, literally like a rocket. We used to here it at Episkopi across the bay, but being right under it was something else

Yep, it was still doing that between 82-84 when I was based at Salamanca Barracks, Epi

[Scoop]

I have now managed to get this stable at 70,000 at 99kts indicated airspeed, I will post the lua and a miz test file with some advice for the Mission Editor here for anyone to use or compare tomorrow once I have tidied a few things up. The challenge now is to get it to go higher.....74000 or maybe 80,000

This was a full flight that lasted 2 hours from take off to landing.

[Scoop]

Ok here it is, this lua file replaces the one in the mod pack and will get you to 70,000ft, have fun trying to get to a higher altitude....

dragon_lady.lua

I have detailed a lot of information in the lua so have a look at what I changed, most is as per the original aircraft specs that are on line, and most changes relate to changing numbers to the correct unit of measurement that DCS requires. They all seem to work.

For the Mission Editor it is really important to stick to the aircrafts rate of climb time limits when creating waypoints ie, 9000ft per minute as trying to get higher quicker increases instability. The attached Miz file shows you how to do this as an example. DCS AI has a couple of strange behaviours when it comes to altitude, waypoints and rates of climb, therefore there are 3 waypoints one at 33000, one at 65000 and the last at 70000, Stick to these as they are important altitudes for DCS AI as it has a severe nose up attitude for some reason just after these numbers. You will see this when you play the file. This is on the Persian Gulf Map by the way.

PG U2 Altitude Test.miz

Things I have not tested yet, 1. Getting above 70500ft, 2. Air Starts at any altitude (all my tests are take off and landing), 3. Reaction to missile radars or threats. and 4. Weather restrictions.

Have Fun

 

[Scoop]

I have been testing various new flight models and have now found out how to achieve stable flight to 78,000, I can get it to 80,000 but its just a bit on the edge at the moment in certain situations. Anyway 78 is good enough for me and as near to its known ceiling. I have also made changes to a number of other things that now make it possible to air start at any altitude and also runway start and climb to 78,000 without adding additional waypoints in the mission editor.

In addition I have now tested against SAM sites and it will overfly all DSC SAM units, only S300-PMU2 and S300VM shot this thing down. I have not tried it against any Currenthill Mods. There is still more testing to do on this but someone else can have a go.

As this is not my mod I will  contact Hawkeye60 and see if he wants to include the updated lua in his Mod

[D4n]

Quote

it will overfly all DSC SAM units

@Scoop even SA-2 if you set it to "expert" skill? SA-2 should get it even at 80k ft.

[Scoop]

[Ronin_Gaijin]

On 10/5/2024 at 5:59 PM, Scoop said:

I have been testing various new flight models and have now found out how to achieve stable flight to 78,000, I can get it to 80,000 but its just a bit on the edge at the moment in certain situations. Anyway 78 is good enough for me and as near to its known ceiling. I have also made changes to a number of other things that now make it possible to air start at any altitude and also runway start and climb to 78,000 without adding additional waypoints in the mission editor.

In addition I have now tested against SAM sites and it will overfly all DSC SAM units, only S300-PMU2 and S300VM shot this thing down. I have not tried it against any Currenthill Mods. There is still more testing to do on this but someone else can have a go.

As this is not my mod I will  contact Hawkeye60 and see if he wants to include the updated lua in his Mod

First of all, thank you for your efforts in making this work as close to as intended.
Please let us know if you or the original poster of the mod want to share the latest lua that can go up to 78.000feet/23.774,4 meters.

[Scoop]

On 10/8/2024 at 6:19 PM, D4n said:

@Scoop even SA-2 if you set it to "expert" skill? SA-2 should get it even at 80k ft.

@D4n I tested the SA2 to confirm, and the limitation is the track radar altitude. The 'Fan Song' TR will only engage up to 57,000ft. Shame but nothing I can do about that .

I did a few tests with the S200 and this engaged and fired with a successful shoot down at 78,000ft.

11 hours ago, Ronin_Gaijin said:

First of all, thank you for your efforts in making this work as close to as intended.
Please let us know if you or the original poster of the mod want to share the latest lua that can go up to 78.000feet/23.774,4 meters.

@Ronin_Gaijin I will let you know

[Stratos]

Hawkeye60 is currently not available for posting here, but he told me to post this update to his mod:

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/4ncu3ne6vih3osyfw413o/Lockheed-U2-S-Dragon-Lady-v2.9.21.zip?rlkey=ihriq1fc2fazcm5h0e12dorew&st=x5xgo5fd&dl=0

 

[Silver_Dragon]

Only as info for reference:

U-2A/B/C/E/F/G Strategic Recon
Man Rtng: 0.5/0.5 Damage Value: 17
Size/Signature: Medium/Medium Bombsight: None
Sensors: Cameras (not search sensors)

Throttle Setting/Speed in knots
Altitude Cruise Full Mil Reheat
Low: 400 430 --
Med: 400 430 --
High: 400 430 --
VHigh: 400 430 --
Ceiling: 21340 m Engine Type: TJ
Cruise Range: 3210 nmi Int Fuel: 2370 kg
Additional Fuel Fuel Wt. Range Add.
100 USG slipper tank (1957) 305 kg 485 nmi

Remarks: In Svc: 1956 - ?
Uses special LF-1A/JP-TS fuel.
• U-2A has J57-P-37 engines. U-2E has inflight refuel B (May 61). U-2G fitted to operate from aircraft carriers (Mar 64-73), does not require catapults. One U-2G with carrier and inflight refueling quickly retired as combined weight of modifications reduced maximum altitude.
• U-2B has J57-P-31 engines, ceiling 22680 m, 4040 kg fuel, 3400 nmi range.
• U-2C has J75 engines, ceiling 24380 m, 4155 kg fuel, 3285 nmi range, 1st Gen IR jammer, Gen 0 RWR. Later fitted with 1st Gen J. U-2F has inflight refuel Y/B.
• 1957: Fitted for air sampling. Slipper tanks available, reduce altitude by 365 m.
• 1962-63: Fitted with Gen 0 RWR.
• 1964: Fitted with 1st Gen J in empty slipper tanks.
• 1968: SIGINT operational.

U-2R/S Dragon Lady Strategic Recon
Man Rtng: 0.5/0.5 Damage Value: 19
Size/Signature: Medium/Medium Bombsight: None
Counterm: 1st Gen J Inflight Refuel: N
Sensors: RWR, see below

Throttle Setting/Speed in knots
Altitude Cruise Full Mil Reheat
Low: 375 430 --
Med: 375 430 --
High: 375 430 --
VHigh: 375 430 --
Ceiling: 24385 m Engine Type: TF
Cruise Range: 4615 nmi Int Fuel: 9010 kg

Ordnance Loadouts: Payload: --
• Air sampling equipment or SIGINT equipment or IRIS camera
• SIGINT equipment with Senior Stretch SATCOM sensor link
• Senior Glass: Senior Ruby ELINT, Senior Spear COMINT, Senor Span data link
• ASARS-2 SLAR, Senior Spur sensor link
• SYERS camera, Senior Spur sensor link

Remarks: In Svc: 1967
Can carry sensors in nose, internal Q-bay and wing pods (see above for operational loadouts). Due to crew endurance, missions usually last 9.5 hours (max 12 hours by USAF regulations) Sensor information cannot be used by the pilot, systems not fitted with sensor link, must be processed post-mission (24 hours delay). Sensors are not accurate enough for targeting weapons, can cue platforms to general target location. Two SYERS and two ASARS ground stations. LOS sensor links limited to 190 nmi, must record and can download after in range or use SATCOM. If U-2R outside of LOS range, records data for later download. Estimated all cameras cover 3500 x 3500 yard image.
• Air sampling equipment: Returns air samples to determine nuclear explosion types.
• ASARS-2 SLAR: Range 160 km either side with SAR mode (also as 270 km). MTI added from 1995 to three a/c in South Korea only.
• IRIS: Images 16 nmi either side of track.
• SYERS: Senior Year EO Relay System. Originally EO camera (72 km), with IR capability (36 km) added 1991.
• Systems: Story Book SIGINT (1970), Senior Ruby (1977), Senior Spear (1979), ASARS-2 SLAR (Jul 85), three Senior Span sensor links (1989), SYERS (1990), Senior Spur sensor link (1993), ASARS-2A (early 2003, MTI mode and can provide co-ordinates for GPS weapons), ASARS-2B (FY23). Senior Span and Senior Spur sensor links are LOS and operate to 190 nmi.
• Nov 69: One aircraft carrier trials with folding wings to fit in hanger. Capability removed 1974.
• 1994: 31 converted to U-2S with new engine, 3rd Gen J, Ceiling 27430 m, Cruise Range 5570 nmi.
• 1995: MTI mode added to ASARS-2 - only fitted to only three operating from Osan, South Korea.
• 1996: Gold Strike Rapid Target System (RTS) links to ground then to attack aircraft (9 minute delay).
• Feb 97: Last operational sortie for U-2R.
• Apr 02-May 07: U-2S Block 20 update with glass cockpit and 3rd Gen J&D.
• Oct 05: U-2S fitted ALQ-221 defensive suite - ES and 4th Gen J&D(?).
• Dec 16: Senior Glass retired. Replaced by ASIP COMINT.
• 2023?: Link 16 and ASARS-2B in service. ASARS-2B is AESA, has maritime mode and twice range (estimated as 170 nmi)

[Ronin_Gaijin]

Trying to fly formation with it at 21.000m... Nope...

[Scoop]

@Ronin_Gaijin Are you trying to fly formation with a red plane???? Not something I tested, Anyway, here is my latest and last FM lua for the 1.4 version of the U2 Dragon Lady Mod. This one gets to 78,000ft with a much more realistic climb and time to altitude. You can air start with this and get to 78k using only one waypoint in the mission editor set at about 20 minutes from take off.

 dragon_lady.lua

Do not use this version in the new U2s Dragon Lady mod posted by @Stratos and @Hawkeye60 above as it will not work correctly. The updated mod has a new model and slightly different attitude and therefore is displaying a higher pitch and AOA which makes it unstable above 75,000ft. I will correct this soon and pass to Stratos and Hawkeye.

Scoop 

[Ronin_Gaijin]

23 minutes ago, Scoop said:

@Ronin_Gaijin Are you trying to fly formation with a red plane???? Not something I tested, Anyway, here is my latest and last FM lua for the 1.4 version of the U2 Dragon Lady Mod. This one gets to 78,000ft with a much more realistic climb and time to altitude. You can air start with this and get to 78k using only one waypoint in the mission editor set at about 20 minutes from take off.

  dragon_lady.lua 17.24 kB · 0 downloads

Do not use this version in the new U2s Dragon Lady mod posted by @Stratos and @Hawkeye60 above as it will not work correctly. The updated mod has a new model and slightly different attitude and therefore is displaying a higher pitch and AOA which makes it unstable above 75,000ft. I will correct this soon and pass to Stratos and Hawkeye.

Scoop 

Why not?
It was my first try and I was loaded with fuel and missiles as well.
Just wanted to feel the early PVO pilots struggle!
Thank you very much for sharing the updated lua.