U-2航空电子设备升级为指挥控制铺平道路

摆脱反复出现的无人系统替代威胁后，U-2S为进行全面的航空电子设备升级做好了准备，洛克希德马丁公司表示，这将使这款间谍飞机用于后续性能增强并在美国空军雄心勃勃的先进战斗管理系统（ABMS）指挥控制计划中焕发新生机。

After shrugging off the recurring threat of replacement by unmanned systems, the U-2S is poised for a comprehensive avionics upgrade that Lockheed Martin says will position the spy plane for follow-on capability enhancements and a new lease on life at the heart of the U.S. Air Force’s ambitious Advanced Battle Management System (ABMS) command and control plan.

空军对洛克希德·马丁公司臭鼬工厂航空电子技术革新（ATR）升级所做的5000万美元投资属于2025财年资助之更广泛更新计划的最新进展，巩固了该服务要发展情报监测侦察平台之战略战术功用的新意图。它还证实了空军计划继续使用U-2S，作为诺斯罗普·格鲁曼RQ-4“全球鹰”无人驾驶机的补充，扭转了早前打算弃用该机型的行动。

The Air Force’s $50 million investment in Lockheed Martin Skunk Works’ Avionics Tech Refresh (ATR) upgrade forms the latest part of a broader update plan funded through fiscal 2025 and underpins the service’s renewed intent to grow the strategic and tactical roles of the venerable intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) platform. It also confirms Air Force plans to keep the U-2S in service as a complement to the unmanned Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk, reversing earlier moves to sunset the fleet.

洛克希德马丁公司臭鼬工厂U-2项目主管Irene Helley称，“我们切实给这个平台的性能注入了新生机。”  “这些飞机大多是在上世纪80年代末和90年代建造的，平均只有1.7万个飞行小时，所以[它们]还有80%左右的的机身寿命，还大有用武之地。”

 “We’re really breathing new life into the capabilities of this platform,” says Irene Helley, U-2 program director for Lockheed Martin Skunk Works. “Most of these jets were being built in the late 1980s and ’90s and have only averaged about 17,000 flight hours, so [they] have about 80% of their airframe life remaining and still have so much more to give.” 

这次升级“将增加其执行任务的寿命，”Helley补充称。“我们正在对本世纪初以来还没有人真正重新审视过的[一个]系统[中]的所有航空电子设备进行改造。”

The upgrade is “about growing the mission,” Helley adds. “We are revamping all of the avionics [in a] system [that] really hasn’t been revisited since the early 2000s.”

洛克希德马丁公司表示，升级后的航空电子系统为增强任务能力提供了支柱，而且将为更广泛的后续升级搭建桥梁。内部称为龙之星（传感器技术和航空电子设备更新）的这项更广泛的长期计划还包括额外的传感器技术和系统更新。

Lockheed says the updated avionics system provides the backbone for enhanced mission capabilities and will build a bridge to a wider series of follow-on upgrades. Internally called Dragon STAR (Sensors Technology and Avionics Refresh), this broader long-term initiative also includes additional sensor technology and systems updates. 

U-2现代化项目经理Sean Thatcher表示，航空电子套件更新的核心是“替代现有的航空电子处理器，后者的制造来源正在大量减少。”他补充称，找到一个替代品“确是‘技术更新’组件用于飞机的起源”。

The core of the avionics suite update is “a replacement for the existing avionics processor, which is experiencing a lot of diminishing manufacturing sources,” says Sean Thatcher, U-2 modernization program manager. Finding a replacement “is really the genesis from where the ‘tech refresh’ components came in for the aircraft,” he adds.

其他关键元素包括任务计算机，这“实际上是U-2的一个新补充，这是真正开始发展任务本身，”Thatcher说。

Other key elements include a mission computer, which “is actually a new addition to the U-2, and that’s really what starts to grow the mission itself,” Thatcher says. 

该任务计算机是按照美国空军开放任务系统（OMS）标准设计的，该标准将使飞机能够在不同的安全级别与跨越高空、太空、海洋、陆地和网络领域的系统集成。“我们在整个套件中采用OMS标准，因此全部都可以在同一个网络中运行。它们不再是联结的，也不再是自己的小系统，它们现在可以互相沟通，让更广泛系统的性能更强。”

The mission computer is designed to the Air Force’s open mission systems (OMS) standard, which will enable the aircraft to integrate at various security levels with systems across air, space, sea, land and cyber domains. “We’re taking the OMS standard throughout the entire suite, so everything will be able to ride within the same network. Instead of being federated and their own little system, they’ll now be able to communicate with one another to allow that broader system to be much more capable.”

洛克希德马丁公司证实，升级整合了企业任务计算机2（EMC2），这是一个公司开发且绰号为“爱因斯坦盒子”的系统，于2017年年中首次公开亮相，当时是在一个改装的U-2上进行测试，在一次训练演习中参加了先进战场通信系统的演示。EMC2最初被描述为一个“即插即用”系统，安装在航空电子设备处理器上，还整合了更广泛的功能，包括动态任务重新规划、ISR和电子战功能。

Lockheed confirms the upgrade incorporates the Enterprise Mission Computer 2 (EMC2), a company-developed system nicknamed the “Einstein Box” that first publicly emerged in mid-2017, when it was tested on a modified U-2 taking part in demonstrations of advanced battlefield communications systems during a training exercise. Originally described as a “plug-and-play” system that bolts on to the avionics processor, the EMC2 also incorporates wider capabilities including dynamic mission replanning, ISR and electronic warfare capabilities.

更新还包括现代触摸屏座舱显示器。Thatcher说：我们正在使这些显示器具有更高的分辨率，以便飞行员在相同的物理区域内能看得更多、做得更多。”“它们将具有更高的像素分辨率，并增加一些触摸播放功能。我们也在考虑升级其他座舱系统，使其达到更现代的标准。”

The update also includes modern touch screen cockpit displays. “We are making those displays higher resolution for the pilots to see more and do more within the same physical area,” says Thatcher. “They will have a higher pixel resolution as well as add some touch playing abilities. And we are also looking at upgrading other cockpit systems, to bring it up to a more modern standard.” 

他补充称，公司还将把重点放在软件驱动的显示变革上。“飞行员将能够更多地跟地图以及现代喷气式飞机上所呈现的其他信息交互。”显示系统的供应商尚未公布。

There also will be a focus on software-driven display changes, he adds. “Pilots will be able to have more interaction with maps and other information that you would see in a modern jetliner.” The provider of the display system has not yet been announced.

在侦察航空电子设备可维护性计划中，U-2S座舱于2007年完成了最后一次现代化改造。除了提供一款新的主航空电子设备处理器、3台6×8英寸规格多功能显示器和二次飞行显示系统以外，这次升级还包括英国BAE系统公司整合了电子对抗和雷达告警接收器的ALQ-221先进防御系统。

The U-2S cockpit was last modernized under the Reconnaissance Avionics Maintainability Program, which was completed in 2007. As well as providing a new main avionics processor, three 6 X 8-in. multifunction displays and a secondary flight display system, the upgrade also included a BAE Systems ALQ-221 advanced defensive system that incorporated both electronic countermeasures and radar warning receivers.

Helley称，增强型显示器将使飞行员能够“收集数据并更快地做出反应”，“使他们能够做出更好[更]明智的决定”。这将包括通过F - 35的快速切换狭窄定向多功能先进数据链Link 16以及F - 22的低可侦测机率和低可窃听机率机上数据链等多种战术数据链跟第四和第五代飞机进行连接和通讯。考虑到这些数据链都不兼容，U-2S将通过EMC2跟所有版本通信。

Helley says the enhanced displays will enable pilots to “collect data and respond faster” as well as “allow them to make better and [more] informed decisions.” Part of this will include communicating and connecting with both fourth- and fifth-generation aircraft via multiple tactical data links such as Link 16, the F-35’s fast-switching narrow directional multifunction advanced data link and the F-22’s low-probability-of-detection and low-probability-of-intercept inflight data link. Given that none of these data links are compatible, the U-2S will communicate with all versions through the EMC2.

ATR升级使能在高海拔作业的U-2走上了为空军提供ABMS网络结构关键节点的道路，洛克希德马丁公司多年来一直在朝着这个目标努力。最初设想为机载作战管理系统，“A”现在代表“先进”，同时还象征着空军更远大的雄心，在陆、海、空及太空领域跟陆军、海军和海军陆战队共享数据。现在，随着“臭鼬工厂”开始资助U-2航空电子设备的初始改造工作，洛克希德马丁公司也相信，该公司快速开发的能力可以在ABMS的早期测试和部署中发挥关键作用。

The ATR upgrade puts the high-altitude-capable U-2 on the path toward providing the Air Force with a key node in the service’s ABMS network construct, a vision that Lockheed Martin has been steering the aircraft toward for several years. Originally conceived as the Airborne Battle Management System, the “A” now stands for “Advanced” and embraces a more comprehensive Air Force ambition to share data with and between Army, Navy and Marine Corps assets across land, sea, air and space domains. Now, as the Skunk Works begins funded work on the initial U-2 avionics modification, Lockheed also believes the company’s ability to fast-track development efforts could play a key role in early test and deployment of the ABMS.

“对于JADC2（联合全域指挥控制）的未来有很多讨论，”Helley说。“因为我们有能力将这个概念直接展示出来，然后在几个月而非几年的时间里就有能力进行实地验证，U-2已经真正成为证明这些能力的完美试验平台。通过这次航空电子技术的更新，我们希望成为空军现今首个完全符合OMS的机群。”

 “There’s so much talk about what the future holds for JADC2 (joint all-domain command and control),” Helley says. “Because of our ability to take the concept straight to demonstration—and then to have the capability in the field in months, rather than years—the U-2 has really become the perfect testbed to prove out those capabilities. With this avionics tech refresh effort, we’re looking to be the first fully OMS-compliant fleet out there in the Air Force today.”

升级后的U-2“真的会成为一种试验台卡车，无论2030年的未来平台会是什么样子，”Helley说。“它将能够降低这些技术的风险，并为今天在海外执行任务的作战人员提供服务。”洛克希德马丁公司的目标是在2021年中期开始部署临时能力，并希望在2022年初开始整个舰队的改装工作。

The upgraded U-2 “really is going to be kind of a testbed truck for whatever those future platforms of 2030 will look like,” Helley says. “It will be able to buy down the risk of those technologies and also serve the warfighter in today’s mission abroad.” Lockheed aims to field an interim capacity beginning as early as mid-2021 and hopes to begin the whole fleet modification effort in early 2022.

展望未来，根据“龙之星”计划，ATR“为U-2任务增加雷达或电光/红外传感器等下一代传感器架起了桥梁，”Thatcher说。“我们也在寻找机会，让Sigint[信号情报]能够迅速进入市场。”除了为战术数据链路提供“空中网关”外，他还补充说，升级计划“还将考虑增加带宽，以覆盖现有的一些链路，包括视距链路和超视距链路。”

Looking further ahead under the Dragon STAR plan, the ATR “bridges the way for the U-2 mission to add in next-generation sensors such as a radar or electro-optic/infrared sensor up in the nose,” Thatcher says. “We are also looking at opportunities for Sigint [signals intelligence] to be able to come in rapidly.” In addition to providing a “gateway in the sky” for tactical data links, he adds the upgrade plan “will also look at increasing the bandwidth that can go over some of the existing links as well, both on the line-of-sight and beyond-line-of-sight links.”

Many of these elements are either already underway or in planning. Flight tests of the first production version of the upgraded Raytheon ASARS-2B primary surveillance radar are due to start in 2021, although the Air Force is expected to issue a request for proposals for the follow-on ASARS-2C upgrade in fiscal 2022. The move to the -2C standard will involve upgrading the radar processor to exploit the full potential of the active, electronically scanned array antenna being introduced with the -2B.

美国空军、洛克希德马丁公司和柯林斯航空航天公司也在2月份宣布，毕业生光电侦察系统（SYERS）传感器的最新改型SYERS- 2C的飞行测试和部署已经完成。同时，诺斯罗普格鲁曼公司正在升级U-2上的机载信号情报有效载荷系统，以提供网络安全和系统增强。英国BAE系统公司ALQ-221高级防御系统的改进也包括在此次升级中。

The Air Force, Lockheed and Collins Aerospace also announced in February that flight testing and deployment of the latest variant of the Senior Year Electro-Optical Reconnaissance System (SYERS) sensor, SYERS-2C, has been completed. Meanwhile, Northrop Grumman is upgrading the Airborne Signals Intelligence Payload system that flies on the U-2 to provide cybersecurity and systems enhancements. Improvements to the BAE Systems ALQ-221 advanced defensive system are also included in the upgrade.

“我们说的是使新任务能快速支持任何作战人员需求的主机PODS，”Thatcher补充称，引用最近研发的空军研究实验室敏捷Pod——可重构传感器和通信有效载荷系统等系统。

 “We are talking about being able to host agile pods that give new mission capability at a rapid pace to support any given warfighter needs that come up,” Thatcher adds, referencing systems such as the recently developed Air Force Research Laboratory Agile Pod—a reconfigurable sensor and communications payload system.

整体升级计划还包括改进飞机的未来精确导航和定时（PNT）功能。现在给U-2飞行员配备Garmin D2 Charlie手表，它提供基于GPS和全球导航卫星系统信号的位置和航点定位信息，以增强飞机的导航系统。然而，就近期而言，导航增强将包括改进地图显示，作为座舱航空电子设备升级的一部分。

The overall upgrade plan also addresses improvements to the aircraft’s future precision navigation and timing (PNT) capability. U-2 pilots are now being given Garmin D2 Charlie wristwatches that provide location and waypoint positioning information based on GPS and Global Navigation Satellite System signals to augment the aircraft’s navigation systems. However, for the near term, navigation enhancements will include improved map displays as part of the cockpit avionics upgrade.

此外，还计划进行更长期的改变，包括增加星体跟踪系统，取代目前的惯性导航和GPS系统。Thatcher表示：“我们当然也希望能够将这种技术[能力]应用到飞机的主干上，这样飞行员就不必依赖其他技术了。”“这并不是说他们会摆脱[手表]或者不想把手表作为一个舒适区。但我们最终希望将[增强的导航能力]作为U-2的最终PNT来源，而且有能力跟飞机上的其他系统共享这些数据。”

Other, longer-term changes are planned, including adding a star-tracking system and replacing the current inertial navigation and GPS system. “We are definitely looking at being able to provide that [capability] into the backbone of the aircraft, too, and to not have the pilots need that reliance upon other technologies,” Thatcher says. “That’s not to say that they would ever get rid of [the wrist watch] or not want to have it as a comfort zone. But we ultimately want to have [enhanced navigation capability] baked in as the ultimate PNT source for the U-2, and also to have the ability to share that data with the other systems that are onboard the aircraft.”

除了这些操作上的改进以外，其他升级也在进行中，以解决过时的机身维持、头盔和全压服，以及通用（以前称作无人操纵的）航空航天系统指挥控制标准倡议的标准遵从问题。Helley表示，除此之外，他们还计划进行更多的升级，其中一些升级是秘密进行的。“我们正在跟合作伙伴进行其他一些现代化更新工作，但目前我们仍处于这些努力的早期规划阶段。我们还没有到可以更详细地讨论这些问题的地步，而且其中一些项目可能仍属于机密范畴，”她补充道。

Along with these operational improvements, other upgrades are in the works to address obsolescence concerns with airframe sustainment, the helmet and full-pressure suit, and Universal (formerly Unmanned) Aerospace Systems Command and Control Standard Initiative standards compliance. Beyond this, more upgrades—some of them secret—are planned, says Helley. “There are a number of other refresh modernization efforts that we are working on with our affiliates, but right now we’re still in the early planning phases of those efforts. We are not quite to the place where we can talk about them in greater detail, and a number of those items will probably remain on the classified side of the fence,” she adds.

扩大U-2S任务能力是机身的三个战略计划目标之一，Helley表示。“为了实现现代化，我们一直在扩充我们的工程设计和制造团队。”另一个就是发展舰队。“因此，我们一直在努力提高PDM[程序化仓库维护]的速度，并将另一个机尾号重新引入舰队，”她补充道，她指的是尾号为80-1099的飞机翻新。这架飞机是2008年8月在阿拉伯联合酋长国Al Dhafra空军基地发生的地面事故中受损的单座模型。加上重建的飞机和四架双座教练机，拟议升级的机队将有31架飞机。

Expanding U-2S mission capability forms one of three strategic program goals for the airframe, Helley says. “For the modernization, we’ve been growing our engineering and manufacturing team.” Another is growing the fleet. “So we’ve been working in ways to increase the rate at which we do PDM [programmed depot maintenance], as well as introducing another tail number back into the fleet,” she adds, referring to the refurbishment of tail number 80-1099. That aircraft is a single-seat model that was damaged in an August 2008 ground accident at Al Dhafra airbase, in the United Arab Emirates. Together with the rebuilt aircraft and four two-seat trainers, the planned upgraded fleet will number 31 aircraft.

“它们最近把机尾[1099]装进了主工具，这就开始了对受损区域的主要修复工作，”Helley表示。“所以修复过程将持续到明年去。紧接着就是项目仓库维护，而且他们预计最早将在2022年恢复服务。”

 “They recently loaded that tail [1099] into the main tool, which begins the main rework on the areas that were damaged,” Helley says. “So the restoration processes will be worked on over the next year. It will be immediately followed by program depot maintenance, and they’re anticipating a return to service as early as 2022.” 

这条消息是Guy Norris在Aviation Week & Space Technology发表的文章。 《Aviation Week & Space Technology》由人脉最广、经验最丰富的记者团队提供支持，为新趋势、最佳操作实践和政策、要求和预算的持续更新提供关键情报。 点击此处查看有关Aviation Week & Space Technology更多消息。