[sci.military] U-2's in the Gulf?

sandro@lhc.nlm.nih.gov (Michael D'Alessandro) (11/19/90)

From: sandro@lhc.nlm.nih.gov (Michael D'Alessandro)
 
I'm interested to know if anyone is aware of how U-2R's and TR-1's are
being utilized in the Gulf.  Has anyone seen any articles on this in
Aviation Week or in any of the papers?

Specifically, I'd like to know if any ASAR-2 equipped TR-1's are in the
gulf.  My U-2 books describe this SAR sensor in detail, but never say if
it has been deployed operationally.  (My latest U-2 book is copyrighted
from 1988...)  For those who don't know, ASAR stands for Advanced Synthetic
Aperature Radar which can give ground commanders a real time picture of
enemy movement up to 50 miles behind the battle line.

Finally -- could someone tell me what JSTARS is?  I believe it is some
sensor suite deployed in KC-135 derived aircraft that is in testing
right now.  What exactly does it do, and what plans are there for 
deploying it in the Gulf?

Michael
--
Michael D'Alessandro, M.D.
The Lister Hill National Center for Biomedical Communications
Educational Technology Branch
The National Library of Medicine               sandro@lhc.nlm.nih.gov

bsmart@uunet.UU.NET (Bob Smart) (12/03/90)

From: vrdxhq!vrdxhq.verdix.com!bsmart@uunet.UU.NET (Bob Smart)

in article <1990Nov19.003359.11168@cbnews.att.com>, sandro@lhc.nlm.nih.gov (Michael D'Alessandro) says:
>  
> I'm interested to know if anyone is aware of how U-2R's and TR-1's are
> being utilized in the Gulf.  Has anyone seen any articles on this in
> Aviation Week or in any of the papers?

I remember a story told me by a senior NCO I worked with on the flightline.

When he was in Danang he took a lot of flightline photos. He would take them
to the Base Exchange to get them developed. When he got a couple rolls back
he noticed that none of the photos or negatives of the U-2s were there. He
asked the guy running the photoshop if he had screwed up the exposure or
what else was wrong so he wouldn't make the same mistake again. The photo
shop manager asked him what photos. "the ones I took of the two U-2s that
were her yesterday"

Manager: "you didn't have any photos like that, you must have been mistaken
          about the aircraft you sure it wasn't some prop plane you know all
          those straight wing aircraft look alike"

NCO: "I know a U-2 when I see one"

Manager: " you must have been mistaken THERE ARE NO U-2s IN VIETNAM"

NCO: "There were two here yesterday for a few hours"
Manager: (Looking him straight in the eye with a straight face and stern tone)
        "You must not have heard me THERE ARE NO U-2s IN VIETNAM so you could
         not have taken any photos of one"
He got the message ( and began sending his film home for developing)

Bob Smart ( bsmart@verdix.com) ex B32678 AFSC ( Comm,Nav,ECM flightline)