Lockheed Martin is mounting a strong defense of the U-2 spy plane program after the Pentagon announced its intention to retire its entire fleet of legacy Dragon Lady intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft in favor of Northrop Grumman's unmanned RQ-4 Global Hawk. Lockheed, the ageing platform's prime contractor, said it will wait until Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel submits the Pentagon's fiscal year 2015 budget request to Congress before "addressing specifics," but was quick to claim the U-2's intelligence-gathering and performance...
