In an era of drone aircraft, spy satellites and cyber-warfare, it's easy to be awed by the military's high-tech hardware.
It's not as easy to be impressed by something that has been around since the Eisenhower administration. And yet, the Pentagon is proposing to hang onto a piece of equipment that dates back that far — the U-2 spy plane.
The U-2 has been an intelligence-gathering workhorse for the CIA and U.S. military for decades. It perhaps may be best known for the incident in which pilot Francis Gary Powers was shot down over the former Soviet Union in 1960, but U-2s today are still flying crucial missions, including hunting for al-Qaida terrorists.
The Los Angeles Times reports that the fleet of 33 U-2s was supposed to be replaced over the next few years with RQ-4 Global Hawk drones. But due to budget cuts and the $176 million price tag for a drone, the U-2 could fly for another decade.
Most of the U-2's capabilities are classified. But analysts told the newspaper that the airplane has been upgraded, including sensors that enable it to listen to cellphone conversations and to "smell" the air for chemical plumes from a potential underground nuclear lab.
Keeping the U-2 flying is a solid, cost-conscious decision, of course. But it's also somehow reassuring to see that there's still a role for old tech.
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