The US Air Force recently awarded Collins Aerospace an indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract worth up to $493 million for work the service’s U-2 Dragon Lady program.
Collins Aerospace will be responsible for maintaining the air force’s fleet of U-2 electro-optical/infrared sensors. The USAF also awarded Collins a $66.2 million task order for the first year of support, and fully-negotiated options for the second and third years of services and support valued at $114.6 million.
Collins Aerospace received the contracts after completing the Senior Year Electro-Optical Reconnaissance System (SYERS) sensor, SYERS-2C, upgrade on the Dragon Lady fleet in 2020 together with Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works.
“Collins is proud to ensure the U-2 platform’s ongoing mission readiness with reliable and mature ISR assets that support USAF technology insertions, modernization and information dominance initiatives,” said Dave McClure, vice president and general manager of ISR & Space Solutions for Collins Aerospace. “These awards continue our 60+ years of unparalleled end-to-end sustainment support for the U-2 and our team’s commitment to the warfighter.”
Routinely flown at altitudes over 70,000 feet, the U-2 is a single-seat, single-engine, high-altitude/near space reconnaissance and surveillance aircraft providing signals, imagery, and electronic measurements and signature intelligence, or MASINT.
