Modernization of U-2 Dragon Lady Flight Test Instrumentation System and Utilization of Airborne Datalink for CH10 Telemetry

Abstract

A demand for improvements in infrastructure and increased flight test demonstration cadence has resulted in a boom of flight test activity for the U-2 Dragon Lady, which celebrated its 65th year of flight in 2020. Upgrades in airborne instrumentation hardware and the utilization of a networked data acquisition infrastructure have allowed U-2 Flight Test Instrumentation (FTI) to meet the requirements of modern flight test while minimizing modification impacts. These upgrades resulted in a flexible telemetry system that can be deployed on any U-2 fleetwide.