* In the mid-1950s, during the height of the Cold War, the need to perform surveillance of the Soviet Union led the United States to develop a high-flying reconnaissance aircraft, the "Lockheed U-2". Overflights of the USSR came to an abrupt end in 1960, when the Soviets shot down a U-2 and captured its pilot. However, that was only the beginning of the career of the U-2 which, in its modernized "U-2S" form, remains a valuable US intelligence asset. This document provides a history and description of the U-2.
