Air Force Research Lab engineers from Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, last week visited Beale AFB, Calif., to determine how big or small and short or tall a U-2 pilot can be and still function well in the high-flying reconnaissance aircraft’s cockpit. During the May 21-24 visit, the AFRL officials used specialized equipment to measure 16 Beale airmen of varying sizes and heights in an operational U-2 cockpit in pressure suits. “We are trying to push the limits,” said Gregory Zehner, 711th Human Performance Wing senior physical anthropologist from Wright-Patt, in Beale’s May 23 release. He added, “We have to make sure each airman is safe to fly; it’s not just how tall they are, its proportions.” Zehner said the Air Force will use the data to help create “a much overdue baseline” for U-2 pilot selection. Reversing earlier plans, the Air Force now intends to operate the U-2 fleet for decades to come. (Beale report by SrA. Shawn Nickel)
While U.S. defense officials have spent much of the past decade warning that China is the nation’s pacing threat and its People’s Liberation Army represents an urgent threat in the Indo-Pacific, several defense researchers are skeptical that the PLA has the human capital, the structural ability, or the political appetite…