Airforces

Operation Inherent Resolve

In the days before the start of Operation

Inherent Resolve (OIR) in October 2014, U-2s

of the 99th ERS were gathering intelligence in

the Middle East under the auspices of the 380th

Air Expeditionary Wing (AEW). Their particular

focus was terrorist activity by so-called Islamic

State (IS) in Iraq’s Anbar province and they

were supported by the same squadron’s RQ-4B

Block 20s unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

Few details of U-2 missions during OIR

are available, but press releases from US

Air Forces Central Command (USAFCENT)

and reports from various news agencies

have shed light on some of the significant

missions conducted by the 99th ERS.

As early as July 3, 2014, U-2s 80-1066 and

80-1079 flew an intelligence, surveillance and

reconnaissance (ISR) mission over Iraq and

the border with Syria. The first aircraft was

equipped with the Senior Year Electro-Optical

Reconnaissance System (SYERS) – the U-2’s

The US Air Force’s U-2 ‘Dragon Lady’ spyplanes have played

a key intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance role over

Syria and Iraq since the start of Operation Inherent Resolve,

as Babak Taghvaee recounts.

Dragon Lady at war

Above: A member of the 380th Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron stands guard in front of a U-2S

at Al Dhafra in February 2017. USAF/SrA Tyler Woodward Below: U-2 pilot Maj Ryan climbs into the cockpit

before fl ying a sortie in support of Combined Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve on February

2 last year. During the mission, the aircraft became the second U-2 in the USAF fl eet to complete 30,000

hours of fl ight – and the fi rst to reach the milestone fl ying expeditionary missions under AFCENTCOM.

USAF/SrA Tyler Woodward

http://www.airforcesmonthly.com #362 MAY 2018 // 67