The U.S. doesn't have the money to replace the U-2 spy plane

The Pentagon has proposed freezing a plan to replace the U-2 with an unmanned aircraft - the RQ-4 Global Hawk reconnaissance drone

The U-2 spy plane was developed during the Eisenhower administration to look behind the Iron Curtain and photograph secret Soviet military facilities.
Although the plane famously was shot down over the Soviet Union in 1960 with the capture of pilot Francis Gary Powers, the U-2 continues to play an important role in U.S. national security. For example, hunting al Qaeda in the Middle East. Previously, the plane was scheduled to be decommissioned in 2015, now it will fly for the next decade (presumably until 2023).
Since 1994, $1.7 billion has been invested in modernizing the U-2 airframe (new engines, cockpit, and reconnaissance equipment have also been installed). Since 2003, the U.S. Air Force has flown the U-2 for more than 95,000 hours.
Advanced sensors allow the U-2 to tap cell phones and pinpoint the caller's location on the ground. Some can even pick up the "smell" of air emanating from potential underground nuclear laboratories.
The U-2 successfully spies on some countries by flying over them at an altitude of 20,000 meters. At that altitude, few countries have the capability to destroy it.
Thirty-three pilots lost their lives during the U -2's lifetime.

Based on foreign press for ForTrader.org