cannabineer
Ursus marijanus
And low drag.That thing looks like it has some serious lift.
It weighs six tons at takeoff (almost half that is fuel) and is designed to spend at least 18h loitering at 200 mph and more than 60 thousand feet. This is close to the “coffin corner” in which the U-2 lives. As you go higher, indicated airspeed (which is dependent on altitude) drops, but actual airspeed does not. There is a V(ne), “never exceed” airspeed, that is dependent on actual airspeed. If you exceed that speed, things start to come off the airframe. This generally worsens all flight characteristics.
Stall speed is a function of indicated airspeed. So at the top attainable altitude, stall speed crowds V(ne). Should the two converge, you stop flying. Early jet pilots figured this out in shapes that had poor stall/spin recovery habits. Thus the “coffin corner” on an airspeed/altitude graph of the “flight envelope”, the set of airspeeds, altitudes and other parameters within which flight is possible.
The U-2 at operational altitude has maybe five knots between Low Fucked and High Fucked. It takes a special sort of pilot to stay there for hours and hours.
Add to that the unique difficulties in bringing it safely down on the round rubber bits. U-2 drivers must master these two areas of great skill if they want flight status.