A U-2 crashed yesterday on its way back from a mission over Afghanistan, killing its pilot.
The official line is that the plane crashed in "southwest asia," with the actual country not being revealed due to "host country sensitivities." That said, it almost certainly crashed in or on the way to the United Arab Emirates, where the 380th Expeditionary Wing is based. CNN doesn't even bother to mention the "southwest asia" remark in their report:
The plane was not shot down; U-2s aren't the safest of aircraft. Newer models are apparently improving. The BBC report includes this odd remark on the topic:
But later versions, the U-2R and U-2S, though 40% bigger, are much more reliable.
That sentence implies that making a plane bigger would generally be expected to reduce its reliability.
Nothing yet on Al Jazeera's English-language site about it.