Documents / FOIA release

The Central Intelligence Agency and Overhead Reconnaissance; the U-2 and Oxcart Programs, 1954-1974

Central Intelligence Agency · 1900-01-01 · 406 pages · text by GLM-OCR

This is a 1992 CIA History Staff monograph by Gregory W. Pedlow and Donald E. Welzenbach, originally classified Secret NOFORN and approved for release in 2013. It covers the CIA's manned overhead reconnaissance program from 1954 to 1974 and the two aircraft it developed, the U-2 and the A-12 OXCART. The history covers the U-2 overflights of the Soviet Union, the 1960 downing of Francis Gary Powers and later operations in Asia and Latin America. It also includes a section on U-2s, UFOs and Operation BLUE BOOK.

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## Secret NOFORN

New Technologies Necessitated By OXCART’s High Speed... 279

Designing the OXCART’s Cameras... 281

Choosing Pilots for OXCART... 283

Selection of a Testing Site for the OXCART... 283

Delivery of the First OXCART... 286

Changes in the Project Management... 286

OXCART’s First Flights... 288

Speed-Related Problems... 290

New Versions of the OXCART... 291

The Question of Surfacing a Version of the OXCART... 292

Additional Problems During Final Testing... 295

Discussions on the OXCART’s Future Employment... 297

First A-12 Deployment: Operation BLACK SHIELD... 304

The End of the OXCART Program... 307

Possible Successors to the OXCART... 312

Summary of the OXCART Program... 313

◆ Chapter 7

Conclusion

U-2 Overflights of the Soviet Union... 315

Participation of Allies in the U-2 Program... 319

U-2s as Collectors of Tactical Intelligence... 319

Advances in Technology... 320

Cooperation With the Air Force... 321

Impact of the Overhead Reconnaissance Program on the CIA... 321

◆ Appendix A: Acronyms... 325

◆ Appendix B: Key Personnel... 327

◆ Appendix C: Electronic Devices Carried by the U-2... 335

◆ Appendix D: U-2 Overflights of the Soviet Union, 4 July 1954–1 May 1960

◆ Appendix E: Unmanned Reconnaissance Projects... 339

◆ Bibliography... 347

◆ Index... 355

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About this file

FOIA release, from the cia-readingroom collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. The text was read from the page images by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word. 406 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.