Documents / FOIA release
This is a CIA History Staff monograph by Gregory W. Pedlow and Donald E. Welzenbach, published in Washington in 1992 and approved for release in 2011. It covers the CIA's manned overhead reconnaissance program from 1954 to 1974, which developed and flew the U-2 and the A-12 OXCART. It traces the U-2's development, the overflights of the Soviet Union, the downing of Francis Gary Powers on 1 May 1960, and later operations. One section is titled U-2s, UFOs, and Operation BLUE BOOK.
“United Press”14 pages
-0O5653421 UNCLASSIFIED "Stveret-NORMAL—_ Chapter 6 268 Rodgers determined that a high-altitude object moving two to three times as fast as a normal aircraft would produce such a small blip with so little persistence that the radar operator would have great difficulty tracking it, if indeed he could even see it. Rodgers esti- mated that for an aircraft to take advantage of this Blip/Scan Ratio phenomenon it must fly at altitudes approaching 90,000 feet and have a radar cross section of less than 10 square meters, preferably not much over 5 square meters. However, for a Mach 3.0 aircraft to achieve such a small radar cross section, its designers would have to make many concessions in its structural design and aerodynamics.' By the summer of 1959, both firms had completed their propos- als. In early June, Lockheed submitted a design for a ground-launched aircraft known as the A-11. It would have a speed of Mach 3.2, a range of 3,200 miles, an altitude of 90,000 feet, and a completion date of January 1961.Kelly Johnson had refused to reduce the aerodynam- ics of his design in order to achieve a greater antiradar capability, and the A-1 l's radar cross section, although not great, was substantially larger than that of the much smaller parasite aircraft being designed by Convair.9 The Convair proposal called for a small, manned, ramjet-pow- ered, reconnaissance vehicle to be air launched from one of two spe- cially configured Convair B-5813 Super Hustlers. The FISH vehicle, a radical lifting body with a very-small-radar cross section, would fly at Mach 4.2 at 90.000 feet and have a range of 3.900 miles. Two Marquardt ramjets would power its Mach 4.2 dash over the target area. Once the FISH decelerated, two Pratt & Whitney JT-12 turbojets would bring it back to base. The ramjet exit nozzles and wing edges would be constructed of Pyroceram, a ceramic material that could withstand the high temperatures of very high speeds and would ab- sorb radiofrequency energy from radar pulses. Convair stated that the FISH could be ready by January 1961.0 Convair's proposal depended on two uncertain factors. First and foremost was the unproven technology of ramjet engines. At the time, no aircraft in existence could carry a large, ramjet-powered craft into the sky and then accelerate to sufficient speed for the ramjet engines 'Unnumbered Conva r document on the Blip/Scan Ratio or Rodgers Effect (TS). 'Johnson. "Archangel log. - December 1958-July 1959. OSA History. chap. 20. p. 12 (TS Codeword): Convair Division. General Dynamics Corporation. "Project FISH Status Review." 9 June 1959 (S). UNCLASSIFIED
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FOIA release, from the cia-readingroom collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is under it. 406 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.