Documents / FOIA release
This is a CIA History Staff monograph by Gregory W. Pedlow and Donald E. Welzenbach, written in 1992 and approved for release in 2011. It covers the CIA's manned overhead reconnaissance program from 1954 to 1974 and its two aircraft, the U-2 and the A-12 OXCART. It follows their development, the overflights of the Soviet Union, the downing of Francis Gary Powers in 1960, and later operations. One section is titled "U-2s, UFOs, and Operation BLUE BOOK."
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CO5653421 UNCLASSIFIED Secret Chapter 7 320 involvement in Indochina, U-2 photo g raphy provided accurate and up-to-date intelligence to US policymakers and field commanders, as- sisting them in crisis management and the planning of military opera- tions. Agency U-2s also assisted in monitorin g cease-fire agreements in the Middle East, with operations occurring after an undeclared war in 1970 and the 1973 Middle East war. By the time the OXCART became fully operational, manned strategic reconnaissance of the Soviet Union was no longer seriously considered. The political risks were too high. especially since the quality of intelligence from reconnaissance satellites was increasing steadily. Thus, the OXCART's only operational use was for collecting tactical intelligence in the Far East. Like the U-2, the OXCART g ath- ered valuable intelligence during crisis situations. Thus, in January 1968, OXCART photography revealed the location of the USS Pueblo and showed that the North Koreans were not preparing any large-scale military activity in conjunction with the ship's seizure. ADVANCES IN TECHNOLOGY One very important byproduct of the CIA's manned reconnaissance program was the many advances in technology that it generated. Thanks to simplified covert procurement arran gements and the lack of detailed and restricting specifications, creative desi g ners such as Kelly Johnson produced state-of-the-art aircraft in record time. The U-2. desi g ned to carry out reconnaissance missions for two years at best, proved so successful that, even after its original area of activity became too dangerous for overfli g hts at the end of four years, the air- craft served the CIA well for another 14 years and still is in service with other government agencies. The OXCART is an even better example of the technological ad- vances generated by the CIA's reconnaissance program. Although the OXCART was designed almost 30 years ago and first flown in 1962. its speed and altitude have never been equaled. The development of this aircraft also led to the use of new materials in aircraft construc- tion. Unfortunately. the technolo g ical breakthroughs that made the OXCART possible took longer than expected. By the time the aircraft was ready for operations, the missions originally planned for it were not practicable. The tremendous technological achievement repre- sented by the OXCART ultimately led to the aircraft's demise by in- spiring the Air Force to purchase its own version of the aircraft. The 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.