Documents / Official release
This is a Secret History Staff monograph by Gregory W. Pedlow and Donald E. Welzenbach of the Central Intelligence Agency, published in 1992. It gives a history of the CIA's manned overhead reconnaissance program from 1954 to 1974, covering the development and operation of the U-2 and the A-12 OXCART aircraft. It covers overflights of the Soviet Union, the 1960 downing of Francis Gary Powers, and later operations. One section is titled "U-2s, UFOs, and Operation BLUE BOOK."
From the source:Release of 2026-06-12 This CIA History Staff document chronicles the complete history of the U-2 and OXCART (A-12) high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft programs from 1954 to 1974, detailing their development, operations over the Soviet Union and other targets worldwide, the famous downing of Francis Gary Powers in 1960, organizational reforms following that incident, and the eventual transfer of operations from CIA to Air Force control. A more redacted version of this document has been available on CIA's public website.
“RAF”18 pages
320 Sec, el NOI-O"N Chapter 7 involvement in fndochina, U-2 photography provided accurate and up-to-date intelligence to US policymakers and tield commanders, as sisting them in crisis management and the planning of military opera tions. Agency U-2s also assisted in monitoring 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 OXCARTs only operational use was for collecting tactical intelligence in the Far East. Like the U-2, the OXCART gath 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 arrangements and the lack of detailed and restricting specifications, creative designers such as Kelly Johnson produced state-of-the-art aircraft in record time. The U-2, designed 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 overflights 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 technological 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 See1et
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Official release, from the pursue 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.