Documents / Official release

CIA-UAP-003, The Central Intelligence Agency and Overhead Reconnaissance; The U-2 and OXCART Programs, 1954-1974

Central Intelligence Agency · 1954 · 406 pages · text from the file's own layer

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.

Open the PDF at page 352 Original source ↗

“The Advance”34 pages

  • p. 6 …255 The Phaseout of the Office of Special Activities ........ ................... 257 0 ) Chapter 6 The U-2…
  • p. 7 …319 Advances in Technology............................................... ........................... 320 Cooperation With the Air Force ............................................................. 321 Impact of the Overhead Reconnaissance…
  • p. 22 …retired from the Air Force to become the assistant director of Lockheed's Advanced Development Program…
  • p. 24 11 / Chapter 1 gravity (g's) instead of the military specification strengLh of 5.33 g…
  • p. 32 …lithium deuteride, a tech nology more advanced than the heavy water method used by US '' BEACON…
  • p. 33 …between the developed and undeveloped nations. This aggressive Soviet foreign policy. combined with advances in nuclear…
  • p. 58 …secrecy in the new project, Kelly Johnson placed it in Lockheed's Advanced Development facility at…
  • p. 65 …His software algorithms made it possible to model lens designs and determine in advance the effects…
  • p. 76 …seen on pilot Francis Gary Powers) advanced gear for the U-2 pilots. David Clark expert…
  • p. 111 …of Soviet advances in long-range bombers and missiles. The initial sighting of the new Soviet…
  • p. 114 …Adenauer be informed in advance of US plans to overfly the Soviet Union from bases in…
  • p. 174 …concentrating on developing the more advanced solid-fueled missiles rather than increasing the num ber of…
  • p. 183 …if the Soviet SAMs received sufficient advanced warning, they posed a major threat to the U…
  • p. 191 …the cover story that had been prepared and distributed in advance of the mission. The first…
  • p. 206 …In 1965 the head of OSA received a new title, Director of Special Activities. The Office…
  • p. 235 …STPOLLY added the more advanced Lockheed P3A in 1963. Between 1955 and 1967, when the CIA…
  • p. 249 …The Defense Department feared that the loss of this device with its highly advanced traveling-wave…
  • p. 250 …Chapter 5 Advanced ECM Equipment for Detachment H Demand for overhead photography of the PRC continued…
  • p. 252 …In addition, the Project TACKLE U-2s began receiving even more advanced ECM • 60 equipment. •• Mission…
  • p. 265 …but some was the result of technological advances. The ini tial order for eight of the…
  • p. 266 …This camera was actually a very advanced version of the original B camera with a new…
  • p. 282 …aircraft from the small inventory of its most advanced bomber. Even had the B-588 program…
  • p. 295 …In fact, it was an advanced version of the highly reliable B camera developed for the…
  • p. 296 …Prospective pilots had to be qualified in the most advanced fighters and be emotionally stable and…
  • p. 307 …advanced experimental jet aircraft, the A-11. which has been tested in sustained flight at more…
  • p. 310 …It was now time to find work for the most advanced aircraft ever conceived and built…
  • p. 321 …advanced aircraft ever .built was to be put out to pasture. The aban donment of the…
  • p. 325 …when the OXCART program ended in the summer of 1968, no mcire advanced successor was wait…
  • p. 326 …The most advanced aircraft of the 20th century had become an anachronism before it was ever…
  • p. 333 …ADVANCES IN TECHNOLOGY One very important byproduct of the CIA's manned reconnaissance program was the…
  • p. 334 …the end of the usefulness of the world's most advanced aircraft; its offspring, the SR…
  • p. 335 …Thus, the CIA sponsored the development of the world's most advanced aircraft-the OXCART-and…
  • p. 352 …They believed that recent advances in the minia turization of electronic technology would make possible the…
  • p. 356 343 Defense Research and Engineering, John Foster, liked the concept and provided DOD funding for ORD…
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Secret NOFORN-
Appendix E
APPENDIX E
Unmanned Reconnaissance Projects
AQUILINE
In the early l 960s, there were many problems in obtaining coverage
of hostile territory. The U-2 was too vulnerable to Soviet sur
face-to-air missiles, as had been demonstrated by losses over the
Soviet Union, Cuba, and the People's Republic of China. The
OXCART was still under development and even when completed
might prove vulnerable to Soviet radars and missiles. Although safe
from interception, the newly developed photosatellites could not pro
vide coverage of a desired target on short notice. Because several of
the intelligence community's primary targets such as Cuba and the
new Soviet radar installation at Tallinn (Estonia) were not located
deep in hostile territory, CIA scientists and engineers began to con
sider the possibility of using small, unmanned aircraft for aerial
reconnaissance. They believed that recent advances in the minia
turization of electronic technology would make possible the
development of a reconnaissance vehicle with a very-low-radar cross
section and small visual and acoustical signatures. Such a vehicle
could reconnoiter an area of interest without the hostile country real
izing that it had been overflown.
In mid-1965, David L. Christ, chief of the Office of Research
and Development's Applied Physics Division, and Frank Briglia of
the same office began working on the concept of a small, inexpensive
aircraft that would be about the size of a large bird and could carry
various payloads for photography, nuclear sensing, and ELINT collec
tion. ORD soon formed a Special Projects Group to develop the air
craft with Briglia as the project manager. Only one firm-the Douglas
Aircraft Company-responded favorably to a request for proposal
to study the feasibility of a low-altitude reconnaissance system. On
15 November 1965, Douglas received a study contract. This was
followed by two Agency contracts on 21 November 1966 for the
development of an operational low-altitude intelligence-gathering
system. Further contracts followed in 1968 and 1969.
The AQUILINE prototype developed by Douglas Aircraft
(which became part of McDonnell-Douglas in 1969 as the result of a
merger) was essentially a powered glider with an 8.5-foot wingspan.
The aircraft weighed only 105 pounds. AQUILINE's tail-mounted en
gine drove a two-bladed propeller. Powered by a small 3.5-horse
power two-cycle engine originally developed by the McCullough
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Official release, from the pursue collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 406 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.