Revisão SR-71

Udvar Hazy Center Training

SR-71 Overview

Oct 2010

DEFINITIONS

• SPYING - a person employed by a Gov to

Obtain secret info or intel on another Gov Alt – any person who clandestinely seeks info on people or projects for a profit

• ESPIONAGE – a covert act of spying on others often a systematic use of spies by a government to discover Military, Political, Economic secrets

• RECONNAISSANCE – An overt act of reconnaissance in the field.... a search made for useful military Information to inspect, observe, or survey for enemy positions, strengths, and intent, ect. No longer just military purposes in this blended Technology Age

HISTORY

Most earlier history HUMINT, human intelligence, was the primary source of information gathered and acted upon.

TECHNOLOGY IMPACT - Reconnaissance

- CIVIL WAR

-- First use of Hot Air Balloons to observe the battlefield from high ground by Union forces

-- Considered by historians as the First Modern war. Mass transportation, Industrial age production, Rapid telegraph communications, modern weapons, Battlefield photography, etc

WORLD WAR I

- FIRST MAJOR USE OF AIRCRAFT as observation aircraft with cameras and visual observers. Delayed information to decision maker until film developed and/or report filed

-- Caudron G4, Spad XVI, Hand Held Cameras with Black & White Photography & early radio reporting

WORLD WAR II

– First 6 British Spitfire aircraft built were recon versions that flew over Germany and discovered build-up prior to WW II. Cameras incorporated into airframe

--High Altitude Coldness and fogging problems on Window glass and film. Moisture causes film jamming and blurred images

-- Begin use of color film – resolution not as good as black & White but useful for camouflage detection

-- P-38 (F-5 reconnaissance version was excellent recon platform with cameras in the nose)

COLD WAR

– Heightened SPYING & RECONNASSANCE Activities

How do we get information we need from the closed society of Soviet Union and its satellite system of countries?

-- Early attempts to penetrate IRON CURTAIN using modified fighters and bombers; RF-100As(Slick Chick - Europe), RB-17s, RB-29s, RB-47Hs,

RF-86Fs(Haymaker – in Far East), British RB-57s, RB-36s, P-2s etc – With limited success. Most coverage of Eastern Satellite countries – Some Soviet Union Over flights – RB-47Hs Project Home Run - major over flights with multiple A/C over Siberia

-- 14+ Aircraft shot down and 170+ USAF, NAVY & ARMY crewmembers lost in early peripheral recon missions

-- Balloons were launched from German bases with Optical and IR sensors to fly over USSR. Fighters would provide protection until the balloons were high enough to be beyond the altitude reach of Soviet fighters. Randomly these missions were very successful if they happened to drift over fighter or bomber bases.

- U-2 background –

-- First aircraft built specifically to SPY and to be used to over fly Soviet Union & China

-- Kelly Johnson team wins award –Nov 54

--- P-38 (Major design contributor), P-80, F-104, U-2, (30+ aircraft designs) and his greatest developmental and fielding accomplishment - SR-71

--- U-2 built in less than nine months – 1st Flight Aug 55 – Test pilot Tony LaVier

--- First operational mission June 1956 flown from Wiesbaden, Germany flew over East Germany, Czechoslovakia, and Poland flown - Pilot Carl Overstreet

--- First Moscow over flight was on 5 July 1956 flown by Carmine Vito – This U-2 is displayed in the NASM on the Washington D.C. Mall

--- Surprised on first and early over flight missions with the U-2’s detection by Soviet Radars & U-2 cameras discovered the deployment of advanced Surface to Air Missile systems

--– Knew threat of Surface to Air Missile defense and radar coverage was growing in late fifties and even before the 1 May 60 shoot down of Gary Powers it was known that the aircraft was at risk from advancing USSR defense capabilities

---- Bissell, CIA, initiated Survivability Study in 1957 as directed by President Eisenhower after he briefed the President on the U-2’s risk – Key study findings would be that Supersonic speed, High Altitude, and low radar cross section (stealth) contribute most to survivability

---- Kelly Johnson first mentions ARCHANGEL in his diary in April 1958. He briefs Edwin Land committee on his concept on 21 July 1958. Mach 3 aircraft flying at 90,000ft.

---- Summer 1958 Bissell commission

reports back to President Eisenhower. Space not ready for collection – Corona project still not successful.

SPACE SATELLITES – not yet mature or successful

- CORONA

-- 12 failures before first successful flight

-- 13th Flight successful - carried no film Jun 60

-- 14th Flight on 8 August 1960 flew over Moscow as Gary Powers was on trial and in one pass filmed more area of the Soviet Union than all the U-2 flights up to that date. 40ft resolution initially and by Oct 67 6ft resolution or Oct 69 9ft resolution

MANNED REPLACEMENT REQUIRED with three advanced

characteristics: Mach 3 flight(2,000+mph), flying above 80,000 ft, and America’s first stealthy aircraft. Need for manned over flight with lower political risk solutions – To meet President Eisenhower’s concerns & prospective

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