A Concise History of the US Air Force - Air Force Historical Studies ...
A Concise History of the US Air Force - Air Force Historical Studies ...
A Concise History of the US Air Force - Air Force Historical Studies ...
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Union. A more capable SR-71 Blackbird was soon available to replace<br />
<strong>the</strong> U-2, but by <strong>the</strong>n safer “national technical means” were available for<br />
intelligence-ga<strong>the</strong>ring .<br />
In part because <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Soviet Union’s success with Sputnik in<br />
October 1957, President Eisenhower in early 1958 established within <strong>the</strong><br />
DOD <strong>the</strong> Advanced Research Projects Agency, accelerating efforts to<br />
exploit space for reconnaissance purposes. The <strong>Air</strong> <strong>Force</strong> had begun<br />
investigating <strong>the</strong> use <strong>of</strong> satellites for this purpose as early as 1946, begin-<br />
ning actual development in October 1956 with a contract to Lockheed for<br />
<strong>the</strong> WS-117L (SAMOS) reconnaissance satellite. Dissatisfied with <strong>the</strong><br />
technical prospects <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> SAMOS, which transmitted images to Earth<br />
from space, in February 1958 Eisenhower approved Project CORONA, a<br />
CIA-<strong>Air</strong> <strong>Force</strong> effort to put into outer space a spy satellite capable <strong>of</strong><br />
ejecting film capsules for retrieval on earth. The first CORONA satellite,<br />
known publicly as Discoverer, went into space on February 28, 1959,<br />
atop a modified <strong>Air</strong> <strong>Force</strong> Thor IRBM. After twelve consecutive failures,<br />
complete success came with number 14 on August 18, 1960. It provided<br />
analysts with film coverage <strong>of</strong> more <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Soviet Union than all <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />
U-2 flights combined. This first successful CORONA satellite ended <strong>the</strong><br />
“missile gap” controversy, revealing that <strong>the</strong> Soviet Union possessed<br />
fewer IRBMs than <strong>the</strong> United States. Only a few SAMOS satellites were<br />
launched in <strong>the</strong> early 1960s. Designed to scan images in space and broad-<br />
cast <strong>the</strong>m as radio signals to receivers on <strong>the</strong> ground, SAMOS failed to<br />
return one usable photograph <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Soviet Union. Before leaving <strong>of</strong>fice<br />
56<br />
America’s need for vital strategic recon-<br />
naissance increased in <strong>the</strong> Cold War period.<br />
The single-engine Lockheed U-2 glider air-<br />
craft was developed to overfly and ga<strong>the</strong>r<br />
information on <strong>the</strong> Soviet Union, principally.<br />
It attained altitudes above 70,000 feet. To<br />
mask <strong>the</strong> U-2’s true purpose, <strong>the</strong> <strong>US</strong>AF at first<br />
designated it a “utility” vehicle.