central intelligence agency

Meant to post this last week: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2024/09/12/edward-johnson-argo-iran-america-diplomats-affleck/ Rest In Peace :(

The USN acquired 142 Lockheed EC121s in the early 50s to mount long-range early warning barrier patrols in the Atlantic and Pacific. The main strength was 5 sqns for each ocean with various cats and dogs supporting units. The barrier patrol lasted until 1965 and afterwards the USN transferred 30...

So as part of as a what-if scale model, I wrote up a backstory (if you want to see the whole build process check out whatifmodelers https://www.whatifmodellers.com/index.php?topic=53008.0). The interesting part was I wrote up a basic story and then used Google Gemini AI to re-write and basically...

The A-12 and the later SR-71 used the NAS-14v2 astro-inertial navigation system (ANS) from the 1960s, which was particularly interesting in the pre-GPS times. The set apparently looked like this...

This here is overview of several projects for NRO Keyhole Spy Sats like DORIAN, SPARTAN, SAMOS or FULCRUM MOL aka KH-10 DORIAN KH-11 KENNEN The SPARTAN reconnaissance satellite program Proposal to use NRO camera on Apollo Mission Source material...

Hi, from the CIA archive (link) a detailed report about the Verticon project, a photo recce payload to be used with Aerobee rockets.

The topic is so huge that when you listen to this it ends up just being the equivalent to an introductory chapter of a book. https://shows.acast.com/the-world-wars/episodes/the-cia-secret-drone-wars

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-63023876

I recently visited the United States Army Aviation Museum at Fort Rucker, AL, and I came across the McDonnell Douglas Mark II Batwing. I haven't been able to find any information on this aircraft other than what was on the Museum's sign, and the only evidence of its existence on the internet is...

https://www.thespacereview.com/article/4316/1

Good morning folks. I seem to remember back in the early 80's (1984 according to some research) there was a few satelite images released from a House Appropriations Committee of the MIG-29 and SU-27 on a runway during their respective developments (if I remember rightly) I also seem to remember...

The Mi8 Hip Prototype made its first flight on June 24th 1961 (images courtesy Of Russian Helicopters JSC) So over the years it’s been a pleasure to see either Mi8 or M17 so here are my photos from likes of Farnborough 2016, Heli-Russia 2017, Dubai Air Show 2017 and Austrian Airpower 2019...

I look true FOIA for new declassified CIA technical projects As i stumble on this "The Story of ADAM and EVE" After WTF? moment reading this i look into story about it. Around 1965 a certain Chan Thomas publish a book called "The Story of ADAM and EVE" in 1966 the CIA classified that Book...

More on link below including the declassified documents themselves. http://www.nro.gov/foia/declass/SIGINT_PhaseII.html

Apparently the SR 71 was able to evade Soviet air defences simply because it travelled too fast. The reason I am interested in this is that there were proposals in 1960/61 for a British ramjet missile (OR 1182) which would fly at speeds in excess of M = 2 and at high altitude. A report was...

Nice-looking new title from Crecy/Hikoki from RC-135-pilot-turned-historian Robert S Hopkins III. Spyflights & Overflights Cold War Aerial Reconnaissance RRP: £29.95 Few aviation subjects have been shrouded in more secrecy or been more controversial than cold war aerial reconnaissance. Former...

New article from AW, including an image captioned 'This accurate model show the original KH-11 design that, like Hubble, carried about a 8-ft. mirror but with a shorter instrument base section.' Just looks like an image of Hubble to me & it would be a first for an image of it to be reproduced of...

This topic for built and unbuilt aircraft projects for the CIA, which are no longer in service. Video: View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfz6hs-5Rog&feature=plcp Video: View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXD36XOCpQM Video: View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEkMh54otJ8 Wikipedia -...

I came across a photo a few days ago of a very interesting Hughes 500 that might have been operated by the most secretive of C.I.A. units, codenamed Seaspray. I started up a thread on ARC and it has a link to the photo in question. This unit has existed since around 1980 but I think this might...

AQUILINE was a CIA project to develop a low-flying surveillance RPV in the late 60s/early 70s. From "Air Force UAVs The Secret History": "The CIA developed a few UAVs through the Directorate of Science and Technology’s Office of Development and Engineering rather than through the NRO. The...