strategic reconnaissance

from ARDC TR-59-64 Advanced Concepts Study, Final Report. from USAF FOIA reading room. (edit: PDF split & now attached) A JT11-7A powered Booster Airplane launches a rocket vehicle & satellite payload with two solid fuelled stages and a storable liquid propellant third and fourth stages...

What it says on the tin...

Have I missed something? Have I overlooked something? See Chris Gibson's (new?) Avatar ...

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...

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

Hi, from the French magazine Le Fana de l'Aviation for the month of April (free Facebook page of the magazine):

G'day folks, consider this. The TSR2 goes into service and later requires a SLEP, what engines are avaulable and could a big wing be fitted/would it be an improvement?

https://media.defense.gov/2020/Nov/23/2002540204/-1/-1/1/B-70%20VARIANTS.PDF This is nice :)

Another cracking article from Mr Day. https://thespacereview.com/article/4051/1

Robert's latest book has gone to print and should be available, alongside the man himself, on the Crecy Publishing stand at IPMS Telford on 9th November 2019. Strategic Air Command in the UK Throughout its 46-year history, Strategic Air Command (SAC) was inextricably linked to the United...

http://www.thespacereview.com/article/3748/1 Top Secret DAMON: the classified reconnaissance payload planned for the fourth space shuttle mission by Dwayne A. Day Monday, July 1, 2019 The first military/intelligence payload ever scheduled to fly aboard the Space Shuttle was a top-secret...

Via https://twitter.com/HenriKenhmann Length 10m, wingspan 22m, MTOW 13t, cruise at 13km / 0.6Ma, Vmax 0.75Ma. Positioning: Strategic recognition and strikes high value targets. First flight 2019, serial production 2022.

http://thespacereview.com/article/3390/1 Black ops and the shuttle (part 3-1): Recovering spent HEXAGON reconnaissance satellites with the space shuttle by Dwayne A. Day Monday, December 11, 2017

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

Hi all, some time ago I find a very brief description of soviet balloon bombers of the '50-'60; they intended to use them in the same way the American used the GENETRIX and MELTING POT balloons for recce flights over the USSR...

What's everyone's recommendations for the best book on this American Cold War bomber?

Rest on the link. http://www.thespacereview.com/article/3160/1

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...