Air Launched Reconnaissance Satellites

[Dynoman]

I recently came across a declassified NRO document dated 1966 which listed air launched reconnaissance assets in the planning stage. They included TAGBOARD, ISINGLASS, S-103, S-104 (BG-1A, BG-2A), and S-105. I know TAGBOARD and ISINGLASS, and the S-105 matches the description of Project Town Hall, however the S-103 and S-104 vehicles are described below:

S-104 (BG-2A)
500 lb payload
4-6 ft Camera resolution
Altitude over target: 60 nm
Range: 7000nm
Launch Vehicle: B-52
Vehicle Speed: 25,500 fps
Vehicle Weight: 6800 lbs
Total Vehicle Weight at Launch: 96,500 lb
Propulsion: J-2 Rocket engine
46 months of Development Time

The S-103 has the same description, but with different weights. Any knowledge on these vehicles. I'm away from a scanner at the moment, but I try and post the page later.

 

[Dynoman]

The rest of the document describes the ISINGLASS program. I'll post more later on this, however it looks as if S-103 and S-104 were studies used to compare manned versus unmanned systems.

 

[xstatic3000]

Great find, Dynoman! I'm pretty sure that the document does not refer to any sort of satellite system, but we may have discovered another piece of the ISINGLASS/RHEINBERRY puzzle. I wonder if the "BG" designation refers to a boost glide vehicle? And could these be the aircraft redacted from the timeline shown in the declassified ISINGLASS documents?

We might want to consider moving this to that thread.......

 

[Dynoman]

Xstatic, I don't know if these (S-103 and/or S-104) were developed before ISINGLASS or in conjunction in order to show up on the CIA flowchart indicating a sequential pattern to some of the vehicles development.

I would think that the S-103/4 system would be potentially easier to develop and field over a manned system.

From the memorandom it appears that senior administrators of the NRO were concerned about a large and costly program if they pursued development of ISINGLASS. Therefore, a series of studies were conducted to determine the feasibility of ISINGLASS and if the threat posed by Soviet anti-aircraft systems would negate its approval.

The S-103/4 concept seems pretty interesting when stacked next to large programs like ISINGLASS, OXCART and TALENT.

 

[GeorgeA]

From the CREST site, a modified A-12 with a Polaris A3-based satellite launcher.

https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP66B00762R000100060002-6.pdf

Reference is made to a submarine-based satellite launching capability using Polaris that was concurrently under development.

 

[GTX]

From the CREST site, a modified A-12 with a Polaris A3-based satellite launcher.

https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP66B00762R000100060002-6.pdf

Reference is made to a submarine-based satellite launching capability using Polaris that was concurrently under development.

Interesting

 

[Archibald]

Much cleaned up...
- "integral Agena" ? no idea what's that could be. A boost-glide winged vehicle wrapped around Lockheed stage ?

- And 96500 pounds out of a B-52 ? wing pylon ? really ?

Stages combinations
- S-103 : Minuteman II & AJ10-41
- S-104, BG-1A : J-2 & Centaur
- S-104, BG-2A: J-2 & Integral Agena

TOWN HALL used a B-58 and Polaris was a favorite. S-103 is quite different. What's more, the whole bunch of "air launched reconnaissance satellites" documents are all dated from 1962. The document SC-2016 I attached has a 1966 date.

So this mean that air launched spysats were still considered a very long time after TOWN HALL...

 

[Archibald]

Checked a little further... AJ10-41 was the old "Able" engine.

As for S-105 - "Skybolt second stage" - but for what ?
- either as a second stage to send a payload into orbit
- or a rocket booster to help the ramjets kick in after the B-58 launch ?

Still no clear idea what "integral Agena" mean. Seems to be related to the Agena B, period 1958-1963.

Cleaned variant 2.0

 

[Archibald]

The Space Review: Blackbirds and black satellites: the A-12 OXCART as a satellite launcher

A whole bunch of threads on this very forum (merging some of them would be appreciable, dear moderators)

"town hall""B-58" site:https://www.secretprojects.co.uk - Google Search

There were parallel efforts involving B-58 and A-12, the same year: 1962. Both with Polaris missiles and CORONA cameras.

A-12 was faster, and would sustract 2000 m/s out of ascent to Earth orbit 9000 m/s.
But B-58 would only lose 400 m/s (-1600 m/s) and was tailor-made to drop large things at Mach 2.
There were also more of them (116 built against less than 40 A-12 airframes overall - M-21, SR-71, YF-12...)

 

[Orionblamblam]

I wonder if there are some high-quality diagrams of the AP-12 available somewhere... diagrams made with considerable care and effort... Hmmm.......

Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird - Origins & Evolution​