Unidentified US recon aircraft over Israel in October 1973

[datafuser]

Below is from the minutes of Washington Special Actions Group Meeting on 8 October 1973 about the Yom Kippur War.



http://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76v25/d131


What aircraft type were they talking about? Surely not the SR-71, which was mentioned and declassified in other documents.


==========



Adm. Moorer: We stood down our reconnaissance flights in the Eastern Mediterranean. We are prepared [2 lines not declassified].


Secretary Kissinger: That’s preferable to the U–2?


Mr. Colby: Yes, the U–2 isn’t very good for this.


Secretary Kissinger: That’s a helluva lot better than the U–2. Will that be picked up on radar?


Mr. Clements: Yes.


Secretary Kissinger: Will it fly over Israel?


Adm. Moorer: Yes. [less than 1 line not declassified]


Mr. Clements: It won’t be a secret. They’ll pick it up on radar and hear the boom.


Adm. Moorer: No, there’s no boom.


Mr. Schlesinger: We can put it on alert. It takes 48 hours to get ready. We can cancel within the 48 hours if we want to.


Secretary Kissinger: Yes, let’s put it on alert. We have 48 hours to stand it down. Joe (Sisco) will you watch that for me?


Mr. Sisco: I’ll alert you one way or the other.

 

[Stargazer]

Veeeery interesting.

 

[Mr London 24/7]

Think it is in other open-source that this was SR-71...

I think you will find that sensitivity was of operation over friendly country in circumstances of region at the time.

 

[TomS]

Yeah, that would be my guess. Possibly the operating location or flight path would make the SR-71 classified in this context even if its use could be declassified in other contexts. Heck, it could even be a matter of who did the declassification review -- different reviewers interpret the guidelines differently, resulting in inconsistent declassification even on the same basic topic.

 

[datafuser]

In this 24 October 1973 document, both the U-2 and SR-71 were mentioned.

http://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76v25/d261

Schlesinger: We must decide whether to use the U–2 or the SR–71. The U–2 has a better camera.

Colby: We could run a joint recce with the Soviets.

Schlesinger: Should we look at Latakia, etc? We have our troubles with Qaddafi. I suspect shipments are going to Egypt through Libya. The SR–71 could fly down to Libya on the coast on its return.

Kissinger: O.K. We got away pretty well with the last one. If they complain about tomorrow, we could say it’s to fix the ceasefire lines.

Colby: If we could get the assurance that Egypt wouldn’t fire at the U–2, we could fly it from [less than 1 line not declassified].

Kissinger: I don’t think they would.

Colby: The only important coverage is the Canal.

 

[datafuser]

BTW if it had been the SR-71 indeed, it's good to know that the SR-71 needed 48 hours to get ready and would have been picked up on radar.

 

[hesham]

Hi,


I think they meant SR-71,all references announced for that,but if they thought
in anther design,probably the Beech Model-1019 or its developed Models was
the suitable for this,after special preparing of course,it can fly over 80.000 ft,
and easy to switch it into a recon RPV.

 

[Stargazer]

How to explain the following statement: "there’s no boom"? Just because of the altitude of the SR-71?

 

[SOC]

Probably the Blackbird. The first SR-71 sortie over the Yom Kippur war region was on 13 October.

 

[airtobs]

for battle surveillance wouldn't it be something like a Mohawk or a KingAir? using the clue of the "no boom"

 

[Mr London 24/7]

the Israeli government had not been informed in advance about the missions

The missions were not declassified until the early 1990’s

http://webs.lanset.com/aeolusaero/Articles/Jim_Wilson_Yom_Kippur_War_SR71_flight-25Jan10.pdf

(Oct 6th 1973)

 

[hesham]

By the way,


we must transfer this thread into Aerospace section.


And during early 1970s,Egypt had a four Russian MiG-25R,and President Sadat offered to
purchase them,but USSR refused,if we had them,we could intercepted SR-71 in the air.

 

[hesham]

And during early 1970s,Egypt had a four Russian MiG-25R,and President Sadat offered to
purchase them,but USSR refused,if we had them,we could intercepted SR-71 in the air.

A rare picture to MiG-25R operated in Egypt early 1970s.

Aeroplane Monthly 1/2016.

 

[NeilChapman]

BTW if it had been the SR-71 indeed, it's good to know that the SR-71 needed 48 hours to get ready and would have been picked up on radar.

I wonder if the 48 hours had more to do with the tanker requirement - getting the tankers to the right locations. It did use JP7.

 

[hesham]

And during early 1970s,Egypt had a four Russian MiG-25R,and President Sadat offered to
purchase them,but USSR refused,if we had them,we could intercepted SR-71 in the air.

A rare picture to MiG-25R operated in Egypt early 1970s.

Aeroplane Monthly 1/2016.

Anther picture to MiG-25 over Egypt,real one.

 

[SOC]

And during early 1970s,Egypt had a four Russian MiG-25R,and President Sadat offered to
purchase them,but USSR refused,if we had them,we could intercepted SR-71 in the air.

How was an aircraft incapable of carrying air to air weaons going to intercept a Blackbird?

 

[hesham]

As I heard,

some variants of MiG-25 recce aircraft fitted with two air-to-air missile,and I have an old picture to a
recon version armed.

 

[flanker]

And during early 1970s,Egypt had a four Russian MiG-25R,and President Sadat offered to
purchase them,but USSR refused,if we had them,we could intercepted SR-71 in the air.

A rare picture to MiG-25R operated in Egypt early 1970s.

Aeroplane Monthly 1/2016.

Anther picture to MiG-25 over Egypt,real one.

I sincerely hope you are joking, because that is as real as Big Foot. And no, MiG-25R could not carry weapons.