Its answer would be the A12, codename OXCART. Never the group to settle, and recognizing that it needed a capable successor to the U-2, CIAĬontinued in its search for aviation excellence. Over the Soviet Union was shot down by new-and-improved anti-aircraft weaponry. Unfortunately, technology was moving fast at that time, and in the spring of 1960, a U-2 plane flying military leaders and policymakers with timely intelligence on Soviet Images captured during the U-2 overflight program were essential to U.S. Plane was impervious to anti-aircraft weaponry, allowing it to safely travel over its targets without U-2 couldįly at a whopping 70,000 ft., twice as high as the average modern day airliner. At a top speed of 500 miles per hour, it wasn’t theįastest bird in the sky, but what made this plane truly exceptional was its flight altitude. The U-2 boasted some pretty impressive stats. That plane, a sleek power glider, would be called the U-2. And he thought CIA was just the group to get the job done.Īlways the over-achiever, CIA – in partnership with legendary Lockheed designer Kelly Johnson –Ĭreated, tested, and delivered a final product in just 18 months (and a few million dollars
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Military leaders the information they needed to make well-informed decisions about how to engage with United States more insight into the military capabilities of the Soviet Union.Įisenhower believed that overhead imagery of the Soviet Union would give U.S. Eisenhower asked CIA to create an overhead collection program that would give the Realized that it knew dangerously little about its new adversary. States had just entered into the Cold War against former World War II ally, the Soviet Union, and This story begins just a few years after the creation of CIA (1947), in the early 1950s. short of HALF the altitude of the A-12.ĭid you know that, once upon a time, CIA was in the plane-making business? It wasn’t a long career,
How high is 90,000 feet? Think about this… Mach 3.29, the A-12’s top speed, is roughly 2,500 miles per hour.A-12’s predecessor, the U2 had a top speed of 500 miles per hour.The fastest recorded speed of a car is 270 miles per hour.The average speed of NASCAR’s Daytona 500 race is about 200 miles per hour.The mighty cheetah, the world’s fastest land animal, tops out at about 58 miles per hour.The world’s fastest man, as of this writing, is hitting a top speed of 28 miles per hour.Just how fast was the A-12? Well, at Mach 3.29, it’s pretty darn fast. And at speeds reaching Mach 3.29, the A-12 was guaranteed to be the fastest plane in the sky. At a ceiling of 90,000 feet, the A-12 passed its older brother, the U-2, by 20,000 feet. CIA again partnered with Lockheed’s Kelly Johnson to develop a sleek reconnaissance aircraft that would surpass the U-2 in both altitude and speed.Ĭodenamed OXCART, the resulting A-12 product was a true feat of aviation engineering. Research for a supersonic successor to the U-2 began while the U-2 was still in development. Spy Planes of the CIA, Part Two: The A-12ĭid you miss Part One? Scroll down to check it out.
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