A-12 LOCKHEED'S MACH 3+ OXCART

摘要

The Lockheed U-2 was designed to use extreme altitude as protection against interception from fighters and surface-to-air missiles (SAMs). The first five covert Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) U-2 overflights of the Soviet Union (Project Aquatone) acquired more than 15,000 sq miles (38,850km2) of high-resolution photographic imagery (codenamed Chess). The highly classified intelligence reports based on the imagery gathered (codenamed Talent) enabled the CIA to confidently and accurately conclude for the first time that the West's long-held perception of a numerically superior Soviet bomber fleet (the so-called 'bomber-gap') was a fallacy. Talent also provided the US intelligence community with a vast amount of other details covering both Soviet military and industrial capability. However, on July 10,1956 President Dwight D Eisenhower suspended Aquatone following Soviet protests about the illegal flights.