This Just In: CIA Unveils 50-year-old Spy Plane

Well, the CIA technically unveiled it last week, but since the project began in 1957, I figure covering the story 4 days after it happens sure beats waiting 50 years to talk about it.

Anyway, last week at CIA headquarters, down in Langley, VA, the A-12 spy plane, codenamed Oxcart was unveiled to the public and put on display.

According to the CIA the A-12 has not been used in a mission since 1968 and was primarily used for spying on the Soviet Union and North Korea. In fact in 1967 the plane snapped some pictures of North Korea proving that they did not have any surface-to-surface missiles and alleviating fears of an escalation and also pictures of the USS Pueblo in a North Korean port 3 days after it was seized.

Although the A-12 was the precursor to the SR-71, many of the technologies it employed proved to be more advanced then the later planes and, although not stated anywhere in the articles, the technology of the A-12 has probably led to innovations currently in use today with modern spy planes (otherwise why would they have waited until 1988 to even acknowledge the program existed and until 2007 to declassify documents related to the program?).

The plane itself was pretty impressive, able to fly at over 3 times the speed of sound, withstand temperatures over 600 degrees and fly above 90,000 feet. From the height the plane was flying it was apparently possible to see the curvature of the Earth, while simultaneously snapping detailed land shots.

Although the plane was meant to replace the U-2 spy plane (which is still being used) it never fully did. Only 15 of these planes were ever commissioned. Of those 5 or 6 (depending on the source) have been destroyed and of the 9 or 10 remaining, one we know is at Langley and another is on the USS Intrepid. You can read some declassified CIA files about the Oxcart here on the CIA website or check out the article published by AFP “CIA unveils Cold War Spy Plane.”

I just thought it was all so fitting with Josh’s post about the cost of fighter planes and fighter pilots. I was also going to comment on the CIA taking 50 years to release any information on the project, but I got distracted and my ranting and criticism got drained out of me.