By July 1956 the development plan for the covert WS-117L satellite program (also known as the Advanced Reconnaissance System) was approved. Martin Co., and RCA under the codename “Pied Piper” in 1955. With the need for more advanced studies, one year contracts were awarded to Lockheed, the Glenn L. This is a schematic diagram for a nuclear-powered recon satellite concept studied by Rand as part of their 1954 Project Feed Back report. As this detailed study circulated through the USAF, it generated much interest and convinced many that a recon satellite was actually feasible. Agena flights series#The culmination of a series of USAF-sponsored studies at Rand, the report outlined the development a television-equipped satellite that would orbit 480 kilometers above the Earth taking images that were 600 kilometers across with a resolution of up to 44 meters. The one that had the greatest impact was the classified “Project Feed Back” study of the Rand Corporation published on March 1, 1954. Since the end of World War II there had been a number of studies performed on satellites and their uses including reconnaissance. Schriever, this program called for the development of a reconnaissance satellite capable of returning detailed images of the Soviet Union from orbit. Eventually run by the USAF’s Western Development Division of the Air Research and Development Command under General Bernard A. The next new reconnaissance program became known as Weapon System-117L (WS-117L). Agena flights code#The Lockheed U-2 aircraft, code name “Aquatone”, was one of the early elements approved by the Eisenhower administration in 1955 for overhead reconnaissance of the Soviet Union. With this and the threat of Soviet protests blowing the cover on this classified (and illegal) effort, Eisenhower eventually authorized only two dozen missions over Soviet territory through 1960. USAF and CIA officials knew it would only be a matter of time before an incident stopped U-2 flights over the Soviet Union. While flights starting in July of 1956 returned much valuable intelligence, the aircraft was tracked from the start by Soviet radar and MiG fighters. Better known as the U-2, this high-altitude aircraft was designed to photograph the Soviet Union while flying out of reach of their air defense systems. One of the systems to be developed as result of this order was called “Aquatone”. This document authorized the development several new systems to obtain photographs over Soviet territory in order to provide useful intelligence about their activities well behind the Iron Curtain. Based on the sobering conclusions drawn during White House meetings between Eisenhower and his top science advisors, the USAF issued General Operational Requirement No. These fears were heightened not only by Soviet propaganda but also by the lack of any substantive information about Soviet forces deep behind the borders of this enormous and secretive country. As the Cold War deepened in the 1950s, Americans developed an ever worsening case of paranoia about its primary adversary, the Soviet Union.
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