Project AQUILINE facts for kids
Project AQUILINE was a top-secret program by the CIA in the 1960s. Its goal was to create a special unpiloted aircraft. This aircraft was designed to fly over enemy areas and gather information without being seen.
History
In the early 1960s, spying on enemy lands was hard. The Lockheed U-2 spy plane could be easily shot down by Soviet missiles. Another plane, the OXCART, was still being built. Even new spy satellites could not quickly take pictures of specific places.
The CIA needed a better way to gather information. They thought about using small, unpiloted planes. These planes would be good for places like Cuba or Tallinn, Estonia. These areas were not too far into enemy territory. Also, new small electronic parts made these tiny planes possible.
The new aircraft needed to be very hard to spot. It had to have a very low radar cross-section. This means it would barely show up on radar. It also needed to be quiet and hard to see. This way, it could spy without anyone knowing.
In 1965, the CIA's Office of Research and Development started working on this plane. It would be about the size of a large bird. It could carry different tools. These included cameras, sensors for nuclear radiation, and recorders for electronic signals.
A special team was formed for the project. They asked companies for ideas. Douglas Aircraft was the only company to respond. They got a contract on November 15, 1965. More contracts followed in 1966, 1968, and 1969. These were for a "low-altitude intelligence-gathering system."
The first AQUILINE test plane was like a powered glider. It had an 8.5-foot (2.6 m) wingspan. A 3.5 horsepower (2.6 kW) McCulloch chainsaw engine powered it from the back. The plane weighed 105 pounds (48 kg). Its name, AQUILINE, means "eagle-like." So, it might have looked like a large bird.
In 1968, the aircraft was tested at Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake. It was very hard for other planes to see. Painting its top bright orange helped a little, but not completely.
To get the plane back, it had to fly into a net. This often damaged its propellers or wings. Three of the five test planes were destroyed during testing.
Even with these problems, the project moved forward. It went to the Office of Special Activities for more tests. There, it flew 130-mile (210 km) and took very clear photos. It met the goals set in 1967. But making it a practical long-range spy system would cost another US$35 million. It would also take two or three more years. Because of this, the project was stopped on November 1, 1971.
Secrecy
Most of what we know about AQUILINE became public in 2013. This happened when a 1992 CIA report was made available. The report was called Central Intelligence Agency and Overhead Reconnaissance: The U-2 and OXCART Programs, 1954–1974.
However, a British historian named Chris Pocock wrote about it earlier. In 2011, he shared information based on public records and interviews.
Pocock reported that the plane tested at Groom Lake was designed to fly very low. It would fly between 500–1,000 feet (150–300 m) high. It could travel 3,000 miles (4,800 km) on just 100 pounds (45 kg) of fuel.
For navigation, a camera in the plane's nose sent live video to a control station. An operator on the ground would compare this video with satellite maps. When the "bird" returned to base, it would fly into a net. Then, the main 35mm film camera could be removed to get the pictures.
The CIA has since released more documents about this secret project.
