The Central Intelligence Agency and Overhead Reconnaissance; The U-2 and OXCART Programs, 1954-1974

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152
Sec, et NOFOAN
Chapter 3
Force of 31-with the more powerful Pratt & Whitney 175-Pl3 jet
engine. This new power plant generated 4,200 pounds more thrust
while adding only 2,050 pounds more weight. With its greater power,
the engine permitted the U-2 to reach operational altitude more quick­
ly, thereby reducing the telltale contrails that the U-2 produced as it
passed through the tropopause at 45,000 to 55,000 feet. With the new
engine, U-2 passed through this portion of the atmosphere faster and
did so before entering hostile airspace, thus reducing the chance of
visual detection. The 175 power plant also made it possible for the
U-2 to carry a larger payload and gain another 2,500 feet in altitude,
permitting it to cruise at 74,600 feet. The new engines were in very
short supply because of the needs of the Air Force's F-105 construc­
tion program, but Colonel Geary used his Air Force contacts to obtain
an initial supply of 12 engines. The Air Force never equipped its orig­
inal U-2s with the 175 engines. 10"
Detachment C in Japan received the first of these re-engined air­
craft, known as U-2Cs, in July 1959, and two more arrived in Turkey
for Detachment B in August. All Agency U-2s had the new engines
by the summer of 1962, but by then only seven CIA U-2s remained in
service.
INTERVENTION IN LEBANON, 1958
Although the U-2 was used less and less for its original role of gather­
ing strategic intelligence on the Soviet Bloc, it had acquired the new
mission of providing US decisionmakers with up-to-date information
on crisis situations all around the world. The first use of the U-2 to
gather tactical intelligence occurred during the 1956 Suez Crisis.
Afterward, U-2s from the Turkish-based Detachment B conducted pe­
riodic overflights to monitor the situation in the troubled Middle East,
and they became especially active during the summer of 1958.
On 15 July 1958, President Eisenhower ordered US troops to
land in Lebanon in response to a request for assistance by Lebanese
President Camille Chamoun. Three months earlier, Eisenhower had
turned down a similar request because the rioting that had led
President Chamoun to ask for American aid had died down before in­
tervention became necessary. In July, however, President Eisenhower
saw the overall situation in the Middle East as much more threaten­
ing. On 14 July forces aligned toward Egyptian President Gama[
""' OSA History, chap. 16, p. 8 (TS Codeword); Geary interview (S).
Geeret