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

Text

This text came with the file. It may have mistakes. When the text and the image disagree, the image is right.

268
Secret NOFOAN
Chapter 6
Rodgers determined that a high-altitude object moving two to
three times as fast as a normal aircraft would produce such a small
blip with so little persistence that the radar operator would have great
difficulty tracking it, if indeed he could even see it. Rodgers esti­
mated that for an aircraft to take advantage o!· this Blip/Scan Ratio
phenomenon it must fly at altitudes approaching 90,000 feet and have
a radar cross section of less than 10 square meters, preferably not
much over 5 square meters. However, for a Mach 3.0 aircraft to
achieve such a small radar cross section, its designers would have to
make many concessions in its structural design and aerodynamics.•
By the summer of 1959, both firms had completed their propos­
als. In early June, Lockheed submitted a design for a ground-launched
aircraft known as the A-11. It would have a speed of Mach 3.2, a
range of 3,200 miles, an altitude of 90,000 feet, and a completion date
of January 1961. Kelly Johnson had refused to reduce the aerodynam­
ics of his design in order to achieve a greater antiradar capability, and
the A-11 's radar cross section, although not great, was substantially
larger than that of the much smaller parasite aircraft being designed
by Convair."
The Convair proposal called for a small, manned, ramjet-pow­
ered, reconnaissance vehicle to be air launched from one of two spe­
cially configured Convair B-58B Super Hustlers. The FISH vehicle, a
radical lifting body with a very-small-radar cross section, would fly at
Mach 4.2 at 90.000 feet and have a range of 3,900 miles. Two
Marquardt ramjets would power its Mach 4.2 dash over the target
area. Once the FISH decelerated, two Pratt & Whitney JT-12 turbojets
would bring it back to base. The ramjet exit nozzles and wing edges
would be constructed of Pyroceram, a ceramic material that could
withstand the high temperatures of very high speeds and would ab­
sorb radiofrequency energy from radar pulses. Convair stated that the
FISH could be ready by January I 961."'
Convair's proposal depended on two uncertain factors. First and
foremost was the unproven technology of ramjet engines. At the time,
no aircraft in existence could carry a large, ramjet-powered craft into
the sky and then accelerate to sufficient speed for the ramjet engines
'Unnumbered Convair document on the Blip/Scan Ratio or Rodgers· Effect (TS).
,, Johnson, "Archangel log." Dt:l:ember 1958-July 1959.
'" OSA History. chap. 20. p. 12 (TS Codeword); Convair Division. General Dynamics
Corporation, "Pniject FISH Status Review," 9 June 1959 (S).
Seere;t