Unidentified US recon aircraft over Israel in October 1973

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Below is from the minutes of Washington Special Actions Group Meeting on 8 October 1973 about the Yom Kippur War.



http://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76v25/d131


What aircraft type were they talking about? Surely not the SR-71, which was mentioned and declassified in other documents.


==========



Adm. Moorer: We stood down our reconnaissance flights in the Eastern Mediterranean. We are prepared [2 lines not declassified].


Secretary Kissinger: That’s preferable to the U–2?


Mr. Colby: Yes, the U–2 isn’t very good for this.


Secretary Kissinger: That’s a helluva lot better than the U–2. Will that be picked up on radar?


Mr. Clements: Yes.


Secretary Kissinger: Will it fly over Israel?


Adm. Moorer: Yes. [less than 1 line not declassified]


Mr. Clements: It won’t be a secret. They’ll pick it up on radar and hear the boom.


Adm. Moorer: No, there’s no boom.


Mr. Schlesinger: We can put it on alert. It takes 48 hours to get ready. We can cancel within the 48 hours if we want to.


Secretary Kissinger: Yes, let’s put it on alert. We have 48 hours to stand it down. Joe (Sisco) will you watch that for me?


Mr. Sisco: I’ll alert you one way or the other.
 
Think it is in other open-source that this was SR-71...

I think you will find that sensitivity was of operation over friendly country in circumstances of region at the time.
 
Yeah, that would be my guess. Possibly the operating location or flight path would make the SR-71 classified in this context even if its use could be declassified in other contexts. Heck, it could even be a matter of who did the declassification review -- different reviewers interpret the guidelines differently, resulting in inconsistent declassification even on the same basic topic.
 
In this 24 October 1973 document, both the U-2 and SR-71 were mentioned.

http://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76v25/d261

Schlesinger: We must decide whether to use the U–2 or the SR–71. The U–2 has a better camera.

Colby: We could run a joint recce with the Soviets.

Schlesinger: Should we look at Latakia, etc? We have our troubles with Qaddafi. I suspect shipments are going to Egypt through Libya. The SR–71 could fly down to Libya on the coast on its return.

Kissinger: O.K. We got away pretty well with the last one. If they complain about tomorrow, we could say it’s to fix the ceasefire lines.

Colby: If we could get the assurance that Egypt wouldn’t fire at the U–2, we could fly it from [less than 1 line not declassified].

Kissinger: I don’t think they would.

Colby: The only important coverage is the Canal.
 
BTW if it had been the SR-71 indeed, it's good to know that the SR-71 needed 48 hours to get ready and would have been picked up on radar.
 
Hi,


I think they meant SR-71,all references announced for that,but if they thought
in anther design,probably the Beech Model-1019 or its developed Models was
the suitable for this,after special preparing of course,it can fly over 80.000 ft,
and easy to switch it into a recon RPV.
 
How to explain the following statement: "there’s no boom"? Just because of the altitude of the SR-71?
 
Probably the Blackbird. The first SR-71 sortie over the Yom Kippur war region was on 13 October.
 
for battle surveillance wouldn't it be something like a Mohawk or a KingAir? using the clue of the "no boom"
 
By the way,


we must transfer this thread into Aerospace section.


And during early 1970s,Egypt had a four Russian MiG-25R,and President Sadat offered to
purchase them,but USSR refused,if we had them,we could intercepted SR-71 in the air.
 
hesham said:
And during early 1970s,Egypt had a four Russian MiG-25R,and President Sadat offered to
purchase them,but USSR refused,if we had them,we could intercepted SR-71 in the air.
Click to expand...

A rare picture to MiG-25R operated in Egypt early 1970s.

Aeroplane Monthly 1/2016.
 

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datafuser said:
BTW if it had been the SR-71 indeed, it's good to know that the SR-71 needed 48 hours to get ready and would have been picked up on radar.
Click to expand...

I wonder if the 48 hours had more to do with the tanker requirement - getting the tankers to the right locations. It did use JP7.
 
hesham said:
hesham said:
And during early 1970s,Egypt had a four Russian MiG-25R,and President Sadat offered to
purchase them,but USSR refused,if we had them,we could intercepted SR-71 in the air.
Click to expand...

A rare picture to MiG-25R operated in Egypt early 1970s.

Aeroplane Monthly 1/2016.
Click to expand...

Anther picture to MiG-25 over Egypt,real one.
 

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hesham said:
And during early 1970s,Egypt had a four Russian MiG-25R,and President Sadat offered to
purchase them,but USSR refused,if we had them,we could intercepted SR-71 in the air.
Click to expand...

How was an aircraft incapable of carrying air to air weaons going to intercept a Blackbird?
 
As I heard,

some variants of MiG-25 recce aircraft fitted with two air-to-air missile,and I have an old picture to a
recon version armed.
 
hesham said:
hesham said:
hesham said:
And during early 1970s,Egypt had a four Russian MiG-25R,and President Sadat offered to
purchase them,but USSR refused,if we had them,we could intercepted SR-71 in the air.
Click to expand...

A rare picture to MiG-25R operated in Egypt early 1970s.

Aeroplane Monthly 1/2016.
Click to expand...

Anther picture to MiG-25 over Egypt,real one.
Click to expand...

I sincerely hope you are joking, because that is as real as Big Foot. And no, MiG-25R could not carry weapons.
 

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