October 31, 2020
The Air Force Sent Its D-21 Drone to Spy on Russia
It was a sleek flying machine that bore an uncanny resemblance to the SR-71 Blackbird spy plane.
by Michael Peck
Here's What You Need To Remember: The D-21 was conceived in the mid-1960s as a solution to the problem of spying on the Soviet Union. Soviet surface-to-air missiles, like the one that downed a U-2 over Russia in 1960, were making photo missions over Communist territory more hazardous. The SR-71 could fly high and fast enough to be safe, but why risk a manned aircraft and its pilot when a robot could do the job?
In November 1969, the U.S. Air Force sent Russia an early Christmas gift.
It was a sleek flying machine that bore an uncanny resemblance to the SR-71 Blackbird spy plane.
https://nationalinterest.org/blog/reboot/air-force-sent-its-d-21-drone-spy-russia-171754
