Approved for Release: 2013/06/25
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Secret NOFORN
Chapter 5
252
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[figure]
*U-2C and U-2R*
The U-2R used the upgraded Pratt & Whitney J75/P-13B engine and was able to fly higher—in excess of 74,000 feet—and faster—Mach 0.72 (410 knots), which is 12 knots faster than the U-2C. When flying at the higher altitude, however, the U-2R’s range was less than the U-2C’s. The restart capability of the P-13B engine was significantly better than the P-13A power plant. As a result, the U-2R could be restarted at 54,000 feet, which was 10,000 feet higher than the U-2C. Francis Gary Powers was one of the Lockheed test pilots who checked out this new aircraft when it first took to the air on 28 August 1967. The last of the U-2Rs was delivered on 11 December 1968.
The increased performance of the U-2R did not come cheaply. At $7.1 million per aircraft, the new models cost almost 10 times as much as the original U-2s. Much of the increased cost was due to inflation, but some was the result of technological advances. The initial order for eight of the new version of the U-2 was followed on 23 November 1966 by an order from the DCI and the Secretary of Defense for four more. This brought the total number of U-2Rs purchased by the CIA and the Air Force to 12.⁷²
In addition to a new aircraft, the U-2 program received a new camera. Agency managers felt that, because the B camera was now 10 years old, the U-2R needed a camera that incorporated the many important advances that had occurred in recent years. The 112B—the modified version of the satellite program’s stereo camera that had been used in the U-2G—had not proved totally successful. Despite its stereo capability, this camera’s shorter focal length could not provide
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⁷² *OSA History*, chap. 5, pp. 34-36 (TS Codeword); “OSA History-2,” chap. 5, pp. 1-2 (TS Codeword).
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Secret
Approved for Release: 2013/06/25