News that the U.S. has been operating mini-UAVs disguised to look like large birds along the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan reminded me of the time that I discovered Project Aquiline. This was a scheme devised by the CIA in the early 1970s to fly a reconnaissance UAV over key intelligence targets, such as ICBM sites and nuclear test grounds in the Soviet Union and China, without detection. The project was cancelled before deployment and has never been declassified. During a visit to Las Vegas 12 years ago, I found myself in the trailer home of Hank Meierdierck, a retired U.S. Air Force Colonel who had a long history of involvement in the agency’s secret airplane projects. Among his collection of airplane models was one of a raptor-like bird. Hank explained that this was a one-tenth-scale depiction of a UAV that was test-flown from Groom Lake about 20 times. Before Hank died, he wrote a short memoir of the project that can be found on
Chris Pocock has been covering the defense beat for AIN for over 30 years. He is a British citizen and a graduate of the University of Cambridge. Chris worked in the air cargo business for ten years before becoming a full-time writer in 1983. He subsequently edited two air cargo journals before becoming AIN’s Defense Editor. He retired from that position in 2018, but still contributes to the publication. Chris has written extensively on aerial reconnaissance, including four books on the history of the U-2 spyplane. He also lectures on this and other topics related to intelligence-gathering in the Cold War.
