Northrop N-204

The Northrop N-204 was a high altitude reconnaissance jet aircraft designed in the United States in the 1950s and never built. In the fall of 1957 Northrop proposed to the United States Air Force a subsonic high altitude reconnaissance aircraft, building on the company's earlier N-165 design study. Concern among CIA pilots that radars were tracking the Lockheed U-2 on spy missions over the Soviet Union led Northrop to make low observable technology part of the design, as was later done with the Lockheed A-12. Like the U-2 and the Yakovlev Yak-25RV it had long straight sailplane style wings and a V tail, but its eight Westinghouse J54 turbojets were buried in the outboard ends of the wing centre section. Northrop estimated it could enter service in 1960, but the project did not reach the hardware stage.