Project AQUILINE

Project AQUILINE was a secret 1960s CIA program to develop a small unmanned aerial reconnaissance vehicle, about the size of a large bird, able to carry photographic equipment, nuclear sensors and ELINT recorders. Work began in mid-1965, and Douglas Aircraft, the only firm to answer the request for proposals, received a study contract in November 1965. The first prototype was a powered glider with an 8.5 foot wingspan driven by a 3.5 horsepower McCulloch two-cycle chainsaw motor and weighing 105 pounds. It was recovered by flying into a net, which often damaged it, and three of five prototypes were lost in testing, yet it demonstrated a 130 mile range and very high resolution photography. The project was cancelled on 1 November 1971, and most of what is known emerged when a CIA history was declassified in 2013.