6.D-21
When a drone is mentioned, people usually have an image of a high-tech Predator drone buzzing over Afghanistan. But the CIA had drones in the seventies as well. Based on A-12, a high-speed high-altitude reconnaissance drone was tested in Area 51 in 1964 and 1965. It was designed to be launched from another airplane, either a-12 or B52 bomber. The project was abandoned after just 4 missions over China. The drone was too unreliable and the massive deployment of unmanned aircrafts had to wait for the technology to catch up with the idea.
