Even less is known about SR' ams intelligence in China. As noted above, the scouts “picked up” China inadvertently during flights over North Vietnam, but they also carried out flights directly “to China”. Until 1971, the Chinese made about 500 protests about violations of their airspace. In 1971, SR-71 reconnaissance flights over China ceased: the United States actively began to play the “Chinese card” and made a kind of goodwill gesture.
The Middle East, 1973-74.
The Doomsday War took the Western world by surprise. U.S. did not have the technical intelligence tools needed to assess the situation in the Middle East; the data received from Israel were one-sided, and the deployment of tactical reconnaissance aircraft such as RF-4 in the conflict zone was fraught with the risk of losses and involvement of the U.S. in hostilities. The only means of obtaining independent information on the situation on the battlefield was SR-71. Program of global world intelligence “Giant Scale” (Giant Scale) was carried out for a long time, and now these plans were in demand. In an environment of unprecedented secrecy, one scout flew from the Bale base to the Griffith airfield, where preparations for the reconnaissance flight were being made. On October 12, 1973, the scout took off from Griffith's base, refueled and headed for Gibraltar. Cruising speed M = 3 crew withstood for an hour, then — the second refueling in the Azores from KC-135Q, based on one of the bases of Western Europe, again accelerating to three Major, braking — refueling in the area of Crete and access to the combat zone. Refueling over the waters of Crete was carried out under the cover of a combat patrol Phantoms” from the aircraft carrier of the 7th Fleet. The scout made three sound speeds in the airspace of Egypt, Jordan, and Syria, and then turned around and entered Mediterranean airspace. On the way back, the crew refueled twice more in the air. At dawn on 13 October, the chassis wheels touched the Griffith lane. The flight lasted more than 10 hours, including five hours at M>3, and the plane flew about 11,000 miles (ca. 17,703 km)!
The next day, the Egyptian Ministry of Defense issued the following communique:
Two reconnaissance aircraft were in Egyptian airspace for 25 minutes yesterday, this type of aircraft is in service only in the U.S. ... aircraft entered Egyptian airspace at 11.03 a.m. over Port Said, entered the interior of Egypt at a distance of 590 km to Naval south of Cairo, turned over the capital and headed east in the direction of Jordan and Syria, then again turned around and left in the direction of the Mediterranean Sea. Flight took place at an altitude of 25 km ... This was the first time that such a type of aircraft had violated the airspace.
Subsequently, the Americans estimated the message of Egyptians as completely corresponding to the truth, excluding the number of planes. Experts have agreed that for the second scout operators of Arabian radars have accepted an echo-signal from a shock wave.
The pilots of the 9th wing performed about ten flights over Egypt, Jordan, and Syria until January 1974. The first two flights were made from Griffith Air Force Base, the rest from Seymour-Jones Base. High level of secrecy was maintained throughout the operation. European refueling crews were instructed to meet with the Blackbird security officer before each flight; as a rule, reconnaissance flights were legendary for all those who were not directly involved in these activities, as test flights over the Atlantic. The entire flight was in radio silent mode.
Central America
Cuba was considered as an object of exploration since the inception of the project A-12, but for the first time, the bird Kelly Johnson crossed the island of Liberty only in 1978. The crews of the 9th wing worked out flights over Cuba for many years; routine training flight passed on a route: Bill — air space above Atlantic — a turn of a course on a Gulf of Mexico — passage along coast of Cuba — space over Gulf — further through states of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada — the house, on airbase Bill. It took 3.5-4 hours to get through the giant loop.
