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In 1970, an RC-121 communications intelligence (COMMINT) monitoring aircraft
was shot down over the Yellow Sea, killing the crew on board and spurring the
U.S. military to develop new UAVs fitted for COMMINT acquisition and able to
fly at high altitude, above the range of enemy missiles. Ryan Aeronautical set
to work modifying Firebee target drones so that they could eavesdrop on enemy
radio messages and take photographs from above 60,000 feet. The resulting Ryan
Special Purpose Aircraft (SPA) 147, which could fly for eight hours straight
carrying a 300-pound camera and was the first long-haul UAV equipped for
COMMINT at high altitude.
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