Hi about U2 incident
Background[edit]
In July 1958, U.S. President
Dwight D. Eisenhower requested permission from the
Pakistani prime minister
Feroze Khan Noon for the U.S. to establish a secret intelligence facility in Pakistan and for the
U-2 spyplane to fly from Pakistan. The U-2 flew at altitudes that could not be reached by Soviet fighter jets of the era; it was believed to be beyond the reach of Soviet missiles as well. A facility established in
Badaber (
Peshawar Air Station), 10 miles (16 km) from
Peshawar, was a cover for a major communications intercept operation run by the United States
National Security Agency (NSA). Badaber was an excellent location because of its proximity to Soviet central Asia. This enabled the monitoring of missile test sites, key infrastructure and communications. The U-2 "spy-in-the-sky" was allowed to use the
Pakistan Air Force section of
Peshawar Airport to gain vital photo intelligence in an era before satellite observation.
[4]
On 9 April 1960, a U-2C spyplane of the special CIA unit "10-10", piloted by Bob Ericson, crossed the southern national boundary of the Soviet Union in the area of
Pamir Mountains and flew over four Soviet top secret military objects: the
Semipalatinsk Test Site, the
Dolon Air Base where
Tu-95 strategic bombers were stationed, the
surface-to-air missile (SAM) test site of the
Soviet Air Defence Forces near
Saryshagan, and the
Tyuratam missile range (
Baikonur Cosmodrome).
[6]
The aircraft was detected by the Soviet Air Defense Forces when it had flown more than 250 kilometres (155 mi) over the Soviet national boundary and avoided several attempts at interception by a
MiG-19 and a
Su-9 during the flight. The U-2 left Soviet air space and landed at an Iranian airstrip at
Zahedan. It was clear that the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency had successfully performed an extraordinarily dangerous but productive intelligence operation. The next flight of the U-2 spyplane from Peshawar airport was planned for late April.
[6]
