U-2

The U-2 was a secret project that Lockheed Martin was working on for the United States Military during the Cold War. The U-2 was a " single-engine, high altitude reconnaissance aircraft operated by the United States Air Force and previously flown by the Central Intelligence Agency" (Wikipedia). The U-2 was developed at the "Skunk Works" division at Lockheed Martin. The Skunk Works is responsible for developing the SR-71 Blackbird, the F-117a Nighthawk, and the F-22 Raptor.

Paving the way for the unmanned drone
The U-2 helped the decision by the United States government to start taking the idea of drones. In 1960 the American pilot Gary Powers was flying the U-2 over Russia doing surveillance on Russian military bases. Then a missile exploded forced Gary Powers to crash within the Soviet Union. " Powers was convicted of espionage and sentenced to three years of imprisonment plus seven years of hard labor, but he was released on 10 February 1962 during a prisoner-exchange with Soviet officer Rudolf Abel." (Wikipedia) This crash and the 2 years that Gary Powers was imprisoned in the Soviet Union made the government want to look into unmanned and stealth technology to prevent this situation in the future.

"Lockheed Martin U-2." The Aviationist. 15 Nov. 2013. Image. 21 Nov. 2013

Wikipedia contributors. “1960 U-2 incident.” //Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia//. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 26 Sep. 2013. Web. 26 Sep. 2013.