The CIA's 1960s Aquiline program was the Agency's first program to test the concept of unmanned aerial vehicles as intelligence-collection platforms, inspired initially by the flight characteristics of birds, but it never became operational.
Sources
- GREEK COUP CAUGHT U.S. BY SURPRISE | CIA FOIA (foia.cia.gov) (cia.gov)
- https://www.twz.com/40966/the-cias-bird-shaped-aquiline-drones-could-still-be-caged-up-at-area-51 (twz.com)
- https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidhambling/2020/07/31/cia-reveals-details-of-bird-like-1970s-stealth-drone---with-planned-nuclear-propulsion/ (forbes.com)
- https://www.archives.gov/files/declassification/iscap/pdf/2013-107-doc01.pdf (archives.gov)
- https://www.uav.org/the-cia-built-a-nuclear-bird-drone-to-spy-on-communists-now/ (uav.org)