SR-71 Technical Objective Camera (TEOC)

Specifically designed as a high-speed, high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft, the SR-71’s ability to photograph specific targets and entire countries was instrumental in keeping the Cold War from becoming a Hot War with the Soviet Union. The camera on display is a Technical Objective Camera (TEOC) from the SR-71, designed to photograph specific targets at an angle of 0-45 degrees up to 20 nautical miles. Mounted on each side of the SR-71, two TEOC cameras could photograph a swathe 40 miles wide from 85,000 feet while traveling faster than a speeding bullet at Mach 3. The SR-71 also carried an Optical Bar Camera (OBC) mounted to the nose that took a picture 72 miles wide, which in one hour’s time covered 100,000 square miles.