I read the book about Lockheed’s Skunkworks recently, and it touched on this a bit. The big difference between a satellite and a spy plane like the U-2 and the

I read the book about Lockheed’s Skunkworks recently, and it touched on this a bit. The big difference between a satellite and a spy plane like the U-2 and the SR-71 was that you can launch a spy plane on short notice and get the intel you need. Satellites aren’t nearly as agile. But things may have changed, perhaps we have enough satellites in enough places that we don’t have as big a problem as we once did.