KH-11 Kennan

The KH-11 KENNAN (KENNEN according to other sources), renamed CRYSTAL in 1982 and also referenced by the codenames 1010, and "Key Hole"), is a type of reconnaissance satellite launched by the American National Reconnaissance Office since December 1976. Manufactured by Lockheed in Sunnyvale, California, the KH-11 was the first American spy satellite to utilize electro-optical digital imaging, and create a real-time optical observation capability.

Later KH-11 satellites have been referred to by outside observers as KH-11B or KH-12, and by the names "Advanced KENNAN", "Improved Crystal" and "Ikon". The Key Hole series was officially discontinued in favour of a random numbering scheme after repeated public references to KH-8 Gambit, KH-9 Hexagon, and KH-11 satellites. KH-11 satellites are believed to have been the source of some imagery of the Soviet Union and China made public in 1997, as well as images of Sudan and Afghanistan made public in 1998 that were related to the response to the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings. The CIA used high-resolution images from KH-12 to identify the compound where Osama Bin Laden was in hiding in Pakistan.