Last Titan 4B postscript

I just received a copy of the October 21, 2005 AeroSpace
Briefing that contains an infobit that I'd gotten via word
of mouth some time before the launch but didn't have
a reference for:


[The] launch -- carrying what Lt. Gen. Mike Hamel,
commander of Space and Missile Systems Center, called
the most important military payload in 30 years...


That, along with the apparently incorrect report that the
shroud had a unique configuration, fueled the speculation
that the launch might be something significantly new,
maybe an 8X. The first KH-11, on which subsequent
optical/IR spysats are believed to be based, was launched
in December 1976, close enough to 30 years before
October 2005 for Usenet purposes.

However, unless Big Black has done something tricky (not
impossible by any means), the last T4B mission seems
to have been pretty routine and Gen. Hamel's statement
to have been somewhat hyperbolic.