Community hub
Recent from talks
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Lockheed A-12
The Lockheed A-12 is a retired high-altitude, Mach 3+ reconnaissance aircraft built for the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) by Lockheed's Skunk Works, based on the designs of Clarence "Kelly" Johnson. The aircraft was designated A-12, the twelfth in a series of internal design efforts for "Archangel", the aircraft's internal code name. In 1959, it was selected over Convair's FISH and Kingfish designs as the winner of Project GUSTO, and was developed and operated under Project Oxcart.
The CIA's representatives initially favored Convair's design for its smaller radar cross-section, but the A-12's specifications were slightly better and its projected cost was much lower. The companies' respective track records proved decisive. Convair's work on the B-58 had been plagued with delays and cost overruns, whereas Lockheed had produced the U-2 on time and under budget. In addition, Lockheed had experience running a highly classified "black" project.
The A-12 was produced from 1962 to 1964 and flew from 1963 to 1968. It was the precursor to the twin-seat U.S. Air Force YF-12 prototype interceptor, M-21 launcher for the D-21 drone, and the SR-71 Blackbird, a slightly longer variant able to carry a heavier fuel and camera load. The A-12 began flying missions in 1967 and its final mission was in May 1968; the program and aircraft were retired in June. The program was officially revealed in the mid-1990s.
A CIA officer later wrote, "Oxcart was selected from a random list of codenames to designate this R&D and all later work on the A-12. The aircraft itself came to be called that as well." The crews named the A-12 the Cygnus, suggested by pilot Jack Weeks to follow the Lockheed practice of naming aircraft after celestial bodies.
With the failure of the CIA's Project Rainbow to reduce the radar cross-section (RCS) of the U-2, preliminary work began inside Lockheed in late 1957 to develop a follow-on aircraft to overfly the Soviet Union. Designer Kelly Johnson said, "In April 1958 I recall having long discussions with [CIA Deputy Director for Plans] Richard M. Bissell Jr. over the subject of whether there should be a follow-on to the U-2 aircraft. We agreed ... that there should be one more round before satellites would make aircraft reconnaissance obsolete for covert reconnaissance."
Under Project Gusto the designs were nicknamed "Archangel", after the U-2 program, which had been known as "Angel". As the aircraft designs evolved and configuration changes occurred, the internal Lockheed designation changed from Archangel-1 to Archangel-2, and so on. These names for the evolving designs soon simply became known as "A-1", "A-2", etc. The CIA program to develop the follow-on aircraft to the U-2 was code-named Oxcart. A-4 through A-6 concepts applied blended wing/fuselage configurations with combinations of turbojet, ramjet, and rocket propellant. However, these concepts never met the required range. Concepts A-7 thru A-9 used a single J58 afterburning turbojet plus two Marquardt XPJ-59 ramjets burning JP-150 fuel.
Design concept A-10 featured two General Electric J93-3 turbojets with 2-D underwing inlets and had better mission radius than concepts A-4 thru A-9. These designs had reached the A-11 stage when the program was reviewed. The A-11 was competing against a Convair proposal called Kingfish, of roughly similar performance. However, the Kingfish included a number of features that greatly reduced its RCS, which was seen as favorable to the board. Lockheed responded with a simple update of the A-11, adding twin canted fins instead of a single right-angle one, and adding a number of areas of non-metallic materials. This became the initial A-12 design. On 26 January 1960, the Central Intelligence Agency officially ordered 12 A-12 aircraft with the contract signed on February 11, 1960. Lockheed charged $96.6 million for design, manufacture and testing of 12 aircraft.
Because the A-12 was well ahead of its time, many new technologies had to be invented specifically for the Oxcart project with some remaining in use to present day. One of the biggest problems engineers faced at the time was working with titanium.
Hub AI
Lockheed A-12 AI simulator
(@Lockheed A-12_simulator)
Lockheed A-12
The Lockheed A-12 is a retired high-altitude, Mach 3+ reconnaissance aircraft built for the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) by Lockheed's Skunk Works, based on the designs of Clarence "Kelly" Johnson. The aircraft was designated A-12, the twelfth in a series of internal design efforts for "Archangel", the aircraft's internal code name. In 1959, it was selected over Convair's FISH and Kingfish designs as the winner of Project GUSTO, and was developed and operated under Project Oxcart.
The CIA's representatives initially favored Convair's design for its smaller radar cross-section, but the A-12's specifications were slightly better and its projected cost was much lower. The companies' respective track records proved decisive. Convair's work on the B-58 had been plagued with delays and cost overruns, whereas Lockheed had produced the U-2 on time and under budget. In addition, Lockheed had experience running a highly classified "black" project.
The A-12 was produced from 1962 to 1964 and flew from 1963 to 1968. It was the precursor to the twin-seat U.S. Air Force YF-12 prototype interceptor, M-21 launcher for the D-21 drone, and the SR-71 Blackbird, a slightly longer variant able to carry a heavier fuel and camera load. The A-12 began flying missions in 1967 and its final mission was in May 1968; the program and aircraft were retired in June. The program was officially revealed in the mid-1990s.
A CIA officer later wrote, "Oxcart was selected from a random list of codenames to designate this R&D and all later work on the A-12. The aircraft itself came to be called that as well." The crews named the A-12 the Cygnus, suggested by pilot Jack Weeks to follow the Lockheed practice of naming aircraft after celestial bodies.
With the failure of the CIA's Project Rainbow to reduce the radar cross-section (RCS) of the U-2, preliminary work began inside Lockheed in late 1957 to develop a follow-on aircraft to overfly the Soviet Union. Designer Kelly Johnson said, "In April 1958 I recall having long discussions with [CIA Deputy Director for Plans] Richard M. Bissell Jr. over the subject of whether there should be a follow-on to the U-2 aircraft. We agreed ... that there should be one more round before satellites would make aircraft reconnaissance obsolete for covert reconnaissance."
Under Project Gusto the designs were nicknamed "Archangel", after the U-2 program, which had been known as "Angel". As the aircraft designs evolved and configuration changes occurred, the internal Lockheed designation changed from Archangel-1 to Archangel-2, and so on. These names for the evolving designs soon simply became known as "A-1", "A-2", etc. The CIA program to develop the follow-on aircraft to the U-2 was code-named Oxcart. A-4 through A-6 concepts applied blended wing/fuselage configurations with combinations of turbojet, ramjet, and rocket propellant. However, these concepts never met the required range. Concepts A-7 thru A-9 used a single J58 afterburning turbojet plus two Marquardt XPJ-59 ramjets burning JP-150 fuel.
Design concept A-10 featured two General Electric J93-3 turbojets with 2-D underwing inlets and had better mission radius than concepts A-4 thru A-9. These designs had reached the A-11 stage when the program was reviewed. The A-11 was competing against a Convair proposal called Kingfish, of roughly similar performance. However, the Kingfish included a number of features that greatly reduced its RCS, which was seen as favorable to the board. Lockheed responded with a simple update of the A-11, adding twin canted fins instead of a single right-angle one, and adding a number of areas of non-metallic materials. This became the initial A-12 design. On 26 January 1960, the Central Intelligence Agency officially ordered 12 A-12 aircraft with the contract signed on February 11, 1960. Lockheed charged $96.6 million for design, manufacture and testing of 12 aircraft.
Because the A-12 was well ahead of its time, many new technologies had to be invented specifically for the Oxcart project with some remaining in use to present day. One of the biggest problems engineers faced at the time was working with titanium.