One of the biggest problems that engineers faced at that time was working with titanium. New materials and production techniques īecause 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 in present day. On 26 January 1960, the CIA ordered 12 A-12 aircraft.
Annie a 12 manual update#
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. However, the Kingfish included a number of features that greatly reduced its RCS, which was seen as favorable to the board. The A-11 was competing against a Convair proposal called Kingfish, of roughly similar performance. These designs had reached the A-11 stage when the program was reviewed.
The CIA program to develop the follow-on aircraft to the U-2 was code-named Oxcart. These names for the evolving designs soon simply became known as "A-1", "A-2", etc.
As the aircraft designs evolved and configuration changes occurred, the internal Lockheed designation changed from Archangel-1 to Archangel-2, and so on. Under Project Gusto the designs were nicknamed "Archangel", after the U-2 program, which had been known as "Angel". that there should be one more round before satellites would make aircraft reconnaissance obsolete for covert reconnaissance." Designer Kelly Johnson said, "In April 1958 I recall having long discussions with Richard Bissell over the subject of whether there should be a follow-on to the U-2 aircraft. 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. 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. Ī 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 program was officially revealed in the mid-1990s. The A-12 began flying missions in 1967 and its final mission was in May 1968 the program and aircraft were retired in June. 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. It was the precursor to the twin-seat U.S. The A-12 was produced from 1962 to 1964 and flew from 1963 to 1968. In addition, Lockheed had experience running a "black" project. 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. The companies' respective track records proved decisive. 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. 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.
Annie a 12 manual code#
The aircraft was designated A-12, the 12th in a series of internal design efforts for "Archangel", the aircraft's internal code name. The Lockheed A-12 was a 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. Not to be confused with McDonnell Douglas A-12 Avenger II or Curtiss A-12 Shrike.
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