In October of 1983, the world’s first operational stealth aircraft took to the skies under cover of both physical and metaphorical darkness. This new jet, dubbed the F-117 Nighthawk, would revolutionize America’s approach to air warfare, pivoting away from the higher and faster mantra that had dominated much of the Cold War, and toward the doctrine of stealth. As of its introduction in 1983, being sneaky became more important than being powerful in military aviation. While this technical frontier was first explored by the U.S. Air Force, by the time the Nighthawk was on duty prowling the sky, the U.S. Navy wanted a stealth platform all their own.
Eventually, Lockheed would pitch the idea of a significantly more capable F-117N Seahawk, based on their first-of-its-kind Nighthawk. But the Seahawk wasn’t the Navy’s first pass at a carrier-capable stealth attack aircraft. Ten years before the Seahawk proposal would reach Navy desks, the Navy was already getting started on their Advanced Tactical Aircraft (ATA) program. The ATA initially sought to replace the Grumman A-6 Intruder by the mid-1990s. The Intruder had been in service for the U.S. Navy as a ground attack platform since 1963, and the Navy saw a replacement program as the perfect opportunity to get into the stealth game.
On 13 January 1988, a joint team from McDonnell Douglas and General Dynamics was awarded a development contract for what was to become the A-12 Avenger II, not to be confused with Lockheed’s proposed A-12 of the 1960s, which sought to arm an SR-71 sibling jet with air-to-air weapon systems. Once completed, the Navy’s A-12 would have been a flying wing-design reminiscent of Northrop Grumman’s B-2 Spirit or forthcoming B-21 Raider, though much smaller.
A new aircraft for a new approach to air warfare
Intended to serve aboard carriers, the A-12 Avenger II was to be slightly more than 37 feet long, with a wingspan of a few inches more than 70 feet. These dimensions would have made the A-12 significantly shorter than the nearly 55-foot-long Intruder, while boasting a far wider wingspan that extended just far enough to allow two A-12s to sit side-by-side on adjacent catapults on a carrier flight deck. In fact, the A-12’s wingspan would have even dwarfed the F-14 Tomcat’s extended sweep-wings by a good six feet.
Although the A-12 Avenger II utilized a flying wing design, its overall shape differed from the triangular B-2 Spirit under development for the Air Force. The sharp triangular shape of the A-12 eventually earned it the nickname, “the flying Dorito.“
Despite the width of the A-12 Avenger II, however, the aircraft itself was only meant to carry a comparatively small 5,150 pounds of internal ordnance, which would outperform the Nighthawk’s paltry payload of just two 2,000 pound GBU-27 laser-guided bombs, but was nowhere near the 18,000 pounds offered by the Intruder.
However, like modern stealth aircraft in operation today, the A-12 Avenger was never intended to scream into the fight with its teeth bared. In the minds of many defense officials, its ability to strike targets without warning in highly contested airspace was more useful than a massive payload. In yet another example of how military aviation was rapidly changing throughout the Cold War, blanketing an area with munitions was no longer considered the most effective means of engaging the enemy. Instead, stealth combined with highly accurate precision munitions would allow the A-12 Avenger II to surgically strike enemy targets where it hurt most.
More of a stealth fighter than the “stealth fighter”
Despite clearly serving in an attack capacity, Lockheed’s F-117 Nighthawk had been given the “F” designator (and the informal moniker of “stealth fighter”) intentionally. The F-117 possessed no air-to-air capability whatsoever–a defining characteristic for a “fighter” aircraft–but Air Force officials hoped the concept of a “stealth fighter” would attract the sort of highly-skilled fighter jocks this new attack aircraft would really need.
The Navy entertained no such chicanery in their own stealth jet, planning to saddle their new platform with an “A” prefix to demonstrate its use against ground targets despite actually having the ability to engage air targets with its two internally-stored AIM-120 AMRAAM air-to-air missiles. In other words, the A-12 Avenger II would have actually been America’s first stealth fighter.
However, the A-12 wouldn’t have been well suited for fighting the powerful and acrobatic fourth-generation fighters being fielded by national opponents like the Soviet Union and post-collapse Russia at the time. With a top speed of just 580 miles per hour and a service ceiling of 40,000 feet, this subsonic aircraft may have been armed with the missiles it would need to take down on enemy jet, but logic would dictate that it rely on stealth, rather than firepower, if enemy fighters were in the area.
The A-12 Avenger II would have led the way into battle
Aside from its two air-to-air missiles, the A-12 Avenger II was also intended to carry 2 AGM-88 HARM air-to-ground missiles that had entered service in 1985. The AGM-88 was an anti-radiation missile, meaning it could home in on the electromagnetic waves emanating from early warning radar arrays and surface-to-air missile platforms. In other words, the A-12 Avenger II would have been able to serve in a similar capacity to today’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighters in contested airspace. The A-12 would hunt down air defense systems and eliminate them to clear the way for less-stealthy and more weapon-laden platforms that could follow.
When not on the hunt for enemy radar, the AGM-88 HARM missiles could be swapped out in favor of unguided or precision bombs for continued action against ground targets.
At one point, the Navy had plans to purchase 620 A-12 Avenger IIs, with the Marine Corps ordering another 238, and even the Air Force mulling over an order of 400 modified A-12 variants to replace their outgoing F-111 Aardvarks. It’s important to note that only 59 operational F-117A Nighthawks were ever built — so the A-12 Avenger II promised to become America’s premier stealth aircraft for years to come, with a total of 1,258 aircraft in American stables. If all of these orders had been filled, the A-12 Avenger II would have become one of America’s most plentiful aircraft, second only to the U.S. Army’s massive fleet of UH-60 Black Hawks.
For some time, it seemed as though the A-12 Avenger II program was going off without a hitch, but then, seemingly without warning, it was canceled by Defense Secretary (and future Vice President of the United States) Dick Cheney in January of 1991.
An unceremonious end
For some time, the A-12 Avenger II program seemed to be progressing smoothly, and Cheney had repeatedly reported as such when pressed about the program by Congress. The truth is, as far as Cheney knew (according to some accounts), the program did seem to be going smoothly, as officials within the Navy, the Pentagon, and both McDonnell Douglas and General Dynamics all seemed intent on sugar-coating the program’s woes.
Unbeknownst to many, the aircraft, which had yet to fly by the beginning of 1991, was already significantly overweight, 18-months behind schedule, and massively over budget.
In an article published by Air Force Magazine in April of 1991, three months after the A-12 Avenger II program was canceled, Pentagon investigators had come to place the blame on four separate and significant factors (as outlined at the time by David Montgomery):
- “Overly protective Navy officials, who didn’t want to endanger the plane by pointing out problems. A Pentagon analyst first detected a possible cost overrun two years ago, but the Navy program manager continued to describe the A-12 as being on track until after a major Pentagon review last year.
- A “don’t-rock-the-boat” segment of the Pentagon bureaucracy, which was aware of the problems but apparently reluctant to buck its superiors to press its case. In one incident, a report noting A-12 problems was tucked away and forgotten.
- Overly optimistic A-12 contractors, who miscalculated the extent of the technical difficulties in producing such a plane and shielded the problems from the government. An inquiry by Navy Deputy General Counsel Chester Paul Beach found that General Dynamics and McDonnell Douglas discovered “increasing cost and schedule variances” but did not alert the Navy in a timely fashion.
- Excessive secrecy, which blanketed the project and prevented examinations that might have brought problems to light. Officials assigned to Secretaries Cheney and Garrett were kept away, standard reporting procedures were abandoned, and information was transmitted verbally rather than in writing.”
In the years that followed, the United States government and the A-12 Avenger II’s contractors, McDonnell Douglas and General Dynamics, would go through repeated litigation over breach of contract, eventually reaching as high as the Supreme Court. In January of 2014, Boeing, which had absorbed McDonnell Douglas, and General Dynamics agreed to repay the government $200 million each for failing to meet the requirements of the initial contract.
Is the new fighter “built in a year” really just a more finished, refined, modified version of this A-12 (as opposed to the CIA SR-12) ?
Basically a flying wing with the necessary controls (thrust vectoring) – with sufficient range to safeguard carriers from current opposition high speed anti-ship missiles? (It’s really about range, enhanced stealth, to target radar, anti aircraft, antiship capability?)
In June 1981, five, very clear photographs of a US Stealth Fighter, perhaps the F-117A, were taken at Groom Lake, Nevada. They’re most remarkable because they show the aircraft interacting with a UFO. I discovered the photos in October, in a warehouse in Moab, Utah, where I’d gone at the request of Billy Meier. The photos can be seen in the article titled, “Billy Meier, Time Travel and Groom Lake”, at theyflyblog.
Understandable skepticism can be resolved by reading what US astronaut Gordon Cooper, USAF OSI/Dept. of State investigator/supervisor Joe Tysk and other aerospace, military, scientific, photographic, special effects experts, etc., have said over the past five decades: “The Singularly Authentic Billy Meier UFO Case”. at the same blog.
Hopefully, this comment will survive; I’ll be glad to address responses. Perhaps, since we’re being bombarded with disinformation from the Pentagon and their “threat assessment” about UFOs, etc., there may be a few people here who’d like to know the truth.
BTW, the always unasked question, “If the contacts are real, what’s the…REASON for them?” is answered in the content of this 80 year long, still ongoing case:
The Billy Meier contacts are the key to our future survival.
Their long-standing warnings about the two coming, now unstoppable US civil wars date back to 1981. Their impeccably accurate information about the coronavirus dates back to 1989. I began publishing their COVID-19 information on February 25, when there were…57 cases in the entire country. I always publish their information BEFORE the CDC, WHO, etc. And it’s ALWAYS error-free, never revised, etc.
But, if we wish to see tens to hundreds of million more deaths from the disease, I’m sure the intelligence services will be glad to continue to suppress, ignore, or attack the information and the man behind it.
The people were warned…and did they listen?
Why dont you supply a link to materials so we can figure out WTF you are talking about. Would like to see the photos.
Another nail in the A-12 coffin was the Navy’s plans to also procure the A-6F and use that as a stop gap until the A-12 came online. A-6F used the F404 engine with single stage augmented trust and a vectored exhaust to improve takeoff performance. It had an improved electronic attack suite using the ALE-47, ALE-50, ALR-67 ASR, ALQ-165 Wizard and an optical missile launch alert system. Self protection also included a third wing hard point to carry two AIM-120s.
Shortly after the A-12 was canceled the A-6F was axed and the Navy started looking at an improved version of the poly plastic lawn dart (F/A-18E/F).
The title of this article is grossly misleading. The A-12 wasn’t a fighter. The “A” stands for attack. The A-12 was to be a medium range, carrier based attack aircraft. It would have replaced the A-6 Intruder, the A-7 Corsair, and to some extent the F-18. In the wake of it’s cancellation, the F-14 was converted to an attack role (sort of) and the navy developed the F-18E/F.
What the article fails to report is the Pentagons procurement “ Malpractice “ . They forced GD to team with McAir because the Navy had little confidence in GD’s ( Cowboys in Ft Worth) ability to build an aircraft for them ( e.g. failed F -111 that became the F -14 under Grumman). GD also had no composite manufacturing capability and right before the program was canceled asked McAir to take over 350 + part numbers to build. The pentagon actually split the aircraft in half and said GD you build this half and McAir the other. Imagine you build a house this way with two General Contractors!
The tax payer spent over $3B with nothing to show for it ….Similar to the C -130 AMP program under Boeing that sent D. Druyen and M. Sears to prison. The GE 414 engine for the A-12 was at least salvaged for later use in the Super Hornet. Had a couple prototypes been finished and flight tested at least valuable lessons learned could have been gleaned vs 25 yrs of legal fees for lawyers.
“Now you know the rest of the story”
Paul Harvey
Yes
I read somewhere that GD &McAir were not interested in working with each other to solve problems in the program. They did not want to give anything away as they were in competition with each other in another potentially more lucrative contract. Would that have been the F22 in that time period.
Absolutely amazing that the Navy could force this marriage to happen.
Shows once again the procurement system is flawed. Always looking for starting a new program with new technology. A more realistic approach with far less risk would be to upgrade the existing platform until the contractor of the new program can prove the new technology actually works! What happens now is the older airframe is run out of production, tooling destroyed while the new high tech program is unproven, then gets cancelled. Recurring story. Someone needs to do a forensic study on all cancelled programs and their fallout.
There were only a couple A12s ever made and the problem with the A12 was it ran faster than the missiles it was supposed to carry ( the Phoenix missile ). This I was told bus Pratt and Whitney Rep when I was in the F-16 Test program in the 1970s plus it was too expensive to fly as a fighter. Pratt and Whitney made the engines for both aircraft, The F-16, the YF-12A and SR71 .
Wrong A-12, you’re thinking of the SR-71 precursor, specifically the fighter derivative prototype, the YF-12. It was armed with the AIM-47 Falcon, from which the Phoenix was developed. An order was placed to build nearly a hundred F-12’s, but funding never forthcoming due to skyrocketing spending on the Vietnam War. Around the same time, it became clear the USSR was focusing its strategic nuclear force on ICBM’s. At the end of the day, having a mach 3+ titanium cadillac plinking the USSR’s handful of turboprop T-95 Bear’s was wildly overkill.
Worst thing about canning the A-12 and the Bombcats have left CAS at the mercy of the radicalized Christians in the USAF. Who would have canned the A-10 if they got more four years of the orange moron.
With Biden we will probably be flying bi-wings in a couple of years. He’s pretty much said he wants to reduce military spending for more social crap.
Oh please, trumptard. Only the worthless stuff is getting reduced. Like the Wunderwaffle-35. The lack of reforms is why America’s fighting strength has fallen. Kick out all the meth smoking rural moochers and America will regain super status.
*Superpower status
We’ll likely see a return to 0bama’s policies of gutting the military again while throwing troops at every 3rd world conflict we should avoid.
Trump is gone now. Go get some therapy for your TDS. Hateful rhetoric makes you just as moronically shallow as the folks storming the capital (and burning down police stations). It also weakens any sort of salient point you were trying to make.
I was an expert witness in the 5th trial, testifying on the contractors’ failure to make progress based on cost & schedule performance trends. The judge said “this testimony goes to the heart of the issue” and ruled for the first time in favor of the govt.
The A-12 was not a fighter, hence the “A” in “A-12”.
The Lockheed A12 was not a fighter. It was the CIAs lighter, faster, version of the SR71. The fighter version was the YF12.
No, the SR-71 was the USAFs heavier slower version of the CIA’s A-12. The A-12 came first.