Lockheed A-12 (Lockheed A-12) is an American high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft developed for the US CIA by the secret branch of Lockheed Corporation - Skunk works . The aircraft was created based on the ideas of American aircraft designer Clarence "Kelly" Johnson . A-12 was in production from 1962 to 1964 and was in operation from 1963 to 1968 , the last time the plane took off in May 1968. The design of a single-seat aircraft, the first flight of which took place in April 1962, served as the basis for the creation of the high-speed high-altitude reconnaissance SR-71 Blackbird .
| Lockheed A-12 | |
|---|---|
 A-12 (ser. No. 06932) in flight, 1960s | |
| Type of | high-altitude strategic intelligence |
| Developer |  Skunk works |
| Manufacturer | Lockheed corporation |
| Chief Designer | Clarence "Kelly" Johnson |
| First flight | April 25, 1962 |
| Start of operation | 1963 year |
| End of operation | 1968 year |
| Status | withdrawn from service |
| Operators |  US CIA |
| Units produced | 16 (including three prototypes) |
| Options | Lockheed SR-71 |
Content
History
The preliminary development of the A-12, known as the Archangel, was carried out by Lockheed in the late 1950s, and its goal was to further develop the U-2 reconnaissance aircraft, code-named "Angel." With further development of the aircraft glider and changes in its configuration, its designations adopted by Lockheed (Archangel-1, Archangel-2, etc.) also changed. Soon, these names were abbreviated and became known simply as “A-1”, “A-2”, etc. [1] Thus, the A-12 was the 12th development in a series of promising reconnaissance aircraft designed to replace operating at that time U-2.
In 1959, the A-12 project was preferred to a similar project by Convair - KINGFISH . January 26, 1960 the CIA ordered 12 A-12 aircraft. After winning the project competition, further production and development of the A-12 was codenamed OXCART .
Flight tests of the aircraft began on April 25, 1962 at the Grum Lake training ground. The third, the first "official" flight, took place on April 30 , and at the beginning of May 1962, a supersonic speed of 1.1 M was reached by plane. The first pilot to fly the A-12 was test pilot Lou Schalk.
The first five A-12 aircraft built in 1962 were powered by 76 kN Pratt & Whitney J75 engines, allowing the A-12 to achieve dive speeds of approximately 2 M.
In October 1962, A-12 aircraft began to be installed with specially developed new J58 engines, with the help of which, in 1963, 3.2 A speeds were achieved on the A-12. In addition, the first loss of the aircraft occurred in 1963, when On May 24, the A-12, piloted by Kenneth Collins, crashed over Utah. Then, for cover, the CIA issued an airplane under the name F-105 [2] .
In total, 18 aircraft were produced under the A-12 development program, of which 13 were A-12 directly, 3 were prototypes of the YF-12A interceptor , the remaining 2 were prototypes of M-21 reconnaissance aircraft.
Design
A significant part of the parts of the airframe was made of titanium alloy B-120 (directly titanium was purchased in the USSR [3] ).
Operation
Despite the fact that the aircraft was originally developed for reconnaissance over the territory of the Soviet Union and Cuba , A-12s were never used for these tasks. After the U-2 reconnaissance aircraft was shot down in the Sverdlovsk region on May 1, 1960 , the USSR was considered too dangerous to carry out such tasks (in addition, satellites had already been successfully used for reconnaissance tasks) [4] .
After lengthy disputes, the CIA decided to deploy the A-12 in Asia. The first A-12 arrived at the air base in Okinawa in Japan on May 22, 1967 , after which two more such aircraft arrived there by May 30. During 1967, from the air base in Okinawa, A-12 aircraft made about 22 sorties to conduct reconnaissance over the territory of North Vietnam . In addition, the A-12 took part in the search for the captured American ship Pueblo .
The program for the production and development of the A-12 was officially closed on December 28, 1968 in order to save the budget and in connection with the development of the new SR-71 Blackbird aircraft , the basis of which was the A-12.
Performance Specifications
Specifications
- Crew : 1 person
- Length : 31.26 m
- Wing span: 16.97 m
- Height : 5.64 m
- Wing area: 170 m²
- Empty weight: 30 600 kg
- Normal take-off weight: about 53,000 kg
- Engines: 2 × turboprop engine with Pratt & Whitney J58-P4 axial compressor
- Maximum thrust : 2 × 10 630 kgf
- Afterburner thrust: 2 × 14 460 kgf
- Engine weight: 3200 kg
Flight performance
- Top speed at altitude: 3100 km / h (2.6 M )
- Practical range: up to 4000 km (using turbofan engines without afterburner)
- Flight Duration: up to 5 hours
- Practical ceiling : 25,000 m
- Rate of climb: 60 m / s
- Wing load:
- normal take-off weight: 311 kg / m²
- Thrust ratio :
- normal take-off weight: 0.54
Notes
- ↑ "The U-2's Intended Successor: Project Oxcart 1956-1968." Central Intelligence Agency , approved for release by the CIA in October 1994. Retrieved: January 26, 2007.
- ↑ Jacobsen, Annie . " The Road to Area 51. " Los Angeles Times , April 5, 2009.
- ↑ d / f “CIA Secret Files: Zone 51” ( National Geographic )
- ↑ McIninch 1996, p. nineteen.
Links
- A-12 on the site "Corner of the sky"
- - Location of one of the A-12s located near the Aerospace Museum in San Diego , USA
- Wikimedia Commons has Lockheed A-12 media files