Key Points and Summary – Before the SR-71 Blackbird, there was a faster, more secretive spy plane: the CIA’s A-12 Oxcart.
-Developed in the 1960s at Area 51, this Mach 3+ marvel is claimed by some experts to be America’s first true stealth aircraft, designed to overfly the Soviet Union with impunity.
-The program was so secret that the CIA used shell companies to buy the necessary titanium from its primary supplier: the Soviet Union itself.
-The single-seat A-12 was a marvel of engineering that set unbroken speed records for piloted jets and laid the foundation for all future stealth aircraft.
The CIA’s A-12 Oxcart, A Skunk Works Marvel
The CIA and the Air Force teamed up in the 1950s with Clarence “Kelly” Johnson’s Lockheed Skunk Works to work on some of the most successful reconnaissance planes in the world. CIA had contacted Johnson to build the first reconnaissance aircraft, the U-2.
Johnson designed the plane in less than 13 months, which was incredible. They began overflights of the Soviet Union in 1956; however, the Russians were able to track the aircraft, even at the edge of space, at 80,000 feet.
However, the Agency, the Air Force, and Johnson knew they needed a replacement, an aircraft much faster to better protect itself from the missiles they knew would be coming. Under the code name “Oxcart,” Johnson began work on the A-12.
CIA And The Skunk Works In the Archangel Program
The agency contracted Kelly Johnson and the Lockheed Skunk Works, famous for its aircraft, once again to build a spy plane capable of traveling at Mach 3 (2301 mph). The program was codenamed ARCHANGEL.
The level of secrecy was extremely high for two reasons. One reason was the advanced technology Lockheed was developing, but also because the United States was secretly buying materials to build these jets from within the Soviet Union.
The problem was that the titanium needed to build the aircraft was in the hands of the US’s enemy, the Soviets.
Getting The Help Of Moscow … Surreptitiously
CIA Historian David Robage, in his book, “Archangel: CIA’s Supersonic A-12 Reconnaissance Aircraft,” detailed some of the incredible exploits the US had to do to get the A-12 built. And about the men who flew it.
Because of the secrecy of their work, first flying the U-2 and then the A-12, it was decided to move the testing to a remote part of the desert in Nevada called Groom Lake, which was a dried-up lake bed. It was called “Area 51.”
Johnson’s dilemma in the design phase was heat. Flying an aircraft for hours on end at Mach 3 would melt the steel and aluminum used in aircraft production.
The skin of the aircraft would heat up to over 800 degrees. Inside the cockpit, the temperature would heat up to 500 degrees. The pilots had to wear a special refrigerated space suit to keep them from burning up. So, 90 percent of the aircraft would be made with a titanium alloy.
Titanium was needed, but at the time, the US had limited supplies. So, they decided that they would have to buy it from the world’s biggest supplier, the Soviet Union.
Keeping the Soviets in the dark was tough, but the CIA used shell companies and third parties. The A-12 would fly over the Soviet Union, outrunning fighters and missiles built with titanium that the Soviets had sold to the US. It was the opposite of the Lenin quote, “We will hang the last capitalist with the rope he sold us.” Oh, the irony.
Meet The A-12 Oxcart
It was a marvel of engineering then … and now. Nicknamed the Oxcart, which was distinctly uncharacteristic of the speed at which the A-12 traveled. Lockheed unofficially dubbed them “Cygnus“, named after the constellation of Cygnus, the swan.
Crew: Single pilot.
Sensor Payload: Primarily focused on high-resolution photography for overflight reconnaissance.
Speed and Altitude: Faster and could reach higher altitudes than the SR-71, with a documented speed of Mach 3.29 (2,208 mph) and 90,000 feet altitude.
Size: Smaller and lighter than the SR-71.
Role: Primarily designed for overflight intelligence gathering with cameras.
The A-12 had a more streamlined, less bulky design compared to the SR-71.
To meet these challenging requirements, the Skunk Works engineers developed cutting-edge innovations in titanium fabrication, lubricants, jet engines, fuel, navigation, flight control, electronic countermeasures, radar stealthiness, and pilot life-support systems.
The Oxcart was America’s first stealth plane, though it was never completely stealth because the amount of fuel it had to carry to fly so fast for so long required changes in the airframe design that made it easier to track on radar. The innovative design and technologies developed for the A-12 were used for years after and helped lay the foundation for future stealth research.
In 1965, the A-12 was declared fully operational. It attained a sustained speed of Mach 3.2 (just over 2,200 miles per hour) at 90,000 feet altitude—an unbroken record for piloted jet aircraft.
The A-12 Was Faster Than The SR-71:
The SR-71 is known as the fastest military production aircraft. But what most people don’t realize is that the A-12 was more rapid.
The Pratt & Whitney J58 engine fitted to the A-12 was the first USAF engine able to operate for an extended time at speeds exceeding Mach 3 and altitudes above 80,000 feet. The same engine was later used on the SR-71.
This engine’s unique feature involves bleeding a measure of the high-pressure air from the compressor, bypassing the combustion chambers and turbine, and injecting this air into the front end of the afterburner.
The combination of the air bleed-bypass system feeding air directly to the afterburner works like a ramjet. Because conventional aircraft fuel would be too volatile at such high temperatures, a new fuel called JP-7 was developed.
“A cesium-laced fuel additive to dramatically reduce the radar signature of the plane’s massive engine exhausts and afterburner plumes by creating an ionizing cloud behind the aircraft to help conceal its entire rear aspect from radar waves,” wrote The Drive in 2019.
The Paint Scheme Was Made Famous
The Oxcart was painted a deep shade of blue, almost black, because it was learned that this color dissipated heat faster than bare titanium. The A-12 was first flown in 1962, became operational in 1967, and flew for the CIA until late 1968.
The A-12 was a single-seat aircraft and flew reconnaissance missions over North Korea and Vietnam. When the program ceased with the CIA, the Air Force purchased 11 of the two-seat version named the SR-71. It was nicknamed the Blackbird.
Lockheed produced fifteen A-12s, three YF-12As, and thirty-one SR-71s. The 49 reconnaissance aircraft completed more than 7,300 flights, with 17,000 hours in the air. More than 2,400 hours had been spent above Mach 3.
The A-12 was a significant leap in technology and a worthy predecessor to the SR-71.
The program ended in 1968, in part because the Air Force wanted control over all Mach 3 aircraft and didn’t want the CIA involved in what they perceived as their turf. Additionally, the costs associated with operating the fleet of 15 A-12s and the new SR-71 were prohibitively high.
About the Author
Steve Balestrieri is a National Security Columnist. He served as a US Army Special Forces NCO and Warrant Officer. In addition to writing on defense, he covers the NFL for PatsFans.com and is a member of the Pro Football Writers of America (PFWA). His work was regularly featured in many military publications.
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