U.S. stealth reconnaissance aircraft that was the precursor to the SR-71 Blackbird spyplane. The existence of the A-12 aircraft was revealed by President Johnson on Feb. 26, 1964, when, using the Lockheed designation for the plane, he announced:
The United States has successfully developed an advanced experimental jet aircraft, the A-11, which has been tested in sustained flight at more than 2,000 miles per hour and at altitudes in excess of 70,000 feet. The performance of the A-11 far exceeds that of any other aircraft in the world today.... Several A-11 aircraft are now being flight tested at Edwards Air Force Base in California. The existence of this program is being disclosed today to permit the orderly exploitation of this advanced technology in our military and commercial program.
The President's reference to the A-11 was a deliberate ploy to obfuscate the real designation of the aircraft. Also, the A-12s were flying from a secret air base, not from Edwards.
The A-12 was developed by the CIA and the Lockheed Skunk Works. It had an extremely long, slim fuselage and two enormous jet engines mounted on short, triangular wings. The material selected for the aircraft, a titanium alloy, was scarce, costly, and one for which production was not yet perfected. Of the early deliveries of titanium for the aircraft, some 80 percent had to be rejected. The materials and design required that all A-12s be essentially hand-built. Among the other problems was the need for a special fuel (the aircraft would heat up to about 350o F. in flight) and lubricating oil for engines that operated at 600o F.
The A-12 could fly at Mach 3 and, after burning off much of its fuel, could cruise above 90,000 feet. The A12 became operational in Nov. 1965. The CIA proposed to use the A-12 for overflights of Cuba, but those missions were not undertaken. The first -- and only -- operational flights of the A-12 took place in 1967 over North Vietnam under the code name BLACK SHIELD. Flying from Kadena Air Force Base on Okinawa, A-12s flew 26 photo missions over North Vietnam between May 31, 1967, and early 1968. Although some A-12 flights were detected and SA-2 surface-to-air missiles were launched against the aircraft, no planes were shot down or damaged. (SA-2 missiles downed the U-2 flown by Francis Gary Powers over the Soviet Union and the U-2 over Cuba piloted by Rudolf Anderson, Jr.)
On Jan. 26, 1968, an A-12 flew a photo mission over North Korea to take photos of the captured U.S. spy ship Pueblo. The flight was detected by radar in China, but no missiles were fired at the aircraft. A second mission over North Korea was flown on May 8, 1968 -- the last A-12 operational mission.
By March 1968, the U.S. Air Force SR-71 Blackbird aircraft -- derived from the A-12 -- began to arrive on Okinawa to replace the A-12 for North Vietnam overflights. Subsequently, A-12 flights were limited to those essential to maintaining pilot proficiency. During 1968 the surviving A-12 aircraft were placed in storage. (Of the 15 that were built, six were lost in accidents, one crashing while trying to launch a D-21 unmanned reconnaissance vehicle.)
The SR-71 had the advantage of a second crew position to assist in the complex navigation and reconnaissance operations of the aircraft, but the A-12 had more space for cameras and other collection equipment because it carried only a pilot. Two A-12s were modified with a second crew position for the abortive plan to launch D-21s from the aircraft.
The U.S. Air Force YF-12A fighter was derived from the A-12, the principal differences being the addition of a second position for a weapon systems officer and provisions for air-to-air missiles that were to be carried internally. The first flight of the YF-12 variant took place on April 26, 1962; only three fighter aircraft were produced.
SR-71 production consisted of 3 YF-12A and 32 SR-71 aircraft including one SR-71C trainer; the last was created from salvaged a YF‑12A and functional mockup components. Just under 20 aircraft were in the inventory in 1990 when the SR-71 was retired, of which only eight or nine were operational at any one time because of the aircraft's high maintenance requirements.
The Pentagon announced the loss of eight SR-71s in accidents through 1970. Unlike the U-2s, none was lost to hostile fire. In his definitive Lockheed SR-71: The Secret Missions Exposed, Paul Crickmore lists the operational loss of 5 A-12, 1 MR-12 drone carrier, 13 SR-71, and 1 YF-12A from 1963 to 1989.
The revolutionary A-12 shattered many aviation records. One flight on a circuit over the United States on Dec. 21, 1966, covered 10,198 miles in six hours -- an average speed of 1,700 mph.
