The SR-71 Blackbird

The CIA A-12 Blackbird Program

 

The A-12 started out as an USAF interceptor to replace the cancelled F-108A Rapier. In October 1962, CIA authorized the Skunk Works to study the feasibility of modifying the A-12 to carry and deploy a reconnaissance drone for unmanned overflight of denied areas. The project was codenamed TAGBOARD.

A-12 Blackbird: From Drawing Board to Factory Floor

A-12 Blackbird: From Drawing Board to Factory Floor

The Central Intelligence Agency was created in 1947 principally to provide US leaders with strategic warning of attack by the Soviet Union. The Agency’s main mission during its first decade and a half was to deploy its collection and analytic assets to detect and preempt a nuclear Pearl Harbor. No other intelligence question had greater implications for the national interests of the United States—and its very survival—than determining what kinds of strategic weapons, and how many of them, the Soviet Union had, and how it intended to use them. With the USSR proving to be an extremely hard target for traditional espionage operations, the United States had to turn to technical collection to peer beyond the Iron Curtain.

Author: SR Admin
0 Comments
Article rating: 2.0

A-12 Blackbird: Lockheed's Aviation Genius

A-12 Blackbird: Lockheed's Aviation Genius

Clarence Leonard “Kelly” Johnson was a pathbreaking aeronautical engineer who worked for Lockheed Aircraft for over four decades. Born in Ishpeming, Michigan, on 27 February 1910, he graduated from the University of Michigan with an M.S. in aeronautical engineering in 1933 and joined Lockheed that same year.

Author: SR Admin
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating

A-12 Blackbird: Hiding OXCART in Plain Sight

A-12 Blackbird: Hiding OXCART in Plain Sight

While the A-12 was being tested and refined, US officials mulled over two major issues concerning it. The first was whether to publicly disclose the OXCART program. The Department of Defense had grown concerned that it could not overtly explain all the money the Air Force was spending on its versions of the A-12. At the same time, some CIA and Pentagon officials recognized that crashes or sightings of test flights could compromise the project. With a turning radius of no less than 86 miles at full speed, the A-12 overflew a vast expanse of unrestricted territory. Soon after the first flights in April 1962, CIA and the Air Force changed the program’s cover story from involving an interceptor aircraft to a multipurpose satellite launch system.

Author: SR Admin
0 Comments
Article rating: 2.6

A-12 Blackbird: Finding A Mission

A-12 Blackbird: Finding A Mission

Facing changed circumstances in relations with the Soviet Union and in US satellite development, US policymakers and intelligence officials had to come to grips with how best to use the A-12 as it neared completion. Its intended purpose, replacing the U-2 in overflights of the Soviet Union, had become less and less likely well before the A-12 was operational. Soviet air defenses had advanced to the point that even an aircraft flying faster than a rifle bullet at the edge of space could be tracked. In any event, President Kennedy had stated publicly that the United States would not resume such missions.

Author: SR Admin
0 Comments
Article rating: 5.0

A-12 Blackbird: A Futile Fight for Survival

A-12 Blackbird: A Futile Fight for Survival

Two major ironies run through the history of the A-12. One is that it was never used for it intended purpose of overflying the Soviet Union to collect strategic intelligence on Moscow’s nuclear weapons capabilities, and instead was deployed as a tactical collection platform in a conventional military conflict. The other is that just as the A‑12 was about to be declared operationally ready, US policymakers had decided to replace it with the Air Force’s OXCART reconnaissance variant, the SR-71.

Author: SR Admin
0 Comments
Article rating: 4.5
Author: SR Admin
0 Comments
Article rating: 4.5

A-12 Blackbird: Blackshield Missions

A-12 Blackbird: Blackshield Missions

Fifteen BLACK Shield Missions high-altitude reconnaissance missions were alerted during the period from 1 January to 31 March 1968. Six of the 15 missions were flown, four over North Vietnam and two over North Korea. Eight missions were cancelled due to weather conditions, and approval for one Korean mission was not obtained.

Author: SR Admin
0 Comments
Article rating: 3.0

The OXCART Family - A-12, YF-12, SR-71, and M21 Blackbirds

The OXCART Family - A-12, YF-12, SR-71, and M21 Blackbirds

The A-12’s unique design and characteristics became the foundation for three other versions of supersonic aircraft that Lockheed built for CIA and the Air Force: the YF-12A, the M-21, and the SR-71.

Author: SR Admin
0 Comments
Article rating: 2.5
RSS