From: skunk-works-digest-owner@harbor.ecn.purdue.edu To: skunk-works-digest@harbor.ecn.purdue.edu Subject: Skunk Works Digest V2 #38 Reply-To: skunk-works-digest@harbor.ecn.purdue.edu Errors-To: skunk-works-digest-owner@harbor.ecn.purdue.edu Precedence: bulk Skunk Works Digest Wednesday, 23 December 1992 Volume 02 : Number 038 In this issue: A-12 note A-12/SR-71 stuff Neat Hypersonic Stuff Re: A-12/SR-71 stuff (Part II) Re: A-12/SR-71 stuff (Part I) no subject (file transmission) See the end of the digest for information on subscribing to the skunk-works or skunk-works-digest mailing lists and on how to retrieve back issues. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: dnadams@nyx.cs.du.edu (Dean Adams) Date: Tue, 22 Dec 92 05:15:21 MST Subject: A-12 note DoD News No. 358-M MEMORANDUM FOR CORRESPONDENTS December 14, 1992 The Department of the Navy has finished its review of the A-12 deferment agreement with the General Dynamic Corporation and the McDonnell Douglas Corporation. Based on the review, the Navy determined that it is in the best interest of the government to continue the agreement at this time. The deferment agreement calls for the next review in December of 1993. Meanwhile, while the deferment agreement is in effect, the two corpora- tions will maintain sufficient assets or available credit to pay the unpaid balance of the principal sum of $1.352 billion, plus accrued interest, repre- senting the government's claim under the A-12 Contract. The Navy will require the contractors to provide quarterly financial submissions and monthly notifi- cation of any changes to those submissions. In addition, the Navy will require timely prior notice of any special distribution to stockholders or any repur- chase of a material amount of stock. Consistent with the executive order governing civil litigation, the government and the Contractors have agreed to pursue settlement negotiations as a possible alternative to extended and expensive litigation. -END- ------------------------------ From: davem@ee.ubc.ca (Dave Michelson) Date: Tue, 22 Dec 92 7:00:12 PST Subject: A-12/SR-71 stuff I recently read these claims in "Stealth Technology" by J. Jones (Aero Books, 1989) and thought I would throw them out to the list for comment... 1. "In 1964, the USAF requested an intercepter version of the A-12 called the YF-12A. This request was actually a CIA-sponsored cover for secret operation of the A-12." How would publically announcing the YF-12A cover secret operation of the A-12? 2. "Another version, called the R-12, was to be a bomber armed with nuclear weapons carried in three fuselage weapons bays. However, this version was never built." What does the R designation mean? Why not B? 3. "With the low infrared and low RCS of the SR-71, there is one other special feature of the aircraft that has gained little attention in the open press: its unique reconnaissance camera apertures (windows). These apertures are different from other known systems. The SR-71's cameras must obtain the clearest and sharpest photographs of its subject at speeds of Mach 3+ and altitudes above 90,000 feet. With such flight conditions, the skin temperatures, especially around the camera apertures, would create aberancies in ordinary aircraft transparencies that might otherwise distort the images on the required photographs to an unacceptable level. Lockheed engineers, in cooperation with other industries, have developed a high-temperature-resistant ceramic/plastic that is totally opaque at [the temperatures experienced at] low speeds, but that turn totally trans- parent [at the temperatures experienced] above Mach 2.6 and does not cause any distortion of the images of the camera systems on the SR-71. These ceramic material apertures appear on the bottom of the SR-71's chin areas forward, and appear as white patches in photographs." Does this material really exist? Looking forward to comments about the accuracy and implications of these claims... - -- Dave Michelson davem@ee.ubc.ca ------------------------------ From: larry@ichips.intel.com Date: Tue, 22 Dec 1992 10:40:00 -0800 Subject: Neat Hypersonic Stuff Fellow hypersonics freaks! The January 1993 Popular Mechanics has a nice color drawing of NASA's HALO (Hypersonic Air Launch Option) concept launching off the back of an SR-71. See page 11. I love this kind of stuff! It would be neat to work on this kind of stuff. By the way, when the HALO project was covered back in the 9/14/92 AW&ST, and summarized for us by George Allegrezza, Mary Shafer was too modest (or too good at security :) ) to let us know that one of the NASA engineers interviewed in that AW&ST article, is her husband Ken Iliff, Dryden's Senior Staff Scientist. Ken is also involved with the SAPHYRE concept (Swerve Aero Propulsion HYpersonic Research Experiment). Of course SWERVE stands for Sandia Winged Energetic Reentry Vehicle Experiment! Gee! Nested acronyms now! We previously posted a copy of both the Defense News, March 26, 1990, (pg. 1), and the Aviation Week and Space Technology; August 6, 1990; (pg. 25) articles on SWERVE. Personally I would love to see NASA and Lockheed team together on both HALO and SAPHYRE. Sounds like the NASP folks though (which also probably includes Lockheed now) are also putting together their own lower cost program (unfortunately I know even less about that one to form an opinion). So in 93 we'll see what shakes loose, because 93 is supposed to be the last year of NASP phase II (technology development), and indeed the funding is drying up as well. Larry ------------------------------ From: larry@ichips.intel.com Date: Tue, 22 Dec 1992 14:02:09 -0800 Subject: Re: A-12/SR-71 stuff (Part II) >2. "Another version, called the R-12, was to be a bomber armed with >nuclear weapons carried in three fuselage weapons bays. However, this >version was never built." >What does the R designation mean? Why not B? I can't answer the R designation question, heck, what does the 'A' in A-12 mean (Ben Rich and another Lockheed person who worked that program has said that it meant Archangel (U-2 was Angel), others have said it means Article) but there have been many rumors about an armed recon. or even a strike version of the A-12 that may have been just a concept, or that may have been built and then destroyed, or that may have been built and then modified into an A-12, or that may still exist, or that may have started out as an A-12 and was then modified to the R-12 configuration and then modified back to the A-12 configuration. How the D-21 drones were discovered doesn't help matters any either (they were accidently discovered by aircraft enthusiasts not disclosed by announcement). Perhaps the author of "Flight Of The Old Dog" should have hypothesized the R-12 as the subject of his novel! Then the R designation could mean REVENGE !! :) There are a lot of questions about A-12 #937. That airplane will be going to the new Evergreen Air Museum (the Spruce Goose is already here) in McMinneville Oregon once it gets restored by Evergreen Air in Arizona. Here's some more information on the R-12 subject: In an Air Classics Special entitled: SPY PLANES; Volume 2; 1988 there is a story entitled: "Blackbird: It's Still The Greatest" beginning on pg. 32. There's no author indicated that I can find, but the editor for the whole magazine was Michael O'Leary. On pg. 45 of the story there is the following paragraph, for purposes of discussion: "In early 1961, Kelly Johnson put forth a proposal to the USAF for a new aircraft based on the A-12 and the YF-12A. The new plane would be a strategic reconnaissance bomber and would carry the designation R-12. The aircraft would be dual mission; for the bomber role a large pod would be mounted under the fuselage, much like that on the Convair B-58 Hustler. More study showed this bomber concept was really not feasable and, for the recon mission, all equipment would have to be mounted inside the fuselage. The USAF liked what Kelly and his team presented and, in December 1962, a contract to build six production aircraft was issued to Lockheed. The plane was going to be designated RS-71 ...". Now the OXCART History is at least the Lockheed history of the A-12 project. That same document contains a history of the SR-71 program, but that part of the document is still classified (Ben Rich told me this when I asked him why the OXCART History began on page 25, and what additional information was in the complete document). So if this R-12 thing is real, they may talk about it in the SR-71 history part of the document. But, I also asked him if the history of the D-21 program was in the document and he said no. So who knows. The R-12 is just an interesting rumor. >3. "With the low infrared and low RCS of the SR-71, there is one >other special feature of the aircraft that has gained little attention >in the open press: its unique reconnaissance camera apertures (windows). > These apertures are different from other known systems. The SR-71's >cameras must obtain the clearest and sharpest photographs of its subject >at speeds of Mach 3+ and altitudes above 90,000 feet. With such flight >conditions, the skin temperatures, especially around the camera apertures, >would create aberancies in ordinary aircraft transparencies that might >otherwise distort the images on the required photographs to an unacceptable >level. > Lockheed engineers, in cooperation with other industries, have developed >a high-temperature-resistant ceramic/plastic that is totally opaque at >[the temperatures experienced at] low speeds, but that turn totally trans- >parent [at the temperatures experienced] above Mach 2.6 and does not >cause any distortion of the images of the camera systems on the SR-71. >These ceramic material apertures appear on the bottom of the SR-71's chin >areas forward, and appear as white patches in photographs." > >Does this material really exist? > From the OXCART History lpn 5: (S) Then there was the unique problem of the camera window. The OXCART was to carry a delicate and highly sophisticated camera, which would look out through a quartz glass window. The effectiveness of the whole system depended upon achieving complete freedom from optical distortion despite the great heat to which the window would be subjected. Thus the question was not simply one of providing equipment with resistance to high temperature, but of assuring that there should be no unevenness of tempera- ture throughout the area of the window. It took three years of time and two million dollars of money to arrive at a satisfactory solution. The program scored one of its most remarkable successes when the quartz glass was successfully fused to its metal frame by an unprecedented process involving the use of high frequency sound waves. >Looking forward to comments about the accuracy and implications of >these claims... Larry ------------------------------ From: larry@ichips.intel.com Date: Tue, 22 Dec 1992 14:01:45 -0800 Subject: Re: A-12/SR-71 stuff (Part I) Dave Michelson writes: >I recently read these claims in "Stealth Technology" by J. Jones (Aero Books, >1989) and thought I would throw them out to the list for comment... > >1. "In 1964, the USAF requested an intercepter version of the A-12 >called the YF-12A. This request was actually a CIA-sponsored cover >for secret operation of the A-12." > >How would publically announcing the YF-12A cover secret operation of the A-12? From OXCART History lpn 11-12: UNCLASSIFIED The following (S), (C), and (U) marks indicate Secret, Confidential, and Unclassified security ratings that are for historical interest only. This page and the document it comes from, entitled OXCART History (DON: SC-86-010115), has been UNCLASSIFIED according to Senior Crown Security Class Guide dated 11/01/89, approved and dated 25 Feb. 91. (S) The President's Announcement (U) In spite of all this, 1963 went by without any public revelation. President Johnson was brought up to date on the project a week after taking office, and directed that a paper be prepared for an announcement in the spring of 1964. Then at his press conference on 24 February, he read a statement of which the first paragraph was as follows: (U) "The United States has successfully developed an advanced experi- mental 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. The development of this aircraft has been made possible by major advances in aircraft technology of great significance for both military and commercial applications. 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." (U)The president went on to mention the "mastery of the metallurgy and fabrication of titanium metal" which has been achieved, gave credit to Lockheed and to Pratt & Whitney, remarked that appropriate members of the Senate and House had been kept fully informed, and prescribed that the detailed performance of the A-11 would be kept strictly classified. (S) The President's reference to the "A-11" was of course deliberate. "A-11" had been the original design designation for the all-metal aircraft first proposed by Lockheed; subsequently it became the design designation for the Air Force YF-12A interceptor which differed from its parent mainly in that it carried a second man for launching air-to-air missiles. To preserve the distinction between the A-11 and the A-12 Security had briefed practically all witting personnel in government and industry on the impending announce- ment. OXCART secrecy continued in effect. There was considerable specula- tion about an Agency role in the A-11 development, but it was never acknowledged by the government. News headlines ranged from "US has dozen A-11 jets already flying" to "Secret of sizzling new plane probably history's best kept." (U) The President also said that "the A-11 aircraft now at Edwards Air Force Base are undergoing extensive tests to determine their capabilities as long- range interceptors." It was true that the Air Force in October 1960, had contracted for three interceptor versions of the A-12, and they were by this time available. But at the moment when the President spoke, there were no A-11's at Edwards and there never had been. Project officials had known that the public announcement was about to be made, but they had not been told exactly when. Caught by surprise, they hastily flew two Air Force YF-12A's to Edwards to support the President's statement. So rushed was this operation, so speedily were the aircraft put into hangars upon arrival, that heat from them activated the hangar sprinkler system, dousing the reception team which awaited them. (S) Thenceforth, while the OXCART continued its secret career at its own site, the A-11 performed at Edwards Air Force Base in a considerable glare of publicity. Pictures of the aircraft appeared in the press, correspondents could look at it and marvel, stories could be written. Virtually no details were made available, but the technical journals nevertheless had a field day. The unclassified Air Force and Space Digest, for example, published a long article in its issue of April 1964, commencing: "The official pictures and statements tell very little about the A-11. But the technical literature from open sources, when carefully interpreted, tells a good deal about what it could and, more importantly, what it could not be. Here's the story ..." ------------------------------ From: gt6745b@prism.gatech.edu Date: Tue, 22 Dec 92 21:48:09 EST Subject: no subject (file transmission) As a new reader, I don't really know what has been said in the past, but I have read a small piece about an "Aurora" aircraft that, according to some congressional budgeting paperwork, does at least have funding. Whether or not the aircraft actually exists was not specified. I'll try to look up exactly what was said and reprint it later for those who are interested. I have also heard rumors from a friend at Pratt & Whitney that they are doing work on scramjets for just such an aircraft under the cover of the National Aerospace Plane. On the other hand, as has been stated by others before, is the possibility that all that is simply disinformation. Michael David Knight gt6745b@prism.gatech.edu * In this world and the next,* Georgia Institute of Technology * fight to live, and retreat * Atlanta, Georgia 30332 * only into happiness and * Aerospace Engineering (404)676-0520 * success. * ------------------------------ End of Skunk Works Digest V2 #38 ******************************** To subscribe to skunk-works-digest, send the command: subscribe skunk-works-digest in the body of a message to "listserv@harbor.ecn.purdue.edu". If you want to subscribe something other than the account the mail is coming from, such as a local redistribution list, then append that address to the "subscribe" command; for example, to subscribe "local-skunk-works": subscribe skunk-works-digest local-skunk-works@your.domain.net A non-digest (direct mail) version of this list is also available; to subscribe to that instead, replace all instances of "skunk-works-digest" in the commands above with "skunk-works". 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