For my previous posts on the tortuous path of the settlement through the courts and negotiations:
http://thanlont.blogspot.com/2013/06/the-12-avenger-ii-program-end-is-near.html
For a Naval Aviation News article on the A-12 Avenger when it still had a bright future, albeit for only a matter of weeks, see:
http://www.history.navy.mil/nan/backissues/1990s/1990/nd90.pdf
This is an illustration from that article:
Unfortunately, the Navy lost credibility with the Secretary of Defense with respect to the program's cost and schedule and the airplane's weight and capability, which resulted in its cancellation in early January 1991.*
Instead of this great leap forward in carrier-based strike, the Navy eventually decided to buy the F-18E/F and a player to be named later, UCLASS (Unmanned Carrier Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike).
*For a very detailed account of the A-12 program's rise and fall, see The $5 Billion Misunderstanding by James P. Stevenson. For a much shorter and more readable one, buy my book, Strike from the Sea (see the sidebar).
Boeing was shutting down the Hornet line anyways, weren't they?
ReplyDeleteNo, Congress added some planes to this year's budget to keep the line open
ReplyDelete