A-12 Avenger: Why America’s Enemies Are Glad This Super Naval Strike Fighter Was Never Built

[DOBIEMKZ]

A-12 Avenger: Why America’s Enemies Are Glad This Super Naval Strike Fighter Was Never Built.

https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/a-12-avenger-why-america-s-enemies-are-glad-this-super-naval-strike-fighter-was-never-built-part-one

https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/a-12-avenger-why-americas-enemies-are-all-glad-this-super-naval-strike-fighter-was-never-built-part-two

Part 1

During the final years of the Cold War the U.S. Military was pursuing four major programs in parallel to develop combat jets built around advanced radar evading stealth airframes. Of these, three were intended for the U.S. Air Force and all but one were intended for air to ground strike missions. The F-117 and B-2 both entered service as dedicated strike platforms, the former as a strike fighter in the early 1980s and the latter as a much larger intercontinental range strategic bomber in the late 1990s. These aircraft both served in the U.S. Air Force exclusively, and were followed by the F-22 Raptor air superiority fighter which was also used by no other country or service branch. It would remain the world’s only stealth aircraft with air to air combat capabilities for almost ten years from its entry into service in 2005. The fourth stealth aircraft of the period, which was the only one intended for the U.S. Navy and was a significantly more advanced strike design than the either the F-117 or the B-2, was the A-12 Avenger - a stealth fighter which rivalled the F-22 in sophistication. 

The A-12 was intended to prove U.S. Navy carrier air wings with a long range strike capability, and would have replaced the A-6E intruder in that role. With the F-14D Tomcat heavyweight air superiority fighter introduced from 1991, it was expected that these too could potentially be replaced by carrier variants of the F-22 to provide carriers with two long range stealth aircraft - one for strike and one for air to air missions. As it was, both the A-12 and the carrier variant of the Raptor were cancelled in the Cold War’s aftermath, and carrier air wings were made much less versatile but a lot cheaper to operate exclusively using F-18E Super Hornets. The F-18E was a non-stealthy aircraft which was lighter and much shorter ranged than either the F-22 or the A-12. The end of the Cold War also saw the A-6 end production in 1992, and it was subsequently retired in 1997 as part of an effort to reduce operational costs of carrier groups by relying solely on the F-18. 

The Advanced Tactical Aircraft program which would become the A-12 began development in 1983, a few years after the F-22, with McDonnell Douglas awarded the contract the following year. The aircraft were expected to be built in very large numbers, with the Navy expected to purchase 630 and the Marines around 240. The Air Force also considered purchasing up to 400 modified units to serve as ground based strike fighters to replace the F-111. The aircraft would have used the F412-GE-400 turbofan engine, a low maintenance design derived from the F404 use by the F-18, which in turn was used as a basis to develop the F414 engine for the F-18E, with commonality between the engines used by carrier based aircraft making maintenance easier. 

The A-12 made use of a flying wing design, but had a highly unusual triangular shape which maximised stealth and payload. It was built to carry a sizeable arsenal of air to ground ordinance alongside two AIM-120 active radar guided long range air to air missiles and and two AGM-88 HARM anti radiation missiles in standard configuration. Internal weapons bays could accommodate tactical nuclear weapons such as the B61, and the overall internal weapons load was set at 2300kg. To place this payload in perspective, the new F-35 stealth fighter can carry just 1,100 kg of internal weapons, and just 680 kg for the F-35B variant. The F-22 meanwhile carries 910kg from its shallower bomb bays. The A-12’s combination of stealth, long range and high ordnance allowed it to penetrate deep into enemy airspace for offensive strike missions - a capability considered vital throughout the Cold War. With other carrier based fighters without stealth capabilities such as the F-18 and F-18E left effectively obsolete for any kind of deep penetration mission by advances in Soviet air defence technology, the A-12’s importance was high. 

Part 2.

One of the A-12 program’s most fundamental strengths turned out to be a major weakness, which was that unlike the F-22 which was a relatively conventional type of aircraft as a fighter with a similar layout and role to its predecessor the F-15, the A-12 was a revolutionary new design and as a result its development was pursued in great secrecy. As a result the aircraft drew considerable criticism from the civilian government particularly due to ongoing uncertainties regarding its cost. The fighter was cancelled two years after the Cold War’s end in 1991 as part of a decision by Defence Secretary Richard 'Dick' Cheney, at a time when the Warsaw Pact had recently collapsed, the U.S. had a string of new military bases in the Middle East and relations with the Soviet Union had improved as Moscow acquiesced to the prospects of a Western led order. Although the A-12 appeared to be an unnecessary asset in the Cold War’s aftermath, with carrier strike groups not expected to go up against anything approaching a peer level challenger, the reemergence of tensions with major military powers following the turn of the century such as China, Russia and North Korea meant that the Navy increasingly suffered for its lack of a survivable high endurance strike aircraft 

By cancelling the A-12 program the U.S. Navy surrender a long prized capability which would later cause serious issues for the continued viability of the carrier fleet against high end adversaries - an asset which would have otherwise been a cause for much concern in Pyongyang, Moscow, Beijing and the capitals of other potential targets. Compared to the A-12, the F-18E could cover under 20% of the area - an issue which was brought to the fore when the F-14 was retired from 2006 due to its high operational costs. As Bob Kress and Read Admiral Paul Gillcrist, USN (Ret.), observed regarding the much smaller new fighter in 2002, “Though it’s a wizzy little airshow performer with a nice, modern cockpit, it has only 36 percent of the F-14’s payload/range capability. The F-18E Super Hornet has been improved but still has, at best, 50 percent of the F-14’s capability to deliver a fixed number of bombs (in pounds) on target. This naturally means that the carrier radius of influence drops to 50 percent of what it would have been with the same number of F-14s. As a result, the area of influence (not radius) drops to 23 percent!” Next to the A-12 the comparison was far less favourable still and showed a major loss from the stealth jet’s retirement. 

The commissioning of the F-35C carrier based stealth fighter, while finally providing the U.S. Navy with a stealth fighter for its carrier air wings, still far from resolved the problem that the A-12’s cancelation had caused. The fighter had less than half the payload of the A-12, and with a much smaller airframe had only a fraction of the range. Furthermore, the A-12’s flying wing design was almost certain to be considerably stealthier, with the F-35’s radar cross section being similar to the of the F-117 from the 1980s. The lack of a long range stealthy carrier based strike platform would be particularly critical following the Barak Obama administration's Pivot to Asia initiative, as carrier air wings will be forced to deploy within range of a very large number of Chinese long range anti ship missile systems to be able to launch sorties against Chinese targets. Had the A-12 been in service, carrier groups would have retained the high endurance aircraft needed to launch sorties from much safer ranges which the F-35 and F-18E, although cheaper, were never deigned to be able to fly. The Navy is still looking for a possible replacement three decades latter, including an unmanned long range strike drone or the use of MQ-25 drone tankers to refuel F-35s in the air - although the latter option only partly solves the problem. As China’s People’s Liberation Army Navy moves to commission its own supercarriers, it is highly possible that a high endurance strike aircraft will be deployed from their decks for similar roles to the A-12. With three decades between them technologically, however, and with China investing heavily in stealth drone technologies, a Chinese carrier based radar evading strike platform will very likely be unmanned. 

[Mustank]

One Covid, everybody thng Kor 

no need fighting

[Thaiyotakamli]

No need war, just send covid and usa ald had over 600k death