Known colloquially as the “flying Dorito” due to its triangular shape, the A-12 Avenger II was once supposed to function as the Navy’s advanced carrier-based stealth bomber. Instead, it became the poster child for procurement failure, plagued by excess cost overruns, technical difficulties, and strategic misalignments.
The A-12 Avenger II was an advanced replacement for the aging A-6 Intruder, powered by next-generation stealth and a futuristic design. The aircraft had internal weapons bays, negligible tail surfaces, and a low radar cross-section. Despite all the potential, A-12 failed to live up to its promise. It was a bomber that could hardly carry 5,000 pounds of ordnance when compared to the Intruder’s capacity to haul 18,000 pounds. Moreover, it was fitted with internal missile bays for air-to-air combat, which further complicated its mission profile.
Initial development of the project started in 1983 as the Advanced Tactical Aircraft program, with McDonnell Douglas and General Dynamics winning the contract for its development in 1988. While the Navy and Marine Corps were very much interested at the beginning, plans were underway for the acquisition of over 1,200 units combined. However, by 1991, then-Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney canceled the program. It was canceled because the aircraft was substantially overweight, 18 months behind schedule, and massively over budget.
From its very beginnings, a host of mistakes plagued the A-12 Avenger II program. Too-optimistic contractors, unwarranted secrecy, and a “don’t-rock-the-boat” mentality in the Pentagon bureaucracy had sealed the program’s fate. All the while, the contractors were touting the project as being on schedule to Congress when, in fact, the opposite was true. The aircraft would never achieve operational status and post-cancellation, serious litigation followed, involving what ended up as the largest project termination in U.S. Defense Department history.
The failure of the A-12 thus turned into a cautionary tale for the U.S. defense acquisition community, underlining all the complexities and pitfalls related to creating advanced military technology. As one publication put it very well, “The A-12 walked so the F-35 could fly.” The lessons learned from the A-12 program indirectly smoothed the path that later projects, like the F-35 Lightning II, would take.
Although it never took to the air, the A-12 Avenger II represents one of the most critical nodes in the evolution of America’s stealth platforms. It served as the connective tissue between the Air Force’s F-117A stealth bomber and the eventual fifth-generation warplane, the F-35 Lightning II. The A-12 story is a testament to how real planning, open communication, and adaptability are necessary ingredients in the development of advanced military technology.