Some of the most creative and potentially decisive kinds of weapons systems in military history have never been taken from the design stage. These cancellations include the AH-56 Cheyenne helicopter, B-70 Valkyrie bomber, A-12 Avenger stealth aircraft, Future Combat Systems, and Sea Control Ship, all torpedoed because of a variety of issues, from budgetary constraints and technological hurdles to interservice rivalries and shifting military priorities. While most of their cancellations seemed justified at the time, they nonetheless left strong imprints on military strategy and procurement that sometimes involved lost opportunities in warfare.
In the early 1960s, the U.S. Army was just coming to full grips with the potential of helicopter aviation. The AH-56 Cheyenne was conceived as a radical helicopter that could marry high speed with heavy firepower. It could reach 275 mph, and other distinctive features made it ideal for escorting transport helicopters and carrying out ground support and attack missions independently. But the Cheyenne was too cutting-edge for the technologies to be mature, so early prototype problems and a fatal crash consequently arose. Further, the Air Force was actually against the Cheyenne because it would intrude on some of its close air support missions.
The Vietnam War horrified America’s defense budget in the manner that mortgage payments disturbed the Cheyenne. The project was eventually canceled, although the story survived in the AH-64 Apache safer and more conventional, the aircraft that, in retrospect, marked the horizons of Army aviation.
The B-70 Valkyrie was designed as the follow-on to both the B-52 Stratofortress and the B-58 Hustler; intended to penetrate Soviet airspace at altitudes above 70,000 feet and at speeds greater than Mach 3. While impressive in its beauty, with sleek, futuristic lines, the Valkyrie was just too expensive.
President Eisenhower and Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara were not willing to fund a whole new generation of heavy bombers when ICBMs were proving to be potent carriers of nuclear payloads. Advances in Soviet interceptor and missile technology also made the Valkyrie’s mission increasingly dangerous. Only two prototypes were built before the program was shut down. The B-1B, which entered service 15 years later, shared some characteristics with the Valkyrie but was more practical. The cancellation of the B-70 likely saved the Air Force from a costly and prolonged procurement quagmire.
In the mid-1980s, the need developed in the Navy for a successor to the A-6 Intruder, what developed was the idea for a stealthy subsonic “flying wing” bomber, the A-12 Avenger, specifically being configured for carrier operations. Avenger promised unmatched deep-strike capability but from the very beginning, ran into early problems with its stealth coating and weight increases causing costs to spiral. A conservative one finally axed the program upon fears expressed by Dick Cheney over the stealth program technology. The Land Based Aerospace Battle Settled for the F-18 upgrade to the Super Hornet, a conventional upgrade but later went after the F-35, a troubled program itself. The cancellation of the A-12 program fundamentally changed the face of the Navy’s carrier wing for an entire generation.
The ambitious early 21st-century project of the U.S. Army, the Future Combat Systems, aimed at acquiring the integration of precision-guided ordnance, real-time communication, and high-end sensors into an integral and single system. However, the Iraq War diverted resources and attention from FCS; the very nature of that conflict also called into question the underlying theories upon which the program was based. The FCS vision gradually disintegrated, with the Army adopting a mix of new and legacy systems to meet immediate needs. While some elements of FCS survive, the ideal of a fully integrated system yielded to the realities of budget and warfare.
During World War II, the U.S. Navy and Royal Navy operated hundreds of escort carriers for anti-submarine and amphibious operations. The Sea Control Ship SCS was an attempt to revive that concept with a fleet of small carriers. The U.S. Navy instead chose fewer, larger carriers and shelved the SCS. The move would define the carrier strategy of the Navy for generations as it focused on what could be done with more ships of the larger and more multi-enabling type.
Although they were never realized, such unbuilt weapons systems heavily influenced military thought and strategy: reminders of both the complexity in the interplay of innovation, practicality and the constantly changing landscape of defense priorities.