The Lockheed A-12 was a reconnaissance aircraft built for which United States organization, by Skunk Works, an official pseudonym for Lockheed Martin's Advanced Development Programs (ADP), formerly called Lockheed Advanced Development Projects?
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Lockheed A-12 The Lockheed A-12 was a reconnaissance aircraft built for the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) by Lockheed's Skunk Works, based on the designs of Clarence "Kelly" Johnson. The aircraft was designated A-12, the 12th in a series of internal design efforts for "Archangel", the aircraft's internal code name. It competed in the CIA's "Oxcart" program against the Convair Kingfish proposal in 1959, and won for a variety of reasons.
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Skunk Works Skunk Works is an official pseudonym for Lockheed Martin's Advanced Development Programs (ADP), formerly called Lockheed Advanced Development Projects. It is responsible for a number of famous aircraft designs, including the U-2, the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird, the Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk, Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor, and the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II, which will be used in the air forces of several countries. Its name was taken from the moonshine factory in the comic strip "Li'l Abner". The designation "skunk works" or "skunkworks" is widely used in business, engineering, and technical fields to describe a group within an organization given a high degree of autonomy and unhampered by bureaucracy, with the task of working on advanced or secret projects.
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Missile Defense Alarm System The Missile Defense Alarm System (MIDAS) was an American system of 12 early-warning satellites that provided limited notice of Soviet intercontinental ballistic missile launches between 1960 and 1966. Originally intended to serve as a complete early-warning system working in conjunction with the Ballistic Missile Early Warning System, cost and reliability concerns limited the project to a research and development role. Three of the system's 12 launches ended in failure, and the remaining nine satellites provided crude infrared early-warning coverage of the Soviet Union until the project was replaced by the Defense Support Program, which served as a successor program. MiDAS represented one element of the United States's first generation of reconnaissance satellites that also included the Corona and Samos series. Though MiDAS failed in its primary role as a system of infrared early-warning satellites, it pioneered the technologies needed in successor systems.
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Insectothopter The Insectothopter was a miniature unmanned aerial vehicle developed by the United States Central Intelligence Agency's research and development office in the 1970s. The Insectothopter was the size of a dragonfly, and was hand-painted to look like one. It was powered by a miniature fluidic oscillator to propel the wings up and down at the proper rate to provide both lift and thrust. A small amount of propellant produced gas to drive the oscillator, and extra thrust came from the excess gas vented out the rear. The project was abandoned when the Insectothopter was found to be too difficult to control in crosswinds.
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Armed Forces Special Weapons Project The Armed Forces Special Weapons Project (AFSWP) was a United States military agency responsible for those aspects of nuclear weapons remaining under military control after the Manhattan Project was succeeded by the Atomic Energy Commission on 1 January 1947. These responsibilities included the maintenance, storage, surveillance, security and handling of nuclear weapons, as well as supporting nuclear testing. The AFSWP was a joint organization, staffed by the United States Army, United States Navy and United States Air Force; its chief was supported by deputies from the other two services. Major General Leslie R. Groves, the former head of the Manhattan Project, was its first chief.
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Glenn L. Martin Company The Glenn L. Martin Company was an American aircraft and aerospace manufacturing company that was founded by the aviation pioneer Glenn L. Martin. The Martin Company produced many important aircraft for the defense of the United States and its allies, especially during World War II and the Cold War. Also, during the 1950s and 60s, the Martin Company moved gradually out of the aircraft industry and into the guided missile, space exploration, and space utilization industries.
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Republic F-105 Thunderchief The Republic F-105 Thunderchief was a supersonic fighter-bomber used by the United States Air Force. The Mach 2 capable F-105 conducted the majority of strike bombing missions during the early years of the Vietnam War; it was the only U.S. aircraft to have been removed from combat due to high loss rates. Originally designed as a single-seat, nuclear-attack aircraft, a two-seat Wild Weasel version was later developed for the specialized Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses (SEAD) role against surface-to-air missile sites. The F-105 was commonly known as the "Thud" by its crews.
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Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is a four-engine heavy bomber developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). Competing against Douglas and Martin for a contract to build 200 bombers, the Boeing entry (prototype Model 299/XB-17) outperformed both competitors and exceeded the air corps' performance specifications. Although Boeing lost the contract (to the Douglas B-18 Bolo) because the prototype crashed, the air corps ordered 13 more B-17s for further evaluation. From its introduction in 1938, the B-17 Flying Fortress evolved through numerous design advances, becoming the third-most produced bomber of all time, behind the B-24 and the multirole Ju 88.
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Lockheed Martin Desert Hawk III The Lockheed Martin Desert Hawk III (DHIII) is a miniature UAV designed by the Lockheed Martin Aeronautics in 2006 for use by modern militaries. It is a small surveillance drone, which is mainly used by the United Kingdom, but has also been used by the United States to assist in the war on terror by executing reconnaissance and recovery missions.
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Lockheed P-2 Neptune The Lockheed P-2 Neptune (designated P2V by the United States Navy prior to September 1962) was a Maritime patrol and anti-submarine warfare (ASW) aircraft. It was developed for the US Navy by Lockheed to replace the Lockheed PV-1 Ventura and PV-2 Harpoon, and was replaced in turn by the Lockheed P-3 Orion. Designed as a land-based aircraft, the Neptune never made a carrier landing, although a small number of aircraft were converted and deployed as carrier-launched, stop-gap nuclear bombers which would have to ditch or recover at land bases. The type was successful in export and saw service with several armed forces.
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Ping-Pong (rocket) Ping-Pong was an American battlefield reconnaissance rocket, developed by Lockheed in 1964. Intended to be launched, overfly the target area, then fire a rocket in the nose to return to its launch site, flight tests were undertaken in 1964, but production was not proceeded with.
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Hughes Aircraft Company The Hughes Aircraft Company was a major American aerospace and defense contractor founded in 1932 by Howard Hughes in Glendale, California as a division of Hughes Tool Company. The company was known for producing, among other products, the Hughes H-4 Hercules "Spruce Goose" aircraft, the atmospheric entry probe carried by the "Galileo" spacecraft, and the AIM-4 Falcon guided missile.
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Curtiss A-12 Shrike The Curtiss A-12 Shrike was the United States Army Air Corps' second monoplane ground-attack aircraft, and its main attack aircraft through most of the 1930s. It was based on the A-8, but had a radial engine instead of the A-8's inline, water-cooled engine, as well as other changes.
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Project Moby Dick "Project 119L" was a Cold War reconnaissance operation by the U.S. Air Force in which large balloons floated cameras over the Soviet Union. The spy balloons would photograph sensitive Soviet sites and either hang in the air or land in the Sea of Japan until either a crew flying the C-119 Flying Boxcar or a naval vessel retrieved them. The project caused a row between the U.S. and Soviet forces when the Soviets discovered what they (accurately) believed to be the remnants of a U.S. spy camera in February 1956. Other reconnaissance balloon projects from the era included Project Skyhook, Project Mogul, Project Grandson, and Project Genetrix. The previously conducted "Project Moby Dick" used much smaller balloons launched from what was called a "Covered Wagon" (shown in picture). Their payloads were then tracked across the continental United States to map and study high altitude wind trajectories.
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U.S. military UAS groups The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) employs Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) across all echelons to support tactical, operational, and strategic operations. The types of UAS that are used in these operations are categorized into "Groups" according to their size and capability. Previous to 2010, UAS were categorized into "Tiers" or "Classes" separately by each branch of the military. In order to promote a homogeneous categorization, the "group system" was developed.
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Lockheed Martin Information Technology Lockheed Martin Information Technology (I&TS) (also known as Lockheed Martin Information & Technology Services and Lockheed Martin Technology Services) is a subsidiary of Lockheed Martin that consists of dozens of smaller companies and units have been acquired and integrated. The company also administers a number of U.S. Government contracts. I&TS includes operations in information technology integration and management, enterprise solutions, application development, aircraft maintenance and modification services, management and logistics services for government and military systems, mission and analysis services, engineering and information services for NASA, and support of nuclear weapons and naval nuclear reactors. The US government accounts for more than 90% of sales.
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Vultee XP-54 The Vultee XP-54 "Swoose Goose" was a prototype fighter built by the Vultee Aircraft Company for the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF).
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Chase XCG-20 The Chase XCG-20, also known as the XG-20 and by the company designation MS-8 Avitruc, was a large assault glider developed immediately after World War II by the Chase Aircraft Company for the United States Air Force, and was the largest glider ever built in the United States. The XG-20 did not see production due to a change in USAF requirements, however, it was modified into the successful Fairchild C-123 Provider twin-engined transport aircraft which saw extensive service in the Vietnam War.
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Martin AN/FSG-1 Antiaircraft Defense System The Martin AN/FSG-1 Antiaircraft Defense System, better known as Missile Master, was an electronic fire distribution center to computerize Cold War air defense (AD) command posts from manual plotting board operations to automated command and control of remote surface-to-air missile (SAM) launch batteries. The 10 United States Army C systems used radar netting ("electronic umbrella") at Missile Master military installations for coordinating ground-controlled interception by Nike and MIM-23 Hawk missiles. The vacuum tube fire control logic reduced the time to designate the appropriate missile battery to launch if an enemy target had intruded into a defense area where an AN/FSG-1 system was deployed.
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General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper The General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper (sometimes called Predator B) is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) capable of remotely controlled or autonomous flight operations, developed by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI) primarily for the United States Air Force (USAF). The MQ-9 and other UAVs are referred to as Remotely Piloted Vehicles/Aircraft (RPV/RPA) by the USAF to indicate their human ground controllers. The MQ-9 is the first hunter-killer UAV designed for long-endurance, high-altitude surveillance. In 2006, the then–Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force General T. Michael Moseley said: "We've moved from using UAVs primarily in intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance roles before Operation Iraqi Freedom, to a true hunter-killer role with the Reaper."
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Lockheed Martin X-33 The Lockheed Martin X-33 was an unmanned, sub-scale technology demonstrator suborbital spaceplane developed in the 1990s under the U.S. government-funded Space Launch Initiative program. The X-33 was a technology demonstrator for the VentureStar orbital spaceplane, which was planned to be a next-generation, commercially operated reusable launch vehicle. The X-33 would flight-test a range of technologies that NASA believed it needed for single-stage-to-orbit reusable launch vehicles (SSTO RLVs), such as metallic thermal protection systems, composite cryogenic fuel tanks for liquid hydrogen, the aerospike engine, autonomous (unmanned) flight control, rapid flight turn-around times through streamlined operations, and its lifting body aerodynamics.
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ADM-141 TALD The ADM-141A/B TALD was an American decoy missile originally built by Brunswick Corporation for the USAF and the Israeli Air Force. Later it transitioned to joint US/Israeli manufacture with Israeli Military Industries Advanced Systems Division (IMI-ASD).