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From: ccastjr%prism@gatech.edu (COOOOoooooOOOoooOOOKIE!!!!)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: A-12
Message-ID: <13925@cbnews.ATT.COM>
Date: 13 Feb 90 03:19:27 GMT
References: <13881@cbnews.ATT.COM>
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Organization: Georgia Institute of Technology
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From: ccastjr%prism@gatech.edu (COOOOoooooOOOoooOOOKIE!!!!)

In article <13881@cbnews.ATT.COM> henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) writes:
>Assuming we are talking about the Navy's new attack aircraft, as opposed
>to the predecessor of the YF-12A and SR-71, almost all info on it is
>still officially secret.
>

    Actually, the YF-12 is the fighter version of the A-11 (the predicessor of
both the YF-12 and SR-71).  The plane was mistakenly labeled the A-12 by then
President Johnson in a press conference (or simular event).  The A-11 was a plane
that was being used (supposedly) by the CIA for a while..it looked the same as
the SR-71, except it was all silver, with leading and trailing edges in black.
I'm not sure, but I believe that since the SR-71 fulfilled the same mission as
the A-11, the program was cancelled.  The YF-12 program was cancelled because the
plane (intended as a long range interceptor) flew faster than it's air to air 
missile payload, and that caused a few problems.