Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!att!cbnews!military
From: gwh%earthquake.Berkeley.EDU@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (George William Herbert)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: A-12
Keywords: SR-71, A-12, etc
Message-ID: <14238@cbnews.ATT.COM>
Date: 22 Feb 90 03:44:11 GMT
Sender: military@cbnews.ATT.COM
Organization: University of California, Berkeley
Lines: 28
Approved: military@att.att.com



From: gwh%earthquake.Berkeley.EDU@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (George William Herbert)
In article <14198@cbnews.ATT.COM> root@grumbly.UUCP (Super user) writes:
>
>Yes, its the GTD-21 drone. According to my source they were used for "proof of
>concept" vehicles for the A-11s.  The engine is rumored to be more of a pure
>ramjet. They were stored at Davis-Monthan - where they were first spotted in
>late 1976.
>
>One of the A-12 losses was rumored to have occured during a 'launch' of one of 
>these D-21s.  The Blackbird pitched up into the D-21 during a ballistic
>release [read explosive bolts or something similar].

The D-21 was a recon drone, not a 'proof of concept'.  It was developed in
response to projected soviet improved SAM's that could catch the SR-71;
the idea was that it was much easier to explain the loss of an unmanned
drone than a manned SR-71.  THey were used in flight for a while, but 
after that one accident they were all taken out of service.


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George William Herbert     JOAT For Hire: Anything, Anywhere: My Price
UCB Naval Architecture undergrad: Engineering with a Bouyant Attitude :-)
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