Posted on 11/01/2013 7:57:26 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
On the list of Pentagon weapons programs gone awry, the Navy's A-12 Avenger attack jet stands out.
The radar-evading, carrier-based McDonnell Douglas plane was 18 months behind schedule and about $1.4 billion over cost when then-Defense Secretary Dick Cheney canceled the $57 billion program back in 1991.
The case over the triangular-shaped A-12 Avenger, which was dubbed the "Flying Dorito," has been in legal limbo ever since, going all the way to the Supreme Court in 2011 before being referred back to a lower court.
Now, after 22 years, a settlement is on the horizon.
Senator Susan Collins told the Senate Appropriations Committee the government reached a deal this week to end its battle with Boeing Co -- which now owns McDonnell Douglas -- and General Dynamics Corp...
The settlement is conditional, based on the passage of necessary legal language by Congress, and would give the Navy $400 million worth of military hardware "for free," Collins said. The deal is being evaluated by the Congressional Budget Office, she said...
The Navy awarded McDonnell Douglas and General Dynamics a fixed-price contract worth $4.7 billion in 1988 to research and develop eight of the planes according to a specific delivery schedule between June 1990 and January 1991. The contract gave the Navy the option of purchasing additional planes.
But court records show the companies ran into difficulties meeting the contract schedule from the outset. The plane was built with new composite materials that were expected to reduce its weight but failed to do so, and it ended up being 30 percent heavier than design specifications.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
i taste a sequel
McDonnell Douglas A-12 Avenger II
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McDonnell_Douglas_A-12_Avenger_II
Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_Martin_F-35_Lightning_II
No relation to the Flying Burrito Brothers?
LOL!
Apocalyptic rumor had it that it ended up behind schedule due to project managers changing and one decided he wanted the seating arrangement to be side by side like in the A-6 Intruder which meant the fuselage needed to be reworked.
Next project manager tried to change it back.
Bam, canceled.
weird apocalyptic rumor has it when i tried to modify my a-10 intruder to the backside instead of full frontal joystick control it was bam cancelled
Not my fault.
I have some coffee that might help though.
Q: What kind of music is played when this takes off?
A: Salsa.
Sounds likely.
Like the FDB, and Gene Clark, they Tried So Hard.
this also showed up while looking for the fd:
The Flying Dorito Brothers
https://www.facebook.com/flyingdoritobrothers
;’) Better with Ranch Dip, but there’s no such genre’.
German flying wings during World War Two
by E.T. Wooldridge
http://www.century-of-flight.net/new%20site/frames/horten%20frame.htm
Horten Ho-2 Flying Wing Test Flight 1935
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjXr5w3M4mc
http://i1.ytimg.com/vi/GjXr5w3M4mc/hqdefault.jpg
and from fiction:
https://www.google.com/search?q=german+flying+wing+raiders+of+the+lost+ark
What a smart looking flight suit!
That’s stolen Cylon technology...Roswell!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.