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the predecessor to the U.S. Air Force's iconic SR-71 Blackbird ... also incorporated then-state-of-the-art features to reduce its radar cross-section. These included a combination of a stealthy overall shape and radar-evading structures, as well as the use of composites in its construction, and the incorporation of radar absorbing materials on its skin. A far less known, but still a key component of the Skunk Works plan to make the A-12 harder to spot on radar involved a cesium-laced fuel additive to dramatically reduce the radar signature of the plane's massive engine exhausts and afterburner plumes by creating an ionizing cloud...

It's been well over a couple of years since Apple officially announced the availability of iPhone SE in 2016 and since then the main iPhone line was upgraded on a regular basis but not the SE. But now we know why! Our source which is closely associated with Foxconn's manufacturing facility in India has confirmed the iPhone SE 2 is actually iPhone XE. According to the source, iPhone XE will feature an iPhone X or XS style edge-to-edge 4.8" AMOLED display, but sadly with the notch. The iPhone XE will be having Face ID and no Touch ID is reportedly...

On CBS’s “60 Minutes” on Sunday night, national security correspondent David Martin chronicled the seemingly never-ending list of problems with the Pentagon’s next-generation F-35 fight jet, from cost overruns of $160 billion to technical problems that have plagued the plane’s development. When asked if the F-35 program, which is expected to cost some $1.5 trillion over the four-decade life of the program, is now under control, the Pentagon’s acquisition chief, Frank Kendall, said, "Yes, it is." But that commitment came with a warning. “Long gone is the time when we're going to pay for mistake after mistake after mistake," said...

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...

This piece of the History of the Lockheed A-12 is dedicated to the memory of Dorsey G. Kammerer. Dorsey was a part of the Lockheed SkunkWorks from its inception. He was an "inside" man on the team that built the P-38 Lightning, the P-80 Shooting Star, the F-104 Starfighter, the U-2 Angel and the A-12 Archangel and the other versions, the YF-12 and the SR-71. Dorsey that had the foresight to save the photos that help document this story. Dorsey's family found these gems and made them available for this story. This story has never really been told in much...

Should the government be allowed to declare a contractor in default and then invoke a secrecy privilege to withhold information the contractor says it needs to dispute that finding in court? Two decades after the Pentagon canceled the Navy’s A-12 Avenger II stealth aircraft, the fight over who is at fault for the program’s delays and cost overruns has brought that question before the U.S. Supreme Court. Last week, justices on the court sharply questioned lawyers on both sides of the dispute. The court’s ruling, which is expected before the 2010-11 term ends in June, could have broad implications for...

Supreme Court justices seemed in general agreement Tuesday that the best way to resolve a long-running, billion-dollar dispute between the government and two big defense contractors is to say, in Justice Antonin Scalia's words, "Go away."... That was the apparent sentiment of the court toward a contract dispute over the A-12 Avenger attack plane, canceled by the Pentagon in 1991 when Richard Cheney was defense secretary...

<p>The Supreme Court is getting involved in the longstanding dispute between the Pentagon and two contractors contesting the government's demand for $3 billion over the Navy's ill-fated A-12 Avenger attack plane.</p> <p>The justices on Tuesday agreed to hear an appeal from the Boeing Co. and General Dynamics Corp., the main contractors on a $4.8 billion project that the Pentagon, then headed by Richard Cheney, canceled in 1991.</p>

SPACEPLANE SHELVED? For 16 years, Aviation Week & Space Technology has investigated myriad sightings of a two-stage-to-orbit system that could place a small military spaceplane in orbit. Considerable evidence supports the existence of such a highly classified system, and top Pentagon officials have hinted that it's "out there," but iron-clad confirmation that meets AW&ST standards has remained elusive. Now facing the possibility that this innovative "Blackstar" system may have been shelved, we elected to share what we've learned about it with our readers, rather than let an intriguing technological breakthrough vanish into "black world" history, known to only a few...

They are among the most recognizable aircraft in the world: U-2, SR-71 Blackbird, B-2 stealth bomber and F-117 stealth fighter. But in the beginning, few outside the cloistered world of their development knew of their existence. There were rumors of strange black shapes in the skies over Area 51 in Nevada's desert. But not even the families of those who designed, built and flew these top-secret machines knew what was really taking shape. Now, many of the tales of those "black world" airplanes can be told. Six pilots from those programs shared their stories recently at the Society of Experimental...

LANCASTER - The five latest additions to Lancaster's Aerospace Walk of Honor will bring to 70 the number of aviation pioneers honored since the walk's inception in 1990. The experience of this year's honorees - James D. Eastham, Robert C. Little, Bruce Peterson, the late Russell M. "Rusty" Roth and Rogers Smith - all flew in the skies above the Antelope Valley during their careers in a series of firsts. Eastham tested and developed the world's first three Mach 3-plus aircrafts, the A-12, YF-12A and SR-71 Blackbird and Little took the F-101A Voodoo supersonic on its very first flight at...