While traditionally, manufacturers such as or Lockheed Martin respond to proposals from various service branches of the
United States in order to develop commercially successful
MILITARY aircraft programs, some of these programs end up being scrapped for one reason or another. Typically, that reason will be money since experimental programs can become quite costly. With the development of the SR-71 Blackbird and its predecessor, the Lockheed A-12, as part of Project Oxcart, the US also explored using the type as a fighter-interceptor aircraft. According to the , the aircraft was developed in the 1960s as a high-altitude interceptor capable of speeds up to Mach 3. The primary goal of the YF-12A would have been to intercept supersonic bombers, with the first YF-12A taking to the skies in August 1963. However, only five years later, the project was canceled due to the high costs, the ongoing war in Vietnam, and a lower priority on air defense of the US contributing to that decision. However, the would continue operating the Lockheed YF-12A until 1979, even losing one aircraft to an in-flight
fire in 1971. According to the administration, it used the aircraft to study Since it was painted flat black and was fabricated from titanium, this enabled the aircraft to withstand skin temperatures of over 500 ºF (260 C). One of the more recent projects on the list is the Airborne High Energy Laser (AHEL) plan, which was finalized in Lockheed Martin being allowed to explore the ability to put laser weapons on the AC-130J Ghostrider, developed from the Lockheed AC-130 aircraft. According to the , it acquired the contract for the aircraft’s integration, test, and demonstration in January 2019. In October 2021, Lockheed Martin announced that it successfully completed a factory acceptance test for the AHEL project in preparation for the ground and flight testing of the system. However, as first reported by , an outlet covering the developments of the US military complex, a USAF Special Operations Command (AFSOC) spokesperson confirmed that the window to begin airborne tests had closed, bringing an end to the program. The main goal of AHEL was to provide ground troops with cover, hitting various hostile on-ground targets with a laser. The main advantage would have been its covertness, being much quieter than bombs dropped from a drone or an aircraft. Several years into the Cold War, both sides of the conflict began exploring an unthinkable concept: powering aircraft with a nuclear reactor. In the US, the Nuclear Energy for the Propulsion of Aircraft (NEPA) kicked off that research and development process, with the US government giving Convair the contract to convert one of its B-36 Peacemakers into the X-6, creating an aircraft for NEPA. The Soviet Union launched a similar project under the designation of Tupolev Tu-95LAL. The plan was to modify Tu-95 aircraft with nuclear-powered engines. However, neither aircraft reached that stage, and the onboard nuclear reactors were only turned on to test the effects of radiation on the crew who were on the Convair X-6 or the Tupolev Tu-95LAL. In the early 1970s, the USAF was looking for its next transport aircraft, with the goal of improving the service branch’s tactical mobility. The contract resulted in
Boeing and McDonnell Douglas, two companies that would merge in 1997, developing their STOL aircraft: the Boeing YC-14 and McDonnell Douglas YC-15. However, in 1980, the USAF canceled the AMST program, as the branch determined that it should place greater emphasis on strategic mobility rather than tactical. However, the McDonnell Douglas YC-15 continued its story, with the plane maker redeveloping it to the C-17, which is now manufactured by Boeing. While some projects called for bombers to be powered by nuclear reactors, some had a goal to develop parasite jet fighters that would be deployed mid-air by bombers. As such, that was how the McDonnell XF-85 Goblin came to be. According to the , the plane maker developed the Goblin to protect Convair B-36 Peacemaker bombers flying beyond the cover of conventional fighters. The design of the aircraft was made so that the XF-85 would sit within the
bomb bay of the B-36, and following the sighting of enemy aircraft, the parasite fighter would be lowered on a trapeze and released to protect the bombers. Two test aircraft were ordered, with flight testing beginning in 1948. However, while the pilots were able to deploy the McDonnell XF-85 Goblin successfully, the turbulent air under the bomber’s fuselage prevented them from safely hooking up to the bomber, forcing several emergency landings. As such, no B-36 bomber successfully carried any XF-85s, with the program ending in 1949 as the advancement of aerial refueling technologies showed great promise. One XF-85 was brought to the museum in the subsequent year for display.