29 Secret Photos from Area 51’s A-12 Oxcart RCS Tests

Everybody knows about the SR-71 Blackbird, but it's predecessor, the smaller CIA designed A-12, actually flew even higher and faster.

By Daniel Bonfiglio

Published 6 months ago in Wow

Everybody knows about the SR-71 Blackbird. It's quite possibly the most iconic plane ever made; flying so high and fast over Soviet Russia that neither missiles nor Russian jets could chase it down.

But its predecessor, the smaller CIA-designed A-12, actually flew even higher and faster, just at astronomically hight operating costs.

It makes sense that the United States wanted to keep its U-2 spy-plane replacement under wraps, and top-secret Radar Cross Section tests were performed at Area 51 around 1960.

The United States didn't declassify photos of the tests until a few years ago.

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Rear view of the A-12 RCS model on the ground before being raised to the test stand.

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Nose section of the A-12 mock-up on test stand.
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View from above the A-12 RCS model on its test stand.

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This was another test to simulate afterburner exhaust plumes that presented a substantial radar return from the A-12’s aft quadrant.
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The A-12 test model mounted on the shrouded stand to reduce radar signature from the stand itself.
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The fairings that simulate the cesium masking agent coming from the exhaust area are visible.