A-12 OXCART

A secret reconnaissance aircraft built by the CIA and Lockheed in the early 1960s as the successor to the U-2.

The CIA glossary describes the A-12 as a now-declassified CIA and Lockheed aircraft, built as the successor to the U-2 and capable of flying at about Mach 3.2 at an altitude of about 90,000 feet (about 27 km); its two-seat version for the Air Force was the SR-71.¹

According to the CIA Museum, the CIA awarded Lockheed the OXCART contract in 1959; after a U-2 was shot down over the USSR in May 1960 the need for a faster aircraft grew, and in 1965 the A-12 was declared fully operational. Fifteen were built. Its only reconnaissance operation was BLACK SHIELD (May 1967 – May 1968): flying from Kadena Air Base on Okinawa, three aircraft and six pilots flew 29 missions over East Asia. In 1968 President Johnson ordered the A-12 retired, because the SR-71 offered similar capabilities.²

The aircraft were tested at the secret Groom Lake site in Nevada, known as Area 51 – according to the CIA glossary, the U-2, the A-12 and other aircraft were developed there. One of the aircraft (Article 128) has stood outside CIA Headquarters since 2007.^1,2