The Central Intelligence Agency and Overhead Reconnaissance; The U-2 and OXCART Programs, 1954-1974

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Sec1 et NOFOAN
Chapter 6
to proceed with antiradar studies, aerodynamic structural tests, and en­
gineering designs. This research and all later work on the A-12 took
place under a new codename. Project OXCART. established at the end
of August 1959 to replace its more widely known predecessor, Project
GUSTO.'" The CfA's project manager for OXCART was John
Parangosky, who had long been associated with the U-2 program.
EFFORTS TO REDUCE THE A-12'S
RADAR CROSS SECTION
During the spring of 1959, Kelly Johnson's Skunk Works crew­
which then numbered only 50-had begun building a full-scale
mockup of the proposed aircraft. The mockup was to be tested for its
radar cross section by Edgerton, Germeshausen & Grier (EG&G) in
cooperation with the Scientific Engineering Institute at a small testing
facility at Indian Springs. Nevada. Lockheed objected to this site be­
cause its pylon would not support the full-scale mockup and because
the facilities were in full view of a nearby highway. On IO September
1959, EG&G agreed to move its radar test facility to the former U-2
testing site at Area 51 of the Atomic Energy Commission's Nevada
Proving Grounds. 11
When the new radar test facility with its larger pylon was ready.
Johnson put the A-12 mockup on a specially designed trailer truck
that carried it from Burbank to Area 5 I. By 18 November 1959, the
mockup was in place atop the pylon. and radar testing could begin.
These tests soon proved that Lockheed's concept of shape. fuel addi­
tive, and nonmetallic parts was workable, but it would take more than
18 months of testing and adjustment before the OXCART achieved a
satisfactory radar cross section.
It was in the course of this radar testing that the OXCART
received its characteristic cobra-like appearance. Edward Purcell and
Franklin Rodgers had come up with a theory that a continuously
curving airframe would be difficult to track with a radar pulse be­
cause it would present few corner reflectors or sharp angles from
which pulses could bounce in the direction of the radar. To achieve
the continuously curving airframe, Kelly Johnson added thin. curved
extensions to the engine housings and leading edges of the wings and
'"Parangosky interview (S): OSA History. chap. 20. pp. 19-21 (TS Codeword).
,· OSA History, chap. 20. p. 22 (TS Codeword).
-SesreL