The A-12: Why Doesn’t the Navy Have a Carrier-Launched Stealth Bomber?

By Kris Osborn, President, Center for Military Modernization

(Washington DC) It’s easy to envision the amazing tactical benefit that a carrier-launched stealth bomber would provide to a Carrier Air Wing by projecting new dimensions of air power and holding adversaries at risk in unprecedented ways.

Such a possibility has never operated from U.S. carriers, yet it was possible years ago.

A carrier-launched bomber was developed using Air Force stealth technology in combination with Navy weapons developers to bring a new kind of firepower to maritime war.

Development of the A-12 Avenger program began in the early 80s as the Advanced Tactical Aircraft (ATA) program.

The original intent was to replace the Northrop Grumman A-6 Intruder that was in service with the United States Navy and U.S. Marine Corps.

“The airplane in question, the a-12, should have provided heavy, stealthy, long-range strike capability well into the twenty-first century – a capability that is very much in demand, as recent events have demonstrated. It ended up instead as a $5 billion plane that never dropped a bomb,” Foreign Affairs reported.

The proposed aircraft, engineered by McDonnell Douglas and General Dynamics, was ultimately canceled in 1991 due to reported delays, cost overruns, and other industry-Navy complexities.