Who Killed the A-12?

About 15 years ago the Navy was developing the A-12, an advanced, all-weather replacement for the ageing A-6 Intruder. It was ultimately cancelled due to cost overruns, amid quite a bit of acrimony. Now, we find out just who and what may be the culprits in the untimely death of the A-12:

CRITICS ARGUE that there was never enough money hidden in intelligence and military budgets to fund a small fleet of spaceplanes and carrier aircraft. However, those who worked on [Blackstar's] development at several contractor sites say they charged time-and-materials costs to a number of well-funded programs. Lockheed was the lead contractor for Blackstar orbiters being fabricated at McDonnell Douglas in the early 1990s, and workers there typically logged their time against a specific Lockheed charge number associated with that project. But their time might also have been charged to the National Aero-Space Plane (NASP) and the Navy's A-12 fighter accounts, they say. Both multibillion-dollar programs were canceled with little but technology development gains to show for massive expenditures.

The whole article is an interesting read for those of you with an interest in "black" programs.