CIA CITES POWERS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00001R000400100047-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: November 11, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 8, 1999
• Sequence Number: 47
• Publication Date: May 3, 1965
• Content Type: MAGAZINE

CPYRGHT
AVIATION WEEK & SPACE TECHNOLOGY
Sanitized, - Approved Fc ~ejea j CIA-RDRT
Washington Roundup
Stretched F-111A Air Force leaders arc studying a stretched version of the General Dynamics F -111A
fighter-bomber because of continuing fears that the Boeing B-52s may wear out faster
Relative Confusion
than anticipated. T'hey do not expect to have a new bomber, the aavanece mannea stra-
tegic aircraft (AMSA), until about 1973.
Gen. John P. McConnell, Air Force chief of staff, in relaying this view to the
House Armed Services Committee in recent closed sessions stressed that he considered
the stretched F-111A only insurance, not a substitute for AMSA. He also emphasized
the need for an improvcd ? manned interceptor, recommending building one around
the Lockheed SR-71 airframe rather than its predecessor, the YF-12A. The SR-71.
is a heavier and improved version of the YF-12A..
The YF-12A was derived from the Lockheed A-11 reconnaissance aircraft built
for the Central Intelligence Agency. During the closed hearings, Chairman L. Mendel
-Rivers (D: S. C.) snapped: "The A-11 was not built for a fighter and you know it.
Gen. McConnell responded. "But all the time we were building it' we had in mind
adapting it to 'an ,interceptor."
One of the unsung heroes of the A-11 development was Richard VI. Bissell, Jr.,
who pushgd the program while CIA deputy director for plans. He is slated to break.
his silence' on the aircraft this week 'in' a. National Broadcasting Co. TV show on
espionage.
Although the Johnson Administration has failed in its campaign to portray the
descendants of the A-11 as new developments, it has succeeded, with the aid of the
TFX,.in bewildering some members of Congress. This exchange took place during
the hearing:
Chairman: What is the 111, what do you call it?
McConnell: That is the TFX.
Chairman: That is your TFX?
McConnell: Yes.
Chairman: F-111 is the TFX. The other one is.vyhat?
McConnell: You call it the A-11, it is the YF 12.
Chairman: That is the TFX?
McConnell. No. the TFX ..
Chairman: F-Ill is the TFX, and the other is the'A-11?
McConnell: Yes.
Chairman: Wait, now, A-11-
McConnell: No, it is not.
Chairman: SR-71?
McConnell: YF-12.
Rep. William H. Bates (R: Mass.): RS-71.
Rep. Bob Wilson (R: Calif.): It is NE-11.'
McConnell: Right, the NE-11. Let me clarify this program...
Francis Gary Powers, who was shot down or crash-landed while flying the Lockheed
U-2 (which preceded the A-11) during a spying flight over Russia, received a special
commendation from the CIA in a recent secret ceremony at the agency's headquarters.
Source of all those stories that the U. S. was not ruling out using nuclear weapons
in Vietnam (see p. 20) was Defense Secretary Robert S. McNamara. He discussed the
issue with a group of non-Pentagon reporters and editors at a private dinner Apr. 22 in
the Metropolitan Club here. McNamara does not believe nuclear weapons are practical
in Vietnam right now but does not want to give Red China the idea they will not be
used under any circumstances.
INDUSTRY OBSERVER
- RF-12 designation has been used in recent references . to the Lockheed
A-11? Mach 3 aircraft, indicating that the interceptor version has some recon-
naissance capability.
Sanitized - Approved For Release : CIA-RDP75-00001 R000400100047-2