Editing Lockheed A-12 (section)

===New materials and production techniques===
[[File:A-12 Design.jpg|thumb|A-12 design by Lockheed Skunkworks]]

Because the A-12 was well ahead of its time, many new technologies had to be invented specifically for the Oxcart project with some remaining in use to present day. One of the biggest problems engineers faced at the time was working with [[titanium]].<ref>{{harvnb|Robarge|2012|p=21}}</ref>

In his book ''Skunk Works: A Personal Memoir of My Years at Lockheed'', [[Ben Rich (engineer)|Ben Rich]] stated, "Our supplier, Titanium Metals Corporation, had only limited reserves of the precious alloy, so the CIA conducted a worldwide search and using third parties and dummy companies, managed to unobtrusively purchase the base metal from one of the world's leading exporters – the [[Soviet Union]]. The Soviets never had an inkling of how they were actually contributing to the creation of the airplane being rushed into construction to spy on their homeland."{{sfn|Rich|Janos|1994}} 93% of A-12's structure was titanium.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.edwards.af.mil/News/Article/829216/flight-test-historical-foundation-celebrates-50-years-of-cold-war-spy-planes/https://www.edwards.af.mil/News/Article-View/Article/829216/flight-test-historical-foundation-celebrates-50-years-of-cold-war-spy-planes/|title=Flight Test Historical Foundation celebrates 50 years of Cold War spy planes|date=29 April 2014|website=Edwards Air Force Base}}{{dead link|date=March 2025|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref><ref>[https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20090007797/downloads/20090007797.pdf]</ref>

[[File:Lockheed A-12 Pole Models.jpg|thumb|Lockheed A-12 pole models 1961]]
Before the A-12, titanium was used only in high-temperature exhaust fairings and other small parts directly related to supporting, cooling, or shaping high-temperature areas on aircraft like those subject to the greatest [[Aerodynamic heating|kinetic heating]] from the airstream, such as wing leading edges. The A-12, however, was constructed mainly of titanium. Titanium is rigid and difficult to machine, which made it difficult to form into curves given available techniques. This made it difficult to form the leading edges of the wing and similar surfaces. The solution was found by machining only small "fillets" of the material with the required shape and then gluing them onto the underlying framework which was more linear. A good example is on the wing: the underlying framework of spars and stringers formed a grid, leaving triangular notches along the leading edge that were filled with fillets.

With the move to the A-12, another improvement in RCS was made by replacing the fillets with new radar-absorbing [[composite material]]s made from [[Allotropes of iron|iron ferrite]] and [[silicon]] laminate, both combined with [[asbestos]] to absorb radar returns and make the aircraft more stealthy.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Graham |first1=Richard |title=The Complete Book of the SR-71 Blackbird: The Illustrated Profile of Every Aircraft, Crew, and Breakthrough of the World's Fastest Stealth Jet |date=1 November 2015 |publisher=Zenith Press |isbn=978-0-7603-4849-9 |page=12 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dX5cCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA12}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Remak |first1=Jeannette |title=A Technical Directive The Lockheed A-12 Blackbird in Captivity The Care and Feeding of a Historical Treasure |url=http://roadrunnersinternationale.com/museum_care_a12.html |website=RoadrunnersInternationale.com |access-date=13 November 2015 |date=2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151117021204/http://roadrunnersinternationale.com/museum_care_a12.html |archive-date=17 November 2015 |df=dmy-all }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Facts You Didn't Know About the SR-71 Blackbird |url=http://iliketowastemytime.com/facts-you-didnt-know-about-sr71-blackbird |website=iliketowastemytime.com}}</ref>

To further reduce the detectability of the aircraft's afterburner plumes a special cesium additive nicknamed "panther piss" was added to the fuel.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Rich |first1=Ben R. |last2=Janos |first2=Leo |title=Skunk Works: A Personal Memoir of My Years at Lockheed |date=February 1, 1996 |publisher=Back Bay Books |isbn=978-0-3167-4300-6 |page=240}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Re: Panther Piss?|url=https://www.dreamlandresort.com/forum/messages/30265.html}}</ref>