History, Politics And Current Affairs

After the 9/11 attacks, the United States began a massive military buildup to not only address the needs of fighting a global war on terrorism, but also to address potential threats elsewhere. Many programs were begun - some of which were intended to be "given away" during budget negotiations. One of those was COOL RANCH, what some called "an acquisition program of color" for NAVAIR.

COOL RANCH was an effort to restart the A-12 Avenger II. This time, using technology from the F-35 and F-22 programs, it was workable enough by the Guyana War that it was ordered into production as the A-12B. It would eventually find its way into service with eight heavy attack squadrons (VAH) and six Marine all-weather heavy attack squadrons (VMAH(AW)). The Avenger II was still overweight, but when mated with JDAM, the AGM-184B Joint Strike Missile, and the Small-Diameter Bomb, it proved to be a capable plane, seeing action in the Euro-American War, the Burma War, the Sino-American War, and the Second Mexican-American War.

Users
United States Navy
United States Marine Corps

Loadouts
2 AIM-120 or AIM-9X (all configurations)
2 AGM-88
4 Mk 84 or GBU-31 JDAM
10 Mk 83 or GBU-32 JDAM
12 GBU-38 JDAM
6 AGM-184B Joint Strike Missiles
4 AGM-154 JSOW
2 GBU-24 Paveway III
6 GBU-22 Paveway III
24 GBU-39 SDB

Specs
Top speed: 525 knots
Range: 1550 nautical miles

The A-12 design was compromised from the beginning. The main wing spar had to be bent around the weapons bay, and that massively increased the weight of the aircraft. The entire program was a monument to NAVAIR hitting the "I Believe" button in lieu of doing actual program management and RDT&E.