Lockheed built the U-2 high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft, the fastest SR-71 Blackbird, the F-117 stealth bomber and the Raptor fighter. Of the less scandalous creations of this company: the most popular transport aircraft in the world "Hercules", a naval aviation aircraft "Orion" and a super-heavy transport "Galaxy", which had no analogues in terms of carrying capacity for 15 years.
There was only one unsuccessful project in the history of "Lockheed". F-104 "Starfighter" fighter, infamous "widowmaker" and "flying coffin". A third of all the cars built were lost in an endless series of plane crashes. But even Starfighter was not a complete failure. The world's first serial fighter to break through the two speed of sound barrier, whose unusual design was full of fresh and original ideas.
Lockheed had a special department dealing with the development of missile weapons. Ballistic missiles for submarines - Polaris, Poseidon, Trident (1 and 2). All as one - solid fuel. They set a lot of unbeaten records and were out of competition for decades, until another belated "answer" came from the USSR.
Among the well-known space projects of the Lockheed company are the Agena upper stage, the Corona series reconnaissance satellites and the Hubble orbital telescope.
First docking in orbit (Gemini 8 - Agena)
At this time, there was another firm on the east coast of the United States, Martin Marietta. She successfully mastered the chemical industry and built the world's first floating nuclear power plant. But the main fame of this office was also associated with space:
Interplanetary probes of the Viking series, which have worked on the surface of Mars for four to six years.
Station "Magellan", which performed detailed mapping of the surface of Venus.
ICBMs of the "Titan" series and the family of launch vehicles created on their basis.
Heavy class MX intercontinental ballistic missile.
The Pershing-2 medium-range ballistic missile with a maneuvering warhead.
Cold twinkling stars, dust of Martian storms and precision weapons …
A new chapter in this story began in 1995 when Lockheed and Martin Marietta merged into a single company to become Lockheed Martin. Today the company positions itself as a world leader in the field of aerospace technology, with indispensable success in any area for which its specialists undertake.
Through the thorns to the stars
Every time a dispute concerns American aviation and rocket and space technology, witty (and sometimes overly caustic) comments are heard regarding the reliability of the data provided. The very fact that the Yankees regularly lie is taken as an axiom. "Who will provide you with reliable characteristics and results of these tests?" They are, at least, classified!
And in general, judging by Jennifer Psaki, Americans are all as one, cheap and not too smart talkers. All figures presented must be divided by three. Better yet, five. And they are not competitors to us, with their premature F-35.
The problem is, Jennifer Psaki doesn't work for Lockheed Martin. Such an erudite lady with an open mouth would not have been allowed to “Lockheed” for a cannon shot. And it's not about gender discrimination, but about the specifics of the work of the leading developer of aerospace technology. Talkers and populists are not needed there.
I will express a seditious thought that in the entire post-war history of American aviation, there is not a single example when the Yankees used an explicit bluff and could not confirm in practice the declared performance characteristics of their aircraft and missiles.
Of course, there have been unsuccessful projects. Which, one way or another, were recognized as unsuccessful and were immediately replaced by more suitable solutions (the ill-fated “Starfighter” was immediately replaced by “Phantom”).
There were isolated tactical "punctures" that tarnished the reputation of superplanes but, in fact, did not give any real reasons for ridicule.
Finally, there were deliberately impracticable, utopian projects like Star Wars, which were just an attempt to misinform the USSR during the Cold War. As well as "juggling numbers" in order to underestimate combat losses, attributed to "weather and technical reasons." All this had nothing to do with the real aerospace industry, remaining the lot of politicians and war correspondents.
The Yankees did not take numbers “from the ceiling” and did not pass them off as characteristics of real-life technology. There are no such cases in nature. At least, it was never possible to catch the cheaters by the hand. Moreover, in real combat, aviation and rocket and space technology usually confirmed their declared capabilities. The curious cases when ten aircraft could not bomb a target with a hail of high-precision bombs are based on a rare coincidence of circumstances and tactical miscalculations of the command (failure in guidance systems, incorrect target coordinates in missile memory, etc.). Another scenario was much more probable - the target was “carried out” with the very first bomb. All the same, high-precision weapons remain so, otherwise what would be the point in it?
The simplest example is the circular probable deviation (CEP) of ballistic missiles. Yankees traditionally give their "Polaris" and "Tridents" extremely little knowledge of CEP (2-3 times less than that of our missiles), which enrages domestic specialists and all those who are not indifferent to technology.
Who rated the KVO "Trident-2" at 120 meters? (using GPS - 90 meters)? Where is the confirmation of these figures?
Now was the time to indulge in vague discourse, emphasizing the half-century experience and serious reputation of “Lockheed”. And it is just as easy to object, pointing out the general secrecy of the topic and the absence of any reliable data on missile tests.
However, the answer lies on the surface. This is a program for the creation of a conventional "Trident" (CTM), in accordance with the "rapid response" strategy, which provides for an attack on any point of the Earth within an hour from the moment the order is issued. Talking about a non-nuclear tactical SLBM means the possibility of reducing the Trident-2 KVO to a few meters (of course, a new type of monoblock warhead will need to be created, with a new seeker and a system of gas and aerodynamic rudders). Otherwise, this project would not make sense: to shoot $ 100 million in "milk" …
Against this background, the declared KVO of the original "Trident-2" (90 … 120 m) with triple trajectory correction (inertial system, astrocorrector, GPS) sounds at least realistic.
With regards to the same “Trident”, the majority of “sofa experts” express their displeasure with the max. range of its launch (11 300 km), referring to incorrect test conditions, conducted with a reduced combat load. However, “Lockheed” himself never concealed this: any record is set in the most favorable conditions.
Another thing is that even with a full combat load (14 Mk.76 warheads), the Trident-2's flight range was greater than that of any of its peers with a reduced load (7800 km). Or a reverse pun: the full combat load of any of the Trident-2's peers was less than the reduced combat load of the Trident-2 when firing at a record range.
Lockheed created a masterpiece 20 years ahead of its time.
Another bright story is the SR-71 supersonic reconnaissance aircraft, whose flight on a combat mission looked like a circus tent. The eternally wet, glossy plane took off with half-empty tanks, quickly picked up speed 3M, then slowed down and went to join the tanker. Finally, having pumped 40 tons of kerosene into the tanks, he was again carried away into the stratosphere and laid down on a "combat course".
The explanation for these ridiculous body movements lies in the very construction of the "Black Bird". Fuel was pumped directly in the wing plane (caisson tanks), from where it constantly seeped through thermal gaps in the skin panels. Due to the fact that the full fuel supply was 60% of the aircraft mass, takeoff with full tanks was impossible. Moreover, the SR-71 first needed to "warm up" properly to eliminate thermal gaps - all this led to incredible stunts that accompanied the ceremony of sending the American titanium "wunderwaffe" on a mission.
Soviet designers miraculously managed to avoid all these troubles: the operation of the supersonic MiG-25, in general, did not differ from the operation of other Air Force fighters. And let the haughty Yankees choke on their record (3, 2 M for “Black Bird” versus the maximum allowable 2, 83 M for the Soviet interceptor). The simplicity of operation and the manufacturability of the design of the MiG-25 (the main structural material is steel) mean much more than a few tenths of a Mach.
One could have laughed at the curved designers of "Lockheed Martin", if not for one little-known fact. According to TTZ, the maximum flight time of the MiG-25 at a speed of 2, 8M was limited to 8 minutes. “Black Bird” was supposed to fly in this mode for 1, 5 hours….
Traveling through the glorious pages of the history of world aviation, you will not come across cases of obvious bluffs or any confirmation of the stupidity of American aircraft designers. Each technical decision was dictated by specific circumstances. And isolated shameful cases are just whims of luck, multiplied by tactical miscalculations of the military themselves.
After all, until now, no one can explain how and from what the F-117 was shot down. And if the air defense system of the 1950's shaggy year so easily destroyed one "invisible" - why didn't it shoot down the rest? After all, according to official data, "stealth" made 700 sorties over Yugoslavia. Is this not due to the presence of a standard missile guidance channel for the S-125 air defense missile system through the Karat-2 television sight? By a fortunate coincidence, the "stealth" was visually detected by the Serbian crew and instantly shot down, using a television viewfinder, which did not care about the "stealth" technology. By the way, the main participants in the incident adhere to this version: the commander of the Serbian battery Zoltan Dani, hinting at a "French thermal imager", and the US Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Dale Zelko, who claims that his F-117 was shot down as soon as it broke through the lower edge of the clouds.
There are no complaints about the technology itself for reducing radar signature. It exactly fulfills its purpose, making it difficult to detect aircraft by enemy radars. It is no coincidence that all promising aircraft models (from the F-35 to the PAK FA) use similar ones. solutions that make it possible to reduce the range of their detection by an order of magnitude, giving precious seconds necessary to survive in modern combat.
Epilogue
Whoever wins by preliminary calculation before the battle has a lot of chances; whoever does not win by calculation before the battle has little chance. Whoever does not reason and treats the enemy with disdain will certainly become his prisoner, Sun Tzu argued.
All calculations indicate that in the person of “Lockheed Martin” we are dealing with an experienced and skillful rival who has proved more than once that his threats are not an empty phrase. Who knows how to keep promises and is always ready to give an answer to any attack on our part.
Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor
It is useless to try to win, hoping for flaws in the enemy's technique. It is much more correct to create your own similar samples, and learn to do it on time and not in words.
