Saying that “nobody could tell him how much it would cost to keep the program going,” Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney announces that he is canceling the McDonnell Douglas/General Dynamics A-12 Avenger attack aircraft program for default. The A-12 would have been the Navy’s first stealth aircraft.
Anduril and General Atomics will develop their Collaborative Combat Aircraft for the Air Force, beating out Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman, the service announced on April 24. But any of the non-selected companies can compete to actually manufacture the eventual design, the Air Force said.