page_title: Lockheed Senior Prom
section_title: Testing and cancellation
hierarchical_section_title: Lockheed Senior Prom / Testing and cancellation
caption_attribution_description: English: US Air Force photo to the DARPA / Lockheed Martin Have Blue prototype
context_page_description: The Lockheed Senior Prom was a classified black program conducted by the United States Air Force in conjunction with the Lockheed Corporation's Skunk Works for the development and testing of a cruise missile using stealth technology. Based on the company's Have Blue demonstrator, the six Senior Prom vehicles proved successful in testing conducted at Area 51 in the late 1970s; despite this, the aircraft was not selected to enter production, and the program was terminated in the early 1980s.
context_section_description: Flight testing of the Senior Prom vehicles began in October 1978; a total of six aircraft were built, which completed a total of fourteen flights over the duration of the testing programme. The craft were reportedly capable of flying within 500 feet (150 m) of a SPS-13 radar without generating a discernible return. Most testing took place at Groom Lake ("Area 51") in Nevada, with a DC-130 Hercules acting as the launch aircraft; there are also reports that some testing was conducted at Edwards Air Force Base in California, with a B-52 Stratofortress being used as the launch platform, while "Hangar 18" at the Groom Lake test complex was reportedly constructed to house the B-52 and Senior Prom combination.
  Despite the success of the test programme, Senior Prom was cancelled in 1982; reportedly one reason for the cancellation of the project was that the size and configuration of the Senior Prom aircraft rendered it incapable of being carried in internal weapons bays such as that on the B-1 bomber; the AGM-129 ACM, a competing design to Senior Prom for the cruise missile requirement, had a more slender airframe with retractable wings, which rendered it capable of internal carriage; it began flight testing shortly after the end of the Senior Prom programme.
  Despite the cancellation of the programme in 1982, the Senior Prom remained highly classified into the 21st century. There are rumours that a small number of Senior Prom aircraft, configured for aerial reconnaissance, were acquired by the United States Air Force, and were used in secret missions over Eastern Europe late in the Cold War, over Iraq during Operation Desert Storm, and over North Korea; there is no official confirmation of this being the case.
caption: The airframe of the Senior Prom vehicle was based on that of the Have Blue technology demonstrator, illustrated here.
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