A ready market existed for the Lockheed X-27 Lancer as nine European and six other nations were still operating the F-104 in the late 1970s.
The Lancer was conceived to incorporate as many F-104 components as possible. This objective was relatively easy and quick to achieve because the F-104 was still being produced in both Germany and Italy. As James C. Goodall notes in his book 75 Years of the Lockheed Martin Skunk Works, there was also a ready market for the new fighter, since nine European countries and six other nations were still operating the F-104 in the late 1970s.
The CL-1200 concept, which formed the basis for the Lancer, was a privately funded Lockheed project that entailed a major redesign of the existing F-104 airframe. Among the significant modifications were a wing with about 53 percent more area than the Starfighter’s, a larger vertical tail, improved high-lift devices, extra wing hardpoints, a more efficient intake design, substantially increased fuel capacity, and the use of a Pratt & Whitney TF-30-P-100 engine. The forward fuselage was to be taken from an F-104S or TF-104G—depending on whether the aircraft was to be a single- or two-seat version—and mounted on a 30-inch fuselage plug.
At first, the Lancer program seemed to offer an effective, low-cost, lightweight fighter for the 1980s, priced well below any newly designed air-superiority aircraft. However, some within the Air Force—perhaps unfairly—believed that the project could negatively affect the development of the then-new F-15 Eagle. As a result, political pressure was brought to bear, and the CL-1200 was given the experimental designation X-27.
The Lancer offered only limited potential and modest technological progress as a research aircraft, so the Air Force agreed to the proposal that it should not be built. In the end, construction never began, and the program was terminated. From the outset, the Lancer was primarily aimed at the European market, and the Air Force’s reluctance to partner with Lockheed on the effort was largely rooted in that reality. Although on paper, the proposed fighter promised a high‑performance platform at significantly reduced development cost, it did not deliver the kind of major technological breakthrough that would warrant substantial U.S. financial backing. Moreover, several emerging European fighter designs promised comparable performance.
A full-scale mock-up of the aircraft—built using the forward fuselage and landing gear of an F-104G, with a wooden fuselage covered in metal skin—was produced and displayed, but no flyable prototype was ever constructed, and the program quietly disappeared.
75 years of the Lockheed Martin Skunk Works is published by Osprey Publishing and is available to order here.
Photo by Lockheed Martin
