The XFV-12 design attempted to combine the Mach 2 speed and AIM-7 Sparrow armament of the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II in a VTOL (vertical takeoff and landing) fighter for the small Sea Control Ship which was under study at the time.

Some of these modifications included closing the rear engine exhaust and redirecting gases through ducts to ejector nozzles in the wings and canards for vertical lift.

[2] While the augmenters did work as expected, the extensive ducting of the propulsion system degraded thrust, and in the end the power-to-weight ratio was such that the engine was capable of vertically lifting only 75% of the weight of the aircraft in which it was mounted.

[2] The October 6, 1975 issue of Aviation Week published an article about the Rockwell NA-382 which was an even more ambitious proposal to the Marine Corps to fit a similar wing to the Lockheed C-130 Hercules, but the plan never made it off the drawing board.

Following program cancellation, the aircraft was disassembled and the cockpit section of the fuselage was stored at NASA's Plum Brook Station in Sandusky, Ohio.

As of May 2012, a group of high school students at the EHOVE Career Center, with guidance from NASA contractor personnel, were to restore the fuselage for use as a museum display.