The Lockheed Martin F-117 Nighthawk officially retired from service in 2008… But since then, lots of people have spotted the legendary stealth aircraft operating in the airspace over the American southwest… What gives?
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Citations:
https://www.ang.af.mil/Media/Article-Display/Article/2779487/144th-fighter-wing-welcomes-f-117-nighthawks-for-training/
https://www.lockheedmartin.com/en-us/news/features/history/f-117.html
https://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/Visit/Museum-Exhibits/Fact-Sheets/Display/Article/198056/lockheed-f-117a-nighthawk/
https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/old-f-117-nighthawk-still-fighting-us-air-force-210625#:~:text=The%20F%2D117%20Nighthawk%20was,%2C%20if%20ever%2C%20flown%20again.
https://www.twz.com/retired-f-117-nighthawks-may-fly-for-another-decade
https://www.key.aero/article/what-usaf-really-doing-its-secretive-f-117a-nighthawk-fleet
https://www.businessinsider.com/us-air-force-wants-help-maintaining-retired-f117-stealth-jets-2022-12
https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/why-retired-f-117-stealth-fighter-still-soaring-us-air-force-210244
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tfw 50 year old technology is still better than China's "pride"
I really feel like the Nighthawk should have been called the A-117. It really is an attack aircraft, not a fighter.
what the airforce actually does and actually operates isnt civilian information nor should it be. national security things arent affected by freedom of information act. people who dont do things opinions on things doesnt matter. opinions dont make the world rotate
It sacrificed EVERYTHING for Stealth. No current platform did/does that. Not even the B-2, although it's the closest. Put a new paint job on it and it's very sneaky to date.
The F-117's performance IE how fast it can fly how much ordinance can deliver is rather low by modern standards.
But it's stealth is still excellent. And at some point in the future we might need to blow something up that doesn't need a great deal of speed or maneuverability.
Why is he on repeat the last few?
Can you imagine what it would be like if the US decided to give Ukraine a half dozen Nighthawks?
You have to have some of them active because you need to always have pilots who are ready to fly them at a minutes notice. I want to know why it was retired at all with that minuscule radar cross-section?!?
Algorithmic engagement comment.
F117 is well over 40 years old and the rest of the world still cant figure out stealth. Crazy
I was assigned to the Senior Trend (F117) program from 1986 – 1989. I was presented with a flag flown on the first daylight flight by Col A. Tolin at my retirement. Very cool to still see it flying.
…civilians are snapping footage of a runway at area 51? Isn't that a security compromise?
Look I know yall wanna see aliens but that's actually kind of a problem..
Awesome video
just got off of a Habitual Linecrosser video and saw the Grampa Buff shirt… 😎😎😎
Can these hold an aim174b? How many if yes
I think maybe someone at the DoD just enjoys the parsimony of a complete stealth bomber family: F-117 (light), B-21 (medium), B-2 (heavy). Also it still looks like it's from the future even at 35 years old.
the rumors of the F-117's passing were……
"greatly exaggerated"
😂
Even when they retire the B2 Spirit they will keep it in storage somewhere. You don't throw away technology that way. In a shooting match happens, we'll still have stealth bombers in storage when other nations have nothing.
System upgrade like F15 EX are the only features needed by F117.
Still the coolest looking plane in the fleet
Drone conversion! Like Chinese j6, only much better.
First airshow I went to as a kid was Thunder over Louisville in 2007, there was an F-117 on the flight roster which never showed up (or it was so sneaky nobody saw it) Maybe someday ill get lucky and see one fly if theyre still operating.
I wonder how hard it will be to convert this platform into a stealth recon drone. And how well it will be able perform night data gathering missions on highly contested airspace. Just thinking out loud.
Probably not feasible but lets turn all these 117's into drones
It is the only aircraft that can move like a jumping bean in the air if a missile is shot at it because it is so unstable in the air a flick of the control stick and good timing nothing can hit it
Nobody ever believes me but I saw an F-117 do a low level fly over of one of the doppler radar antennas here in the Dallas/Fort Worth area in the late 90s. It came in low, across the highway, I estimate around 8 to 10 stories up, flew right over the radar and then started to climb and head towards the horizon – and visually vanished into the general background of the sky pretty quickly when looking at it from behind. Obviously, no pilot would do that on a personal whim so I always wondered if it was a test of the new radar, or of the plane, or probably both.
Testing stealth materials and techniques for NGAD mebbe
"In case there's a conflict where the F-117 is needed." There's a conflict in Ukraine right now, and the US is legally obligated to protect Ukraine, as per the language of the Budapest Memorandum. The US will likely retire the F-22, and it'll have never seen combat, despite the fact the war in Ukraine rages on. The US is so fucking maddening to me.
i love that this old warhorse can still be put to use, and is still stealthier than our adversaries' latest, best efforts. which to me says no matter what china or russia can come up with, we still have the technology, knowledge and experience to see them coming decades ahead.
The fact that the F-117 even at its age is has a lower radar cross section than J-20 or Su-57 really says something about American Tech.
So it retired from the military to be a consultant.
nuclear bomber
Good question!
I feel like this plane will be kept for experimenting as an autonomous/AI-driven strike aircraft.
You forgot to put the 22 and 35 in there. Why am i not surprised. B2 and F117A are and will be best stealth aircraft ever to come in to service
I know a guy with a snap shot of one flying out of Nellis back in January.
1:52 context: 0.001-0.003 square meters ≈ 1.6-4.7 square inches. the lower end is comparable to a pair of hershey's kisses side by side, and the upper end about a third to half a phone. you'd have to use special software to discern that from a small bird flapping in the wind.
Stealth border patrol? Hell yeah, plus you try and track them for practice.
One of them flew over my head on my way from California to Nevada in 2017. Nobody believed me back then despite having a picture of its silhouette. Thanks for validating my sighting.
Having these aircraft available is sufficient to troll any potential adversaries….. forward deploying them would force an opponent to redeploy to counter….. they would only need to launch do a few circuits out of site and the bad guys will be stretched paper thin….
What effect would, say 20 F-117s have in Ukraine? I can't imagine this administration doing such an obviously "escalatory" move (their words, not mine)…but it sure would make an interesting option for a bunch of heavily defended targets…like the Kerch bridge?
Wish the US could let the Ukrainians borrow them for a few weeks…
The first, oldest and ugliest stealth plane ever built…
And yet so unbelievably successful!
The F-117 will always remain one of the coolest looking airplanes to see combat
Back then I thought the F-117 and the F-22 was fictional vehicles made by EA when I played C&C generals. The reason I thought they weren't real because their designs are so futuristic and have insane flight abilities.