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F-117 Nighthawk F-117 flying over mountains in Nevada in 2002 General information Type Stealth attack aircraft National origin United States Manufacturer Lockheed Corporation Status Retired from combat, used as training aircraft as of 2025 Primary user United States Air Force Number built 64 (5 YF-117As, 59 F-117As) History Introduction date October 1983 ; 41 years ago (1983-10) First flight ...
The F-117 was based on 1970s technology, the military had revealed its existence in 1988, and the aircraft often appeared at air shows. General Bruce A. Carlson stated that if Serbia gave the wreckage to Russia, the result would be minimal. [12] A second F-117 was targeted and hit during the campaign, allegedly on 30 April 1999. [13]
The F-117 while having sufficient stealth, also had a low visual signature. Even still, if the F-117 was visually acquired, it, like all aircraft, were subject to visual air-to-air interception. This was easily circumvented by flying at night. [39] The F-22 Raptor, is an American fifth-generation stealth air superiority fighter
An F-117 Nighthawk with a T-38 Talon chase plane flying over Tonopah Test Range Airport. In November 1988 the Air Force formally acknowledged its F-117 activities at Tonopah, bringing what was a "black world" program into "gray world" status. However, F-117 flight operations continued to be restricted to the nighttime hours.
On 10 November 1988, the long-rumored existence of the F-117 Stealth Fighter was finally officially confirmed by the Pentagon. [5] In 1990 the last F-117A was delivered. and the flight test squadron no longer had to perform acceptance flights at Groom Lake.
The Lockheed Have Blue was born out of a requirement to evade radar detection. During the Vietnam War, radar-guided SAMs and AAA posed a significant threat to US aircraft.. For this reason, strike aircraft during the war often required support aircraft to perform combat air patrols and suppression of enemy air defenses (SEAD).
In addition to flight-testing, Groom performed radar profiling, F-117 weapons testing, and was the location for training of the first group of frontline USAF F-117 pilots. Production FSD airframes from Lockheed were shipped to Groom Lake for acceptance testing.
The GBU-27 Paveway III (Guided Bomb Unit) is a laser-guided bomb with bunker buster capabilities, it is a GBU-24 Paveway III (fitted on the warhead of the BLU-109 bomb body) that has been redesigned to be used by the F-117A Nighthawk stealth ground attack aircraft.