Beautiful Virgin Islands

Sunday, May 11, 2025

15 years after 'officially' retiring its first stealth jet, the US Air Force is looking for help to keep the F-117 flying for another decade

15 years after 'officially' retiring its first stealth jet, the US Air Force is looking for help to keep the F-117 flying for another decade

The fuss about the unveiling of the new B-21 stealth bomber has drawn the aviation world's attention, but the B-21's grandfather is still in action.

When it first flew in the early 1980s, the F-117 Nighthawk was the first operational stealth aircraft. The F-117 has been officially retired for about 15 years, but its retirement has been far from sedentary. The Nighthawk is still being used to train US pilots to counter enemy stealth planes and cruise missiles.

The US Air Force is now making plans to keep some of its Nighthawks flying until at least 2034. A US Air Force Request for Information published this past fall sought companies interested in a potential 10-year contract to provide maintenance for the F-117, beginning in 2024.


An F-117 receives a final check at a base in Kuwait in June 1998.

The RFI says the contractor will need to provide three services.

First, maintenance and logistics for F-117As performing "limited flying operations" at Tonopah Test Range in Nevada.

Tonopah — also designated Area 52 — is a highly classified site about 150 miles northwest of Las Vegas. Among the more interesting activities there are tests of nuclear weapon systems and experiments with Russian MiGs, anti-aircraft missiles, and other foreign equipment.

Tonopah was also the original home of the F-117 and its operators, the former 4450th Tactical Group.

The Air Force is also looking for companies to maintain F-117s in extended storage and to demilitarize and declassify surplus F-117s for buyers such as museums. "Anticipated demilitarization/declassification rate expected is a 2-3 aircraft per year," the RFI says.

Employees and retirees who worked on the F-117 at the plane's retirement ceremony in Palmdale, California on April 22, 2008.


More specific requirements include maintaining the F-117's stealth — technically "low observable," or LO — features, including "composite and structural repair support." The RFI also asks whether contractors have experience using ground-based diagnostic imaging radar to spot defects in an aircraft's stealth components.

The Air Force currently has about 45 F-117s, more than 10 of which have been approved for transfer to museums, Air Force spokeswoman Ann Stefanek told Insider.

"As we demilitarize the aircraft, they will be made available to museums, if requested, or be disposed of," Stefanek said.


Out of service, but still in flight
An F-117 at the Fresno Air National Guard Base in September 2021.


The F-117 was developed during the 1970s as a solution to increasingly lethal air defenses. Designed by Lockheed Martin's famed and highly secretive "Skunk Works," the Nighthawk used an angled shape and special coatings to minimize its radar signature.

As the world's first stealth warplane, the F-117 has always had an air of myth around it.

Viewed solely as a subsonic bomber that could carry just two 2,000-pound laser-guided bombs in an internal bomb bay, its performance was not particularly spectacular. But while stealth is almost taken for granted nowadays, it was a big deal when the F-117 made its first flight in 1981.

The aircraft achieved a kind of cult status, including reports that it was linked to the well known — and totally fictional — F-19 stealth fighter.

A woman dances on a US Air Force F-117 downed west of Belgrade on March 28, 1999.


The F-117 flew in the Gulf War in 1991, where its secrecy and mystique generated yet more buzz. In 1999, the Nighthawk achieved another milestone: It became the first stealth aircraft shot down in combat.

Clever Serbian gunners took advantage of a peculiarity of the F-117 — its bomb-bay doors reflected radar when they were open — to hit a Nighthawk with a surface-to-air-missile. The US pilot ejected from the burning F-117 and spent eight hours on the ground before being rescued.

Only 59 F-117s were built, plus five prototypes. Because it was an early stealth design with stiff maintenance requirements, the Air Force decided to retire the plane as a new generation of stealth aircraft — the F-22 and F-35 fighters and the B-2 bomber — emerged. But there is still life in the old Nighthawk.

It has occasionally been seen training with newer aircraft, including with Marine Corps F-35Bs off the California coast in April and with fourth- and fifth-generation jets over Georgia in May.

Even more intriguing are reports that the F-117 is being used to simulate cruise missiles for missile-defense training. It's strange for the world's first stealth aircraft to end up as a fake missile, but for an aircraft with such a colorful history, it seems appropriate.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
Trump fires director of U.S. Copyright Office, sources say
Retired British police officer arrested over ‘thought crime’ tweet
Cardinal Robert Prevost Elected as Pope Leo XIV, Marking a Historic Papacy
Newark Mayor Ras Baraka Arrested at ICE Facility Amid Congressional Visit
India-Pakistan conflict may be first test for Chinese military tech
Bill Gates Announces Plan to Wind Down Philanthropic Foundation and Disperse Wealth
Historic Papal Conclave Set to Commence in Rome
Huge Copper, Gold, and Silver Discovery in Argentina and Chile — But the Profits Go Abroad
Prince Harry is pleading for reconciliation — but the royals are just as sick of his victimhood as everyone else
The Road to Freedom: She Protested Putin, Escaped House Arrest, and Survived a 2,800-Kilometer Journey
OpenAI's Flip-Flop: No Longer Going Commercial, Back to Nonprofit, After Musk Lawsuit and Backlash
“Trump Supporter” Aims to Bring a MAGA-Style Shift to Romania
First From China: Zhao Xintong Wins the Snooker World Championship
Nvidia Faces Billion-Dollar Losses – Warns: China Is on Its Way to Becoming an AI Superpower
Trump Rules Out Third Term, Names JD Vance and Marco Rubio as Potential Successors
Mexico Says ‘No’ to U.S. Troops: President Sheinbaum Rejects Trump’s Offer to Fight Cartels
Nigel Farage’s Reform UK Storms the Map, Wrecking the Two-Party Monopoly
DOGE: Reimagining Government Operations with AI
Common Sense Returns to Britain's Legal System: UK Supreme Court Declares a Woman Is… a Woman
Beijing Says U.S. Is ‘Reaching Out’ for Tariff Talks Amid Soaring Trade Tensions
U.K. Court Rejects Prince Harry’s Final Appeal Over Police Security
Prince Harry’s Heartfelt Outburst Rocks the Royal Family
Trump Shares AI-Generated Image of Himself as… Pope, Prompting Outrage Reaction
Transgender Swimmer Secures Five Gold Medals at U.S. Masters Championship
Prince Harry: “I Want Reconciliation with My Family”
Germany's Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party has now been officially labeled “right-wing extremist” by the federal office for the so-called “protection of the constitution.”
Amazon Launches Satellite Internet Service Amidst Competition with SpaceX
Transformative Changes in Women's Wrestling: The Rise of WWE Superstars
The Rush to the White Gold: Global Investment Surge in Natural Hydrogen Exploration
This is a day in Spain without electricity and internet
Reform UK Surprises in British Elections, Challenging Traditional Two-Party System
180-Year-Old Christian University in South Carolina Announces Closure Due to Unmet $6 Million Fundraising Goal
Brazilian Woman Jailed for Fourteen Years for Writing “You Lost, Idiot” on Statue During Protest
Trump Administration Removes National Security Adviser Mike Waltz Amid Signal Chat Controversy
Dutch Politician Eva Vlaardingerbroek Receives Spyware Threat Alert from Apple
Paramount Board Considers Settlement in Trump’s $20 Billion Lawsuit Over "60 Minutes" Interview
U.S. Economy Shrink in Trump’s First Quarter as Tariff Policy Raises Questions
Deadline Looms for RTS Meter Replacement: Hundreds of Thousands at Risk of Heating Disruption
Sweden Grapples with Deadly Gun Violence: Suspect Arrested After Three Young Men Killed in Uppsala Hair Salon
Walz Reveals Why Harris Chose Him as Her Running Mate and Reflects on Democratic Losses
Spain Restores Power After Unprecedented Nationwide Blackout
Carney Secures Liberal Mandate in Canada’s Federal Election
Death Penalty Sought as Luigi Manion Pleads Not Guilty in CEO Murder Case
President Trump contacts Jeff Bezos after reports of Amazon considering listing tariff surcharges; company clarifies no such plan for main platform
Spain and Portugal Recover from Massive Blackout
Liverpool Clinches Record-Equalling 20th English League Title Under Arne Slot
Singapore Politicians Warn Against Foreign Interference in Election
Driver Ploughs into Vancouver Festival Crowd, Killing Nine
Depression, Fear of Defamation, and a Tragic End: New Details on Virginia Giuffre’s Suicide
“Sharia for UK, Allah Akbar!”
×