F-117 Stealth Fighter to Be Retired

AP ^ | March 11, 2008 | JAMES HANNAH

[Joiseydude]

DAYTON, Ohio (AP) - The world's first attack aircraft to employ stealth technology is slipping quietly into history.

The inky black, angular, radar-evading F-117, which spent 27 years in the Air Force arsenal secretly patrolling hostile skies from Serbia to Iraq, will be put in mothballs next month in Nevada.

Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, which manages the F-117 program, will have an informal, private retirement ceremony Tuesday with military leaders, base employees and representatives from Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico.

[UCANSEE2]

"They are all disk or “cigar” shaped."

[UCANSEE2]

[blam]

I seem to remember that people were upset because Jimmy Carter inadvertedly publically mentioned the stealth program about the time the below attached was going on. He only mentioned it one time.

The official acknowledgment and unveiling of Northrop Grumman’s B-2A “Spirit” did not come until 22 November 1988, but the roots of the B-2 can be traced back to the late 1970s when President Jimmy Carter canceled production of the proposed 240 B-1As. The Air Force wanted the supersonic, swing-wing bomber to complement its B-52 heavy bomber in projecting US global nuclear bombing capabilities to potential adversaries. At the time, President Carter was highly criticized, but only by people who had no knowledge of the United States’ top-secret stealth technology under development (Pace 15).

[UCANSEE2]

“Man, that girl is HOT!”

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

By the mid 90s, the F-117 was able to be tracked on radar but only by experienced operators using the newest and most advanced sets, something our potential enemies never had in great supply. Western allies were able to do it first. One drawback the F-117 had was that it would show up if the plane was wet.

From what I heard it never was 100% percent invisible to radar, but it's return was so low if it did occasionally show up as a blip, tracking systems would read it as a bird.

[AFreeBird]

“We already have the means to travel among the stars, but these technologies are locked up in black projects and it would take an act of God to ever get them out to benefit humanity….. anything you can imagine we already know how to do.” Ben Rich, former Head of the Lockheed Skunk Works

Was that what you were referring to?

I've heard the Lecture was videotaped, haven't ever seen a transcript other than the above quote.

[ASOC]

google is your friend...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Over-the-horizon_radar
http://eospso.gsfc.nasa.gov/eos_observ/7_8_96/p18.html

The -117 angles and all are designed for a specific band.

as an aside, OTH-B can even be used to track storm waves, it's all in the software.

[saminfl]

In 1982 I got arrested and handcuffed on the flightline of George AFB. This was because the Security Police desk Sgt forgot to tell the night shift desk we had special permission to be there.

[blam]

CRACKS IN THE BLACK DIKE SECRECY, THE MEDIA, AND THE F-117A

"On 22 August Secretary of Defense Harold Brown held a press conference to clarify the stealth "leak." At the conference, Brown confirmed the details published in the media. The purpose of confirming the leaks, Brown insisted, was to create a "firebreak" and prevent further information about the program being revealed. Unsurprisingly, official confirmation of a supposedly secret program was seized upon as an ideal political weapon by Republicans, who accused the Carter administration of revealing secret military technology to rebuff their own claim that President Carter had neglected defense matters.14 "

[Shryke]

Neither of your sources discusses stealth detection. I’ve read a bit on low freq stuff, but it is inherently innaccurate. Anything else? Google mostly returns blogs.

[Quix]

Yes.

It’s on YouTube.

i think you can find the link by searching at

HTTP://WWW.ABOVETOPSECRET.COM

I probably have it amidst my shortcuts but that’s a search in itself. LOL. Doing grading now.

Thanks.

[Quix]

The guy was a VERY successful leader of some megabucks operations . . .

Why would folks CHOOSE to disbelieve him?

Fascinating psychologically and sociologically.

None are so blind as those who WILL NOT see.

[doorgunner69]

Read a bit about PCL (passive coherent location) techniques.

[Quix]

BTW,

YOUR rationalizations for not believing Retiring Ben Rich of Lockeed is why . . . exactly . . . other than stubborn obtuseness, I mean.

[Shryke]

Done. Again, extremely vague conclusions against stealth. How does it fare against the B2 for example? Or F-22?

[Fundamentally Fair]

You have a good memory.

[exit82]

Thanks—I think the bottom picture is a “four diamond”.;)

[SampleMan]

***Seems like this would be a good platform to supplement the Close Air Support guys in their Warthogs and/or reconfiguring the plane as an unmanned aerial vehicle to supplement the Global Hawks.

Not good for CAS. It has no gun, can't mount forward firing ordnance and its not invisible to the naked eye, so its an unarmored target during the day.

A recon version could be good, but its still not capable of self defense from a visual intercept, so the F-22 or JSF would be better.

[doorgunner69]

Vague of course due to the intensely classified nature of the beast. RCS data typically requires a Top Secret clearance and need to know. Vulnerabilities are most tightly held, so no way could someone knowledgeably discuss comparisons in a public forum without violating the law.

That said, you can figure the advances in stealth since the F-117 have addressed the weaknesses, either with technology or tactics or both.

[uglybiker]

I think they're going for something with more 'classic' lines. :-P