F-117 is leaving the same way it arrived -- stealthily

LA Times ^ | April 22, 2008 | Peter Pae

[jazusamo]

The Air Force and Lockheed Martin are giving a secret retirement send-off to the world's first radar-evading fighter.

They were born shrouded in mystery in a windowless building in Burbank. They flew combat missions over Serbia and Iraq virtually invisible to enemy radar. And today, the black, bat-like F-117A Night Hawks will fly quietly into the night as stealthily as they came.

The last four of the world's first stealth fighters will make their final flights from Palmdale to a secret desert base in Nevada, where they will be locked up indefinitely in a secure concrete hangar.

But unlike the passing of other notable planes, there will be no public fanfare or farewell for these mysterious aircraft that revolutionized aerial warfare. The F-117 is still so cloaked in secrecy that only employees and retirees who worked on the program can attend its retirement ceremony at Lockheed Martin Corp.'s Skunk Works plant in Palmdale. A few aerospace reporters have been invited, but they had to be U.S. citizens.

"Some aspects of the plane are still classified," said Dianne Knippel, spokeswoman for Lockheed, whose legendary Skunk Works design house, formerly in Burbank and now in Palmdale, developed and built the aircraft.

The hushed send-off is no surprise to aviation buffs and historians who have followed one of the nation's most secretive aircraft programs since the Pentagon covertly launched it more than 30 years ago.

"It reflects a hyper-security culture that has accompanied this thing since the beginning," said John Pike, a defense policy analyst with . "It's the nation's first stealth technology, and as a result you might imagine all the caution with security."

The single-seat F-117 was the first plane that could evade radar detection; it was designed to fly into heavily defended areas to knock out radar installations and anti-aircraft missile...

[OSHA]

I doubt we’ll ever see another work horse like the B-52.

Amazing planes. I worked on B52Gs at Barksdale.

[technically right]

The BUFF. When it absolutely, positively has to be delivered (in great quantities).

[MrB]

The lease from the aliens was up, so they have to return them.

[WilliamofCarmichael]

I haven't been there since it was opened. There was only the original building as I recall. I noticed from their web page that there are now three buildings? The B-36 is in the original building.

I remember when they towed aircraft from Area A and the old museum (in Fairborn) including the XB-70.

I did drive by in the 1980s and I did not see the XB-70 sitting outside. There were one or two B-52s outside at that time.

[A.A. Cunningham]

The F-117 has been detectable by low band search radar since day one.

[ishmac]

I am probably the wrong one to ask--not being a techie, I know what I read in the newspapers (i.e. next to nothing).

As MeanWestTexan said above, it involved cell phone towers and did not actively seek out aircraft. It didn't send out any signals, the way you see in movies, etc. In that sense, "radar" is a misnomer for the device. Anyway, here is a site with some of the news stories at the time: TAMARA PASSIVE RADAR.

[ishmac]

The F-117 has been detectable by low band search radar since day one.

Yes, I was aware that the Stealth was never completely invisible to detection. "Perfect invisibility" was always a media exaggeration.

[theDentist]

"Perfect invisibility" was always a media exaggeration.

Yes. That way, should one be shot down, the media can feign "surprise" or "betrayal" as needed in their Op Eds.

[Yo-Yo]

The F-117 has been detectable by low band search radar since day one.

It's been detectable by any band radar since day one. It's just a matter of how far away from the radar it is detectable.

The Serb radar could paint an F-117 from at most 20 Km away. The F-117s used the same ingress path day after day, so the Serbs knew where to look. Spys outside of Aviano noted the takeoff times of F-117s so the Serbs knew when to look.

Vietnam all over again.

[jazusamo]

Did it have any dog-fighting capability whatsoever?

Not that I've ever heard of and you have a ligitimate question, I believe it should have had an "A" designation.

[USMCPOP]

The passive Kolchuga detection system is interesting:

http://www.rense.com/general73/detect.htm

[Yo-Yo]

The short shelf life of the F-117 does make me appreciate the B-52

First flight of the F-117 was in 1981, and was operational in 1983. With these last four retiring in 2008, that's a 25 year run. Not a record setter by any means, but seeing as there was only one run of A models, that's not too bad.

[Yo-Yo]

Lockheed Martin F-117 Nighthawk: Why F? and Why 117?

The Nighthawk's logical designation should have been A-11A.

[jazusamo]

Thanks for the link, Yo-Yo, that makes sense to me.

[tarawa]

Why did it have an “F” designator, rather than an “A” designator? It wasn’t really a fighter.

[jazusamo]

A link supplied by Yo-Yo at post #93 gives some thought on that.

[Paul Ross]

As Fischer indicated, we need at least 400 more of the F-22s, and we need to stop downsizing the stealth bomb-delivery capability, since we actually need more air superiority air craft due to the increasingly severe degradation of the F-15 due to deterioration and age. It is functionally obsolete in a number of theaters, and will be likely totally outmatched against the best of our enemies.

We just don't have enough F-22s to squander on bombing runs. What a waste.

[Nowhere Man]

Wow, I’m getting old! I remember when the shroud of secrecy was first lifted.

I had corner office with floor-to-ceiling windows that was right along the flight approach to Dobbins Air Force Base in Marietta, GA. One of, if not the first air-show to showcase the F-117 was held there. I was on an afternoon conference call when this thing flew right by my office. I was speechless and spell-bound. What an awesome sight!

And now, to see them being retired! Hope to see one in the Smithsonian someday.

Shame to retire it, I mean it still runs and flies. I remember seeing my first F-117 in 1990 and I still have the 1990 Latrobe, PA air show poster still up on my wall in my room. Every year, until now, the F-117 was a feature at the Wings Over Pittsburgh air show, it will be weird not seeing it there. Everytime, they've had guards around it armed with M-16's and M4 carbines, I'd like to get a closer look but the thought of .223 Remington slugs flying through my body isn't a good one. B-D

[Paul Ross]

I believe it should have had an "A" designation.

Agreed.

[stevie_d_64]

Priceless!!!

You are not going under the radar either...I’ll make your RCS as big as a B-52!!!

hehehe