Posted on 04/22/2008 11:08:48 AM PDT by 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...
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Just for the record...
I am not leaving!
F-117 Ping!
So, now the question is, what is taking its place?
Groom Lake/Area 51/Dreamland?
The F-22
I was at Nellis when they were still deep black, and the Janet Flights left from a parking spot in front of my shop. A friend’s older brother was uprange, and when I made the mistake of asking what he did, he told me “I play pinochle.” I was still at Nellis when they started coming out into the sunlight, when they flew their first missions (against Panama), and when they deployed and returned from the First Gulf War.
And now they’re going deep black again.
Nah, probably just back to Tonopah.
Kind of a top secret area that doesn’t exist. :)
Well there are the B-2s.... even though we only have 21 of them they can deliver far more payload.
Also, my (limited) understanding is that the F-22 is much more capable and we have more than 100 of them now, so the F-117 has already effectively been replaced. Even though it was designed as an air-superiority fighter the F-22 can also deliver bombs better-farther-faster than the F-117, or so I’m told (but I claim no expertise). I think we should have been building a lot more than the 186 or so F-22s that we are currently committed to (raising the unit cost a great deal by slashing the size of the overall order).
“A few aerospace reporters have been invited, but they had to be U.S. citizens.”
Surprised me. I didn’t know there were ANY US reporters who are American citizens.
We may not have seen the last of them being used.
Yes...I was surprised that ANY were invited, period.
Great place to test a UFO, though.
I didn’t even know you were here to start with. The shrouding must be working.
We see nothing on the horizon. Hopefully, whomever we're fighting won't, either.
But jas, make sure they don't park them in the sun. UV kills whatever weirdo composite they cooked up to fabricate major F-117 components
I doubt we’ll ever see another work horse like the B-52.
Actually, he was on double secret probation. Until today.
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