Aerospace

 

Why Is the Old F-117 Stealth Fighter Still Flying?

The United States Air Force “officially” retired the Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk in April 2008, but what retired actually means is debatable as two of the Cold War stealth aircraft were seen last week in the skies near Miramar Naval Base, outside of San Diego. The Nighthawk, which was the first operational warplane to be designed around stealth technology, was designed to be virtually invisible to radar, and difficult to spot with the naked eye.

The ground attack aircraft was actually so secret that it was in service for six years before the U.S. Air Force even admitted its existence. Yet for the second time this year, the aircraft was in fact spotted by keen-eyed viewers. Is the F-117 making a comeback or is something else in the works?

To Address Soviet Threats

The F-117 was developed at Lockheed’s so-called “Skunk Works” in Burbank, California to address Soviet threats but by the time the aircraft was operational the Cold War was over and it looked like the aircraft wouldn’t be needed. However, it was the right plane for the New World Order of the post-Cold War era, and a pair of F-117s were used in December 1989’s Operation Just Cause in Panama where the aircraft targeted Panamanian Defense Forces’ barracks.