F-117 Nighthawk
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The Lockheed F-117A Nighthawk is the world's first operational aircraft completely designed around stealth technology. Flown only by the United States Air Force, it is a direct descendant of the Have Blue stealth prototype program.
The F-117A was widely publicized during the Gulf War. It is scheduled to be replaced by the F-22 Raptor between 2008 and 2020.
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Designation
The Nighthawk's designation of F-117A marks it as a fighter bomber, using the same naming format of F, with three rather then two numbers as in the earlier F-111 bomber.
The "F-" designation has never been officially explained. There are several theories. The USAF has always been more proud of its fighters than its ground-attack aircraft, which are sometimes denigrated as "mud movers." Officials may have felt that they could more easily generate political and military support for the radical new aircraft if it were called a "fighter" rather than a bomber or attack plane. The "F-" designation may also have been part of the attempt to keep the Nighthawk secret (the program was classified until the late 1980s). During development the term 'LT', for Logistics Trainer, was often used.
Also a recent televised documentary quoted a senior member of the F-117A development team as saying that the top-notch fighter pilots required to fly the new aircraft were more easily attracted to an F- plane, as opposed to a B- or A- aircraft. There has been something of a class distinction between fighter and bomber crews, particularly in the days of the Strategic Air Command (1945-1991), and flying one type often limited a pilot's prospects for flying the other.
The USAF maintains that F-117A can carry every weapon in the inventory, including air-to-air missiles. That may be technically true, but the aircraft is of unknown capability in air-combat. It its likely a poor dog-fighter, but there is no expert opinion on its other abilities.
There is some conjecture about its abilties. It is said that it cannot turn at greater than 5 g though the information is classified. It lacks the radar to guide longer-range missiles, and does not carry shorter-range ones for self-defense. USAF officials once considered putting AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air missiles on the F-117 — pilots were even trained to fire them — but there is no evidence that AIM-9s have ever been loaded aboard. It stealth capabilites makes it hard to locate by other fighters and target with radar tracking air-air missiles.
Design and operation
Image:F-117 Nighthawk flight.jpgAbout the size of an F-15C Eagle, the single-seat, twin-engine F-117A is powered by two non-afterburning General Electric F404 turbofan engines, and has quadruple-redundant fly-by-wire flight controls. It is air refuelable. In order to lower development costs, the avionics, fly-by-wire systems, and other parts are derived from the F-16 Fighting Falcon and F/A-18 Hornet.
Among the penalties for stealth are 30 percent lower engine power and a very low wing aspect ratio, thanks to the high sweep angle needed to deflect incoming radar waves to the sides.
The F-117A is equipped with sophisticated navigation and attack systems integrated into a digital avionics suite. It carries no radar, which lowers emissions and cross-section. It navigates primarily by GPS and high-accuracy inertial navigation. Missions are coordinated by an automated planning system that can automatically perform all aspects of a strike mission, including weapons release. Targets are acquired by a thermal imaging infrared system, slaved to a laser that finds the range and designates targets for laser-guided bombs.
The F-117A's split internal bay can carry 5,000 lb (2,300 kg) of ordnance. Typical weapons are a pair of GBU-10, GBU-12, or GBU-27 laser-guided bombs, two BLU-109 penetration bombs, two Wind-Corrected Munition Dispensers (WCMD), or two Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAMs), a GPS/INS-guided stand-off bomb. It can theoretically carry two examples of nearly any weapon in the USAF inventory, including the B61 nuclear bomb. There are a number of bombs that it cannot carry, either because they are too large to fit in its bomb bay, or are incompatible with the F-117's carry system.
History
The F-117A production decision was made in 1973 with a contract awarded to Lockheed Advanced Development Projects, the "Skunk Works," in Burbank, California led by Ben Rich. The first flight was in 1977, only 31 months after the full-scale development decision. The first F-117A was delivered in 1982, operational capability was achieved in October 1983, and the last delivery was in the summer of 1990. The Air Force denied the existence of the aircraft until 1988, then in April 1990 an example was put on public display at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, attracting tens of thousands of spectators.
Current inventory is 54 airplanes. 36 of those are combat ready, the rest are for training, etc.
During the program's early years, the F-117A fleet was based at Tonopah Test Range, Nevada from 1984 to mid-1992, where it served under the 4450th Tactical Group, absorbed by the 37th Tactical Fighter Wing in 1989. In 1992, the entire fleet was transferred to Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico, where it was placed under the command of the 49th Fighter Wing. The move eliminated the need for Key Air flights, which flew 22,000 passenger trips on 300 flights from Nellis to Tonopah per month.
As the Air Force has stated [1], "Streamlined management by Aeronautical Systems Center, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, combined breakthrough stealth technology with concurrent development and production to rapidly field the aircraft.... The F-117A program demonstrates that a stealth aircraft can be designed for reliability and maintainability." The aircraft maintenance statistics are comparable to other tactical fighters of similar complexity. Logistically supported by Sacramento Air Logistics Center, McClellan AFB, California, the F-117A is kept at the forefront of technology through a planned weapon system improvement program located at USAF Plant 42 at Palmdale, California.
Combat
The F-117 has been used several times in war. Its first mission was during Operation Just Cause in Panama in 1989. During that invasion an F-117 dropped two bombs on Rio Hato airfield. Later, during the Gulf War, it performed well by dropping smart bombs on Iraqi military targets. It has since been used in the Kosovo War in 1999, Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Combat losses
One F-117 has been lost in combat, to Serbian/Yugoslav forces. On March 27, 1999, during the Kosovo War, the 3rd Battalion of the 250th Missile Brigade under command of colonel Zoltán Dani, equipped with the Isayev S-125 'Neva-M' (NATO designation SA-3 'Goa'), downed F-117A serial number 82-806 with a Neva missile. According to Wesley Clark and other NATO generals, Yugoslav air defences tracked F-117s with old Russian radars operating on long wavelengths. This, combined with the loss of stealth when the jets got wet or opened their bomb bays, made them highly visible on radar screens. The pilot survived and was later rescued by NATO forces. However, the wreckage of the F-117 was not promptly bombed, and the Serbs are believed to have invited Russian personnel to inspect the remains, inevitably compromising the US stealth technology. [2]
A second F-117A was also damaged during a raid in the Kosovo War, and although it made it back to its base, it never flew again. [3]
Future
With its successes in the Kosovo War and Operation Iraqi Freedom and its extraordinarily high mission capable rate, the F-117 has secured its place as the aerospace "tip of the spear" during the first few nights of military operations when the goal is to blind the enemy by destroying command, control and radar. Yet despite this, the F-117 is still very much an aircraft designed with technologies that were state of the art in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and as such, there has been a preliminary decision to retire the fleet in 2008. Most notably its stealth technology and faceting, while still more advanced than that of any other aircraft but the B-2 Spirit and F-22A, is maintenance heavy. Furthermore, the faceting technology (which limits its aerodynamics) represents an old counter-radar technique that has since been greatly refined.
The increase of production of the F-22A by four planes and its entry as an operational aircraft into the US Air Force has created debate about retiring the fleet. A draft version of the 2006 Quadrennial Defense Review and the 2007 Defense Budget that were leaked proposed retiring the entire fleet to make room for buying more F-22As.[4] This plan was removed from both the final 2007 Budget and the final QDR.[5]
Critics say that removing the F-117, an attack plane by nature, from service is another sign of the machinations of the largely former-fighter pilots that populate the highest ranks of the Air Force, who, by reputation, have been willing to sacrifice nearly any program in order to preserve the F-22A, the "ultimate fighter". Furthermore, they contend that the F-117 can carry 2 2000 lb bombs in its internal bays (and thus remain stealthy) whereas the F-22A can only carry such bombs on external pylons, breaking its vaunted stealth and manuverability.
Supporters of the proposal argue however that the high maintenance cost and older stealth technology that is vulnerable to long-wavelength radar, combined with a subsonic limit, makes the F-117 more dangerous to fly. They contend that the F-22A is the logical successor considering that:
- Its stealth is nearly as advanced as the B-2, and reportedly more effective than the F-117.
- It can fly at supersonic speeds without using afterburners and thus can reach targets more quickly.
- Its radar absorbing material requires far less maintenance than that of the F-117.
- The new 250lb small diameter bomb entering service and designed specifically to fit in the F-22A's internal munitions bays have the same penetrating power as the larger 2000 lb BLU-109 bomb.
With the removal of the proposal of the retirement of the F-117 fleet, it is likely that the aircraft will remain in service for some years to come until their previously scheduled retirement between 2017 and 2025. In fact, 2004 and 2005 saw several mid-life improvement programs being implemented on the F-117, including an avionics upgrade.
Most interestingly, several of the F-117s were painted in a grey camouflage pattern in an experiment to determine the effectiveness of the F-117's stealth during daylight conditions. If the experiment is successful, it might lead to part or all of the fleet changing from their trademark black to this new color scheme, enabling, for the first time, daylight operations in warzones. As of early 2006 the outcome of this experiment is unknown.
Recent developments
In an abrupt reversal of early QDR drafts, in January 2006 Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld announced the retirement of the F-117 fleet. Designed as a cost cutting measure, and as part of a larger reorganization and redefinition of the Air Force's mission that includes the retirement of the E-4B fleet, the cancellation of the Boeing E-10 program, as well as the elimination of all but 58 B-52s. Rumsfeld states that this move will not impair the Air Force's ability to deliver the mission of the F-117 which will be accomplished by a growing supply of F-22s.
Specifications (F-117 Nighthawk)
Trivia
- A Sprint commercial in the 1990s featured a large schematic drawing of the F-117, which was then subsequently identified incorrectly by Candice Bergen, their speaker, as a B-2.
- Before it was given an official name, the engineers and test pilots referred to the ungainly aircraft, which went into hiding during daylight to avoid detection by Soviet satellites, as "Cockroaches", a name that is still sometimes used. Another sometimes used nickname is "Wobbly Goblin," due to the aircraft's alleged instability at low speeds, although F-117 pilots report this is incorrect. [6].
External links
- Air Force Link - Fact Sheet : F-117A Nighthawk
- The 49th Fighter Wing at Holloman Air Force Base
- U.S. Air Force F-117A Nighthawk - Wallpaper
- FAS F-117A Nighthawk
- F-117 In Action
Related content
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