Air Force's stealth fighters making final flights

BruteForce · Post by **BruteForce** » March 11th, 2008, 9:35 am

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

Technicians service an F-117 stealth fighter after it arrived at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio, on Monday.

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, Ohio, 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.

The last F-117s scheduled to fly will leave Holloman on April 21, stop in Palmdale, California, for another retirement ceremony, then arrive on April 22 at their final destination: Tonopah Test Range Airfield in Nevada, where the jet made its first flight in 1981.

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I had no idea the F117 was that old. I suppose the new F22 Raptor in conjunction with B2's will replace.

RTO · Post by **RTO** » March 11th, 2008, 10:20 am

Although sad, I guess it makes more sense to dedicate funds to keep newer technology flying rather than pouring millions into upkeep of the older fighters.

Those F22 Raptor's are baddass!

CloakAndDagger · Post by **CloakAndDagger** » March 11th, 2008, 12:29 pm

I can't say I'm too surprised that they are being retired...neat aircraft, but I'm sure the exotic skin was expensive and a pain to fix dings and dents, and with all the angles, was never a stable flyer, which I'm sure induced a toll on the aircraft structure.

All-in-all, it had a pretty good run run for an out-of-the-box design.

Chiron · Post by **Chiron** » March 12th, 2008, 5:26 am

The F-35s are not bad also.

My guess is that the F-117s mission is being taken by one of the new aircraft and this is one of the steps of evolution.

RetPara · Post by **RetPara** » March 16th, 2008, 6:10 pm

The B3 is also in the production line.

From StrategyPage.com

Breaking Silence About the B-3
March 10, 2008: Stung by rumors that they were not serious about developing a new heavy bomber, the U.S. Air Force announced that it was developing such an aircraft, that it would be in service by 2018, and would be able to operate with, or without, a crew. The implication was that the design of the new bomber was already quite advanced, and that it was, like the B-2, being handled as a "black project" (all work done in secrecy, until ready for production.)

The new bomber would be similar to the current B-2 in many ways. That is, it would be stealthy, have a crew of only two, and be capable of staying in the air for over 24 hours at a time. The "B-3" would probably also be capable of super-cruise (travelling long distances at very high speeds), and would definitely have a full array of the latest sensors and communications capabilities. The biggest potential problem is cost. The B-2 bombers were so expensive that only 21 were built. One recently crashed. Adding in the development expenses, each B-2 cost about two billion dollars. If the B-3 costs a lot more, the air force will have a hard time selling it to Congress. This would be the case even if the air force came up with a design that amounted to a "semi-space" ship, that travelled at hypersonic speeds (enabling it to reach any point on the planet in a few hours). Price has definitely become a factor, and that may be why the air force has been reluctant to release any details on the next generation heavy bomber.