F-117 Nighthawk (Wallpaper 4) aircraft photo gallery | AirSkyBuster

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F-117 Nighthawk (Wallpaper 4). F-117 Nighthawk aircraft photo wallpaper gallery 4. F-117 Nighthawk stealth fighter aircraft pictures and images collection 4. The Air Force decided to retire the F-117 fleet because a new generation of stealth aircraft including the B-2 Spirit, F-22 Raptor and soon-to-be-fielded F-35 Joint Strike Fighter have better capabilities, and because the F-117 is expensive to fly and maintain. Holloman's pilot and maintenance teams launched their last "4-ship" of stealth fighters on 21 April 2008. They made a brief overnight stop at the F-117s logistics support center in Palmdale, CA, for a final ceremony before retiring to Tonopah where their wings and tails removed and the aircraft stored in protective hangars. The F-117s will be placed in storage at an airfield in the Tonopah Test Range, Nev., where the jets flew in total secrecy and only at night until November 1988. The F-117 was nearly completely covered with a radar absorbing material which is laborious and expensive to maintain. After each mission, maintenance specialists closely examine the aircraft's special coating to identify any needed repairs. If required, coatings were reapplied, allowed to cure, and re-inspected. F-117 Nighthawk (Wallpaper 4). F-117 Nighthawk aircraft photo wallpaper gallery 4. F-117 Nighthawk stealth fighter aircraft pictures and images collection 4. A portion of the fleet is rapidly recallable to fly again, if ever needed. Five F-117 development aircraft were built and tested between 1981 and 1982. The first F-117 squadron was declared operational in 1983. Lockheed built a total of 59 F-117s for the Air Force. The F-117 was a highly secret aircraft during most of the 1980s. It was finally unveiled in 1989 and became famous in 1991 when it was used in heavily defended skies over Iraq during the Persian Gulf War. In 1999, an F-117 was shot down by a Russian-built missile over Yugoslavia, demonstrating that stealth was not invincible. Constructed principally of aluminum with RAM applied to external skins, the F-117 employed a largely conventional internal structure including the use of two spar wings. Constructed primarily of aluminum, the F-117A's fuselage comprises flat panels known as facets mounted on the aircraft's subframe, their purpose being to reflect radar energy away from the transmitter itself, thus denying the operators a visible 'return'. All surfaces were coated with various radar absorbent materials. All doors and panels have serrated edges to further minimize radar reflection. Grid covers on the intakes and the use of narrow-slot 'platypus' exhausts surrounded by heat-absorbing tiles further reduce the chances of IR detection. Ahead of the flat-plate five-piece cockpit glazing is a FLIR sensor, recessed in a mesh-covered housing; in the forward starboard underfuselage there is a retractable DLIR and laser designator. These sensors were used in conjunction with LGBs, two of which can be carried in the double-section weapons bay. F-117 Nighthawk (Wallpaper 4). F-117 Nighthawk aircraft photo wallpaper gallery 4. F-117 Nighthawk stealth fighter aircraft pictures and images collection 4.