AirSkyBuster : Aircraft and Airplane

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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.

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F-117 Nighthawk (Wallpaper 3). F-117 Nighthawk aircraft photo wallpaper gallery 3. F-117 Nighthawk stealth fighter aircraft pictures and images collection 3. The F-117A Nighthawk stealth fighter attack aircraft was developed by Lockheed Martin after work on stealth technology, and the predecessor test demonstrator aircraft, Have Blue, was carried out in secret from 1975. Development of the F-117A began in 1978 and it was first flown in 1981, but it was not until 1988 that its existence was publicly announced. The Nighthawk is the world's first operational stealth aircraft. The first aircraft was delivered in 1982 and the last of the 59 Nighthawks procured by the US Air Force was received in 1990. The F-117A aircraft is also known as the Frisbee and the Wobblin' Goblin. The mission of the aircraft is to penetrate dense threat environments and attack high-value targets with high accuracy. F-117 Nighthawk (Wallpaper 3). F-117 Nighthawk aircraft photo wallpaper gallery 3. F-117 Nighthawk stealth fighter aircraft pictures and images collection 3. Nighthawk has been in operational service in Panama, during Operation Desert Storm, in Kosovo, in Afghanistan and during Operation Iraqi Freedom. The F-117 is being replaced in the USAF by the F-22 Raptor. The first 10 of the 55 F-117 aircraft in service were retired in December 2006. A formal retirement ceremony took place at Wright-Patterson AFB in March 2008. The F-117s are being stored in hangars at an airfield in the Tonopah Test Range, Nevada. The wings and tails are being removed for storage, but some aircraft will be able to be rapidly recalled to flight if required. The last four F-117 aircraft flew to Tonopah on April 22nd 2008. In January 2004, an F-117 successfully released a JDAM (JDAM) 2,000lb bomb for the first time. The integration of JDAM and other precision-guided weapons on the F-117 is coupled with the block II software upgrade and achieved initial operating capability (IOC) in 2006. The Nighthawk is only used for night-time missions. F-117 Nighthawk (Wallpaper 3). F-117 Nighthawk aircraft photo wallpaper gallery 3. F-117 Nighthawk stealth fighter aircraft pictures and images collection 3.

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F-117 Nighthawk (Wallpaper 2). F-117 Nighthawk aircraft photo wallpaper gallery 2. F-117 Nighthawk stealth fighter aircraft pictures and images collection 2. The F-117A can employ a variety of weapons and is equipped with sophisticated navigation and attack systems integrated into a state-of-the-art digital avionics suite that increases mission effectiveness and reduces pilot workload. Detailed planning for missions into highly defended target areas is accomplished by an automated mission planning system developed, specifically, to take advantage of the unique capabilities of the F-117A. 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 has demonstrated that a stealth aircraft can be designed for reliability and maintainability. F-117 Nighthawk (Wallpaper 2). F-117 Nighthawk aircraft photo wallpaper gallery 2. F-117 Nighthawk stealth fighter aircraft pictures and images collection 2. The aircraft maintenance statistics are comparable to other tactical fighters of similar complexity. Logistically supported by Sacramento Air Logistics Center, McClellan AFB, Calif., the F-117A is kept at the forefront of technology through a planned weapon system improvement program located at USAF Plant 42 at Palmdale, Calif. The Air Force thinking today is that it will phase out the Nighthawks after 2018. The first F-117A was delivered in 1982, and the last delivery was in the summer of 1990. The F-117A production decision was made in 1978 with a contract awarded to Lockheed Advanced Development Projects, the "Skunk Works," in Burbank, Calif. The first flight was in 1981, only 31 months after the full-scale development decision. Lockheed-Martin delivered 59 stealth fighters to the Air Force between August 1982 and July 1990. Five additional test aircraft belong to the company. F-117 Nighthawk (Wallpaper 2). F-117 Nighthawk aircraft photo wallpaper gallery 2. F-117 Nighthawk stealth fighter aircraft pictures and images collection 2.

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F-117 Nighthawk (Wallpaper 1). F-117 Nighthawk aircraft photo wallpaper gallery 1. F-117 Nighthawk stealth fighter aircraft pictures and images collection 1. The Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk is a single-seat, twin-engine stealth ground-attack aircraft formerly operated by the United States Air Force (USAF). The F-117A's first flight was in 1981, and it achieved initial operating capability status in October 1983. The F-117A was "acknowledged" and revealed to the world in November 1988. A product of Lockheed Skunk Works and a development of the Have Blue technology demonstrator, it became the first operational aircraft initially designed around stealth technology. The F-117A was widely publicized during the Persian Gulf War of 1991. It was commonly called the "Stealth Fighter" although it was a ground-attack aircraft, making its F-designation misleading. The Air Force retired the F-117 on 22 April 2008, primarily due to the fielding of the F-22 Raptor and the impending introduction of the F-35 Lightning II. Sixty-four F-117s were built, 59 of which were production versions with 5 demonstrators/prototypes. F-117 Nighthawk (Wallpaper 1). F-117 Nighthawk aircraft photo wallpaper gallery 1. F-117 Nighthawk stealth fighter aircraft pictures and images collection 1. The operational aircraft had the official designation of "F-117A". Most modern U.S. military aircraft use post-1962 designations in which the designation "F" is usually an air-to-air fighter, "B" is usually a bomber, "A" is usually a ground-attack aircraft, etc. (Examples include the F-15, the B-2, and the A-6.) The F-117 is primarily a ground-attack aircraft so its "F" designation is inconsistent with the DoD system, but it is an inconsistency that has been repeatedly employed by the U.S. Air Force with several of its ground attack aircraft since the late 1950s, e.g., F-105, F-111, etc. The designation "F-117" seems to indicate that it was given an official designation prior to the 1962 U.S. Tri-Service Aircraft Designation System and could be considered numerically to be a part of the earlier "Century series" of fighters. The assumption prior to the revealing of the aircraft to the public was that it would likely receive the designation F-19 as that number had not been used. However there were no other aircraft to receive a "100" series number following the F-111. Soviet fighters obtained by the United States via various means under the Constant Peg program were given F-series numbers for their evaluation by U.S. pilots, and with the advent of the Teen Series fighters, most often Century Series designations. F-117 Nighthawk (Wallpaper 1). F-117 Nighthawk aircraft photo wallpaper gallery 1. F-117 Nighthawk stealth fighter aircraft pictures and images collection 1.