The Retired F-117A Nighthawk Is Doing...Something...in the Desert - f117.jpg

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/techno...RlH?li=BBnbklF

The F-117A Nighthawk stealth fighter, the world’s first purpose-designed stealth
aircraft, was recently sighted high in the skies over Death Valley, California.
The fighter, part of a fleet of jets retired in 2008, was sporting a brand new
camouflage paint job and accompanied by a NASA jet and aerial refueling tanker.
What was it doing? That’s anyone’s guess.

The F-117A was spotted on by plane spotter Steve Lewis on July 11. The fighter
was refueling from a KC-135R Stratotanker and was accompanied by a NASA F-15D
fighter. Intriguingly, the F-15D was “carrying an unidentified podded sensor
under its starboard wing.” The plane completed refueling and then headed east to
Nevada.

The F-117A Nighthawk was the world’s first aircraft with stealth as a major—if
not the primary—design factor. The alien-looking F-117 featured a diamond-like,
faceted exterior designed to reduce radar returns and minimize its signature on
enemy radars. This allowed it to sneak past enemy air defenses, attack targets
on the ground with GBU-27 Paveway laser-guided bombs, and sneak back out again.

Although commonly called a “stealth fighter,” this was a misnomer. It did not
have the ability to engage other aircraft and was strictly an attack plane or
light bomber.

The Air Force’s inventory of 58 Nighthawks was retired in 2008, put away in
“flyable storage” condition. A handful are permanently disposed of every year.
An unknown number are still flying however, with sightings of the jets in 2016
and 2018. The image above is from February 2019.

In this latest sighting, the F-117A sported a blocky, white, gray, and black
paint job similar to those used by the Air Force’s aggressor squadrons, which
train to replicate enemy weapons and tactics.

Nobody knows what the Air Force is doing with the F-117A. The service literally
has thousands of aircraft, so whatever it is doing requires the use of a
low-observable, stealthy aircraft. The Air Force also has stealthy F-22 Raptor
and F-35A Joint Strike Fighters but for some reason the service is using older
Nighthawks for...whatever it is doing.

The presence of an unidentified “podded sensor” on the F-15 might be a clue the
service is testing a new sensor designed to pick up stealth aircraft. The
“aggressor” paint job could also be a sign the Nighthawk is being used as a
stand-in for Russian and Chinese fighter planes.




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