damn seems like the thing just came out but it has been 25 years.. http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/news/2006/10/mil-061028-afpn02.htm
Yes, it does seem a lot newer than that - but wasn't it secret for a long time? Seems like the first Gulf War was the first time it was in the news.
F117 is like a friend. the new stuff is super cool though you have to almost be an Electrical Engineer to work on the stuff though.......
There's no need for a replacement of the B-52 since it's duty isn't high-tech. It's just like an old pickup. It gets the job done, no need to make a new one from scratch.
I think the problem for the military is that it does the job well enough, but to develop something new from scratch would be billions and billions they can't afford to throw around right now. Also, the focus as of late seems to be on precision bombing to knock out selected installations rather than on carpet bombing to level blocks at a time.
This is what I figured would happen upon reading the title, the F-22 is light years ahead of the F-117 so to say..
During the Afgan campaign, B-52's carpet bombed hillsides infested with Taliban. Some things never change. B-52 is scheduled to fly until 2020. Besides plowing the fields with bombs, it has some nuke capabilities up its sleeve.
Damn, that's sad. Seen it fly over at every airshow I've gone to and it's a cool sight to see. I think the "Aurora" at groom lake (area 51) is going to be the next ultimate bomber.
Aurora time! Seriously, I can't imagine what has been in the works all these years that the Stealth fighter has been in service...some have even spoken of "invisibility" technology. I do know where they can test the replacement plane: IRAN!
The F-117 has been my favorite plane for such a long time. At least now we may be able to get close to it at some museum or something.
We weren't allowed to take any pictures at the time so this one is courtesy of http://www.richard-seaman.com/Aircraft/AirShows/Riat2002/F117/index.html Image Unavailable, Please Login
They had one the the Air Force Museum in Dayton back in 1995. You could walk all around, and under it; don't know if it's still there.
Wasn't the F-117A first used in Panama? If you haven't read the book about the Skunkworks you really should. It is a great book.
I second that, it's a good book. Anyway, gimme a C-47, a P-38, maybe an F6F, F8F, P-47 or P-51 and I'm good. I want something that won't crash if you blow a fuse... In the jet age, I'll take a few T-33's, some F-86's, F-100's and maybe an F-4 and I'm fine.
I thought Panama was the first 'official' mission too, but who really knows the classified reality. There was one at the Reno Air Races one year not too soon after it was declassified, not so big up close, lots of touch up with flat black spray paint. Wasn't the black period at least 10 years before the rest of us know it existed? Makes you wonder what's flying now. The F-22 is fantastic, but I'll bet it's not the front line first strike stealth (based on nothing other than military track record). Here's a cool concept for you guys to photoshop, perhaps this is flying in numbers now (autonomously...): Image Unavailable, Please Login
F117 I hardly knew 'ye. I guess that's the problem with a weapon that's so reliant on a technology like that. The much-badder F-14 was around what, like 35 years?
The F-14 was simply a follow-on program to every other jet fighter before it. Very easy to make it reliable and robust. It used technology from previous generations of fighters and was an incremental improvement. The F-117A was a radical departure in terms of materials used, flight controls, etc. and it performed its job beautifully. It really was a flying first. Any first gen product gets eclipsed faster than later generation stuff. Prior to the first missions in the first Gulf War the F-117A pilots were worried if the stealth stuff really worked. They came out to their aircraft for preflight check and found many dead bats on the ground around the planes. The bats had died flying into the airplane because they couldn't "see" them with their echolocation. After that the pilots were pretty upbeat.
