F-117 Stealth Nighthawks still possibly prowling the skies..

Steyr

http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/the-dewline/2010/10/f-117-is-the-new-elvis.html

By Stephen Trimble on October 14, 2010

The US Air Force retired the F-117 in dramatic fashion in March 2008, ceremonially sending off the final four of the gawky stealth fighters to storage at the Tonopah Test Range, then releasing images of one poor airframe getting crushed into little pieces by a Caterpillar excavator. USAF message: See? No more F-117s here!




But, like Elvis, some folks believe the F-117 still lives and even prowls the skies above us -- especially if you happen to live in the Nevada desert. In fact, the forums at abovetopsecret.com are buzzing this week about an alleged sighting of the Skunk Works product on October 5, with both photos and video (caution: requires special video player) of the purported encounter. Unfortunately, there's no way to definitively prove the images were not taken years earlier, and the camera operator neglected to pan over to a newspaper with the morning's date.



Interesting.

SNAKEDOC

well the f117 is redundant since the entry of the raptor. the raptor can deliver the same munitions as the f117 at twice the speed and is more radar absorbent as the f117. so scraping the f117 was a good option. however look at NASA. they continue to operate f16 block a models. f15 eagles and b52's. so it is only natural that when the air force was done with the f117 some may have remained in service as research aircraft. just look at the u2 perfect example. however i doubt they will be dropping GBU munitions in anger again

shedweller

It's an awful pity to see them crushed up though. Although there is serious tech that they would rather not let out into the wild so to speak.

SNAKEDOC

a lot of that tech is nearly thirty years old. the f22 has filled any hole the f117 left. and the f15 is set to go through an upgrade to allow it to carry all munitions internally. i thought it was strange but then saw the pictures its mad looking