Military says goodbye to F-117 Stealth aircraft?

[mirrodie]

As I was running between patients in my office, I saw a byline on the TV saying

"Military says goodbye to F-117 Stealh aircraft"


Anyone know the details? Didnt' that thing come out jsut recently? Wasn't it a short career for the bird? Seems like a waste and a short career for the bird when meanwhile the Ae6B and A10 are still a rocking right along.


then again, I don't know all the details, so please share the knowledge.

[mirrodie]

As I was running between patients in my office, I saw a byline on the TV saying

"Military says goodbye to F-117 Stealh aircraft"


Anyone know the details? Didnt' that thing come out jsut recently? Wasn't it a short career for the bird? Seems like a waste and a short career for the bird when meanwhile the Ae6B and A10 are still a rocking right along.


then again, I don't know all the details, so please share the knowledge.

[njgtr82]

I heard they are retiring them alot faster then planned to free up more money for more F-22's.

[njgtr82]

I heard they are retiring them alot faster then planned to free up more money for more F-22's.

[moose135]

They actually held a retirement ceremony this morning at Wright-Patterson AFB, and the last operating F-117s will go into storage next month.

They are old airplanes, Mario. First deliveries to the AF were in 1982, and they were originally scheduled for retirement in 2011. That has been moved up due to cost reasons. They were built with off-the-shelf parts which are increasingly more expensive to repair and maintain. Remember also, this is first generation stealth technology. The F-22, and eventually the F-35, are much more stealthy, and have much greater operational abilities in range, speed, and weapons capability.

[moose135]

They actually held a retirement ceremony this morning at Wright-Patterson AFB, and the last operating F-117s will go into storage next month.

They are old airplanes, Mario. First deliveries to the AF were in 1982, and they were originally scheduled for retirement in 2011. That has been moved up due to cost reasons. They were built with off-the-shelf parts which are increasingly more expensive to repair and maintain. Remember also, this is first generation stealth technology. The F-22, and eventually the F-35, are much more stealthy, and have much greater operational abilities in range, speed, and weapons capability.

[USAF Pilot 07]

Although they will stop flying in April, they won't be destroying most of them, and will be keeping them somewhat protected should the need ever arise to put them back into service (unlikely)...

[Nick]

From Active Duty to the boneyard, no Guard duty for the '117!

[cancidas]

are any going to stay active? maybe they'll see service with the same unit out of HO that flies the QF-4s...

wishful thinking i know, but a pretty amazing airplane in it's own right!

[Mateo]

The F-117s are from the mid 80s; with first hostile action seen in Panama in 1989. Most F-16s from that era are gone, although older A-10s are still active. The squadrons are all being disbanded and Holloman is moving to -22s. They're going to secure storage at Tonopah, not just to AMARC. There's so much infrastructure required with the F-117s; it's why they were only ever based at Holloman, and why it's not cost-effective to give them to Guard units.

[Nick]

I wonder if that means the 117 Drivers will move to 22's.

[USAF Pilot 07]

I wonder if that means the 117 Drivers will move to 22's.

UAVs....

[moose135]

UAVs....

That sucks...you go from flying this:



to flying this:

[USAF Pilot 07]

Yea, and they are starting to hand out UAVs out of UPT now from what I've heard... I think they are offering UAVs with a guaranteed follow-on (i.e. if you really want to fly C17s but know you won't get them out of flight school you could volunteer to do a UAV tour and then be guaranteed a C17 slot) but that still sucks...

Not all 117 pilots are going UAVs, but from what the talk has been, a LOT of them are... You won't get too many 117 pilots going 22s, because ACC would much rather take a 15 or 16 driver and put them in a 22... If anything most 117 pilots are probably going bombers (since that is essentially what the F117 is) if they are cross-training to anything...

No one is really safe anymore... UAVs are pretty much the wave of the future. Every airframe is getting guys pulled to go work UAVs. We've had a handful pilots at McGuire from both KC10 and C17 squadrons get non-volled into UAVs since I've been there in August...

[Nick]

I wonder what it's like to maintain those UAV's.