The F117 stealth figher has a near perfect combat record. It was used extensively in the first gulf war, Kosovo and all of the US wars from 1990 to 2008. The sixty or so F117 were supposed to be retired after 2008. However, it appears they were not decommissioned and destroyed.
The only F117 Nighthawk ever lost in battle went down on March 27, 1999, as the result of a SAM fired from about eight miles away. Nighthawks were generally only visible to radar when their bomb bay doors opened to cast radar signatures. Lieutenant Colonel Dale Zelko bailed out of the stricken aircraft and was recovered by a U.S. Air Force rescue team.
China bought the pieces of the F117A to copy its stealth coatings.
It is a first generation stealth plane with known secrets but it is highly effective. It has a minimal heat signature and GPS jamming has minimal effect.
There are reports that four F117A stealth fighters were used in combat in 2017 in the middle east. Only the best air defenses in the world (China, Russia, NATO, US) can detect the F117A when its bomb bay doors are closed.
For the last five years the old and reliable stealth fighter has been used air force training to represent Chinese and Russian stealth fighters. This is an accurate representation as those planes have copied the technology from the parts of the F117 shot down in 1999.
Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
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