The F-117 Nighthawk was retired 10 years ago. As Combat Aircraft marks the 75th anniversary of the Lockheed ‘Skunk Works’, we reflect on the Nighthawk’s history and evaluate why a few F-117s continue to fly in secrecy.
DURING THE BATTLE of Britain, the Royal Air Force demonstrated to the world the effectiveness of an integrated air defense system (IADS), albeit in a fledgling guise. It spurred a blueprint that was to be adopted by both the Eastern and Western power blocs. As the Vietnam War evolved, the US found itself facing a North Vietnamese opponent supported by both the Soviets and Chinese communists. As a result, US air arms lost the element of surprise and losses increased dramatically. To ameliorate against high levels of attrition, suppression of enemy air defenses (SEAD) tactics became an essential element of any strike package into defended airspace. Aircraft were used to create ‘chaff corridors’, while electronic attack aircraft attempted to jam enemy radars and communications as the newly formed ‘Wild Weasel’ units suppressed surface-to-air missile (SAM) and antiaircraft artillery (AAA) batteries. As a result, by the end of the Vietnam War less than half the aircraft involved in major US air strikes were tasked with tackling the primary target.
During the 1973 Yom Kippur War, the Israeli Air Force lost 109 aircraft in just 18 days, with most falling victim to radarguided SAMs or AAA.
Pentagon analysts predicted that NATO air assets would be decimated in just over two weeks if all-out air combat broke out in Europe. A fundamental reappraisal of combat aviation in contested airspace became essential.
In 1974, the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) set in motion a series of competitions that ultimately led on October 10, 1977, to a one-year $11.1-million contract for Lockheed to develop a concept for the Advanced Technology Aircraft ‘A’ (ATA ‘A’). The very low-observable (VLO), single-seat attack aircraft was required to carry a 5,000lb payload and have an unrefueled range of 400nm. As the ‘Skunk Works’ team continued its assimilation, it became apparent that the elite Lockheed department had achieved a transformational reduction in radar cross-section (RCS) values, which generated an explicit operational advantage. Consequently, in summer 1978, USAF officials moved ATA ‘A’ to full- scale development (FSD). It was a hitherto unprecedented move.
Unprecedented secrecy
It was very apparent to both Lockheed and the USAF that the techniques and technology being ploughed into this revolutionary aircraft could be copied. This spurred unprecedented security measures to protect this ‘perishable’ asset. Even the F-117 designation didn’t follow standard protocol. Instead, it was derived from the highly classified designations being used by the 6513th Test Squadron ‘Red Hats’ as cover identities for the covert evaluation of foreign aircraft. For example, a former Iraqi MiG-21F-13 ‘Fishbed’ was redesignated as the YF-110B. Similarly, ex-Syrian Arab Air Force MiG-17F ‘Fresco- Cs’ — known as ‘Have Drill’ and ‘Have Ferry’ — were dubbed the YF-113A and YF-114C respectively. Even the F-117s’ serials bore no resemblance to ‘white world’ platforms; indeed, the prototype serial 780 was derived from its planned first flight date, July 1980, although that date would prove optimistic.
The unit chosen to fly the F-117 was the 4450th Tactical Group, formed on October 15, 1979. Referred to as ‘A-unit’, again to preserve security, it reported directly to Tactical Air Command’s director of operations (DO), instead of a numbered air force.
While work on the prototype continued at Burbank, a comprehensive construction program began at the aircraft’s covert operational base — Tonopah Test Range (TTR). Located in the north-west corner of the Nevada Test and Training Range (NTTR), this remote site was already home to the super-secret 4477th Test and Evaluation Squadron ‘Red Eagles’, operating Soviet aircraft as the ultimate adversaries to train frontline pilots.
Tonopah’s runway was lengthened, a new control tower added, and fuel and weapons storage areas together with permanent housing and new hangars built. Construction at TTR was completed in early July 1982, and 20 A-7 Corsair IIs were hustled in to give the unit a handy cover story. Headquartered at Nellis AFB, they were referred to as ‘P-Unit’. The 4450th Test Squadron was designated ‘I-Unit’ and Detachment 1 of ‘A-Unit’, based at Tonopah, was ‘Q-Unit’.
Getting to Tonopah required a Monday-out, Friday-back commute from Las Vegas. This was handled by civil contractor Key Airlines, operating Boeing 727s, later replaced by Boeing 737s.
Aircraft serial 80-0787 was the first operational F-117 to be accepted by the USAF on August 23, 1982. It was joined 11 days later by 80-0786. That September, Det 1 of the 4450th was designated as the 4452nd Test Squadron with a complement of just two aircraft. On the night of October 15, Maj Al Whitley conducted his maiden flight, becoming the first operational pilot to fly the jet-black F-117. Whitley went on to command the Tonopah F-117 wing later in his career.
By October 28, 1983, Senior Trend was deemed to have achieved limited initial operational capability (LIOC). In acknowledgement of the type’s potential, the procurement plan was increased to 57 aircraft (the final total was 59). The impact of this decision created the need for two additional squadrons. Consequently, in July 1983, ‘I-Unit’ ‘Nightstalkers’ was activated, followed in October 1985 by ‘Z-Unit’ ‘Grim Reapers’. They were subsequently redesignated as the 4450th Test Squadron and the 4453rd Test and Evaluation Squadron respectively.
Setbacks
The nocturnal, bat-like existence of F-117 pilots at this time — sleeping during the day and flying strictly at night — was highly demanding and chronically tiring. On the nights of July 11, 1986, and October 14, 1987, in excellent weather conditions and good visibility, the USAF lost two F-117s in accidents. Both pilots were killed, having failed to eject.
Investigations established that both aircraft showed no signs of mechanical malfunction and that the likely cause of both these horrific accidents was pilot fatigue and spatial disorientation. On October 20, 1987, Maj Bruce Teagarden ejected safely from his A-7D after the aircraft lost power. Unfortunately, the Corsair crashed into a Ramada Inn hotel near Indianapolis airport, killing nine people. Teagarden was cleared of all culpability, and although he was publicly acknowledged as being a member of the 4450th the unit was not known to have any links with Tonopah, ensuring that Senior Trend remained in the black.
However, these events served as the trigger to bring the F-117 out of the shadows. On November 10, 1988, at a Pentagon press conference, Assistant Secretary of Defense J. Daniel Howard held up a fuzzy photograph of the aircraft. Releasing its general shape allowed the 4450th to begin daylight flights, which led to a string of sightings. Easing Senior Trend into the ‘white world’ enabled the 4450th to retire its gasguzzling A-7s, and in September 1989 it re-equipped with more economical AT-38Bs. Another change followed on October 5, 1989, when the 4450th TG and its component squadrons were re-designated. The parent designation was changed to the 37th Tactical Fighter Wing. The 4450th ‘Nightstalkers’, together with the 4451st Test Squadron, became the 415th Tactical Fighter Squadron (TFS) ‘Nightstalkers’ and the 416th ‘Ghost Riders’ respectively. The training unit, the 4453rd TFS ‘Grim Reapers’, continued its flight training responsibility but as the 417th Tactical Fighter Training Squadron (TFTS) ‘Bandits’.
”The nocturnal, bat-like existence of F-117 pilots at this time — sleeping during the day and flying strictly at night — was highly demanding and chronically tiring”
Combat debut By the late 1980s, relations between Panama’s military dictator Gen Manuel Noriega and the US had deteriorated after numerous incidents to a point where, on December 15, 1989, Noriega declared a state of war between the two countries. The George H. W. Bush administration decided to remove the despot and issued orders to implement Operation ‘Just Cause’ — the codename for the pre-planned invasion of Panama.
In support of the operation, at 14.00hrs local time on December 19, 1989, eight F-117s launched from Tonopah. Two airborne spares returned following completion of the initial aerial refueling. The decision to employ the F-117 was based upon its bombing accuracy (Panama didn’t possess a radar defense network so the aircraft’s stealth features were irrelevant). The 3,000-mile round trip from Tonopah to England AFB, Louisiana, required five aerial refuelings and was supported by KC-10s and KC-135s. Of the six aircraft in the strike package, two were airborne spares, while two were tasked to attack the Río Hato army base and the other two were designated to hit Noriega’s residences at the Río Hato beach house and the La Escondida mountain resort.
In the event, the planned attacks on the dictator’s residences were cancelled when intelligence reports indicated that the intended target wouldn’t be at either. However, Maj Greg Feest, flying aircraft 816, and his wingman Maj Dale Hanner, dropped two 2,000lb GBU-27s in an open field adjacent to the barracks. The purpose of the target selection was to stun and confuse, rather than kill, the sleeping soldiers before they had an opportunity to engage US Rangers parachuting in to occupy the Río Hato airstrip 90 seconds after the F-117 strike. Three hours before the invasion was due to begin, Noreiga’s forces gained advanced warning of the impending invasion and deployed to the Río Hato airstrip. In the event, the bombing results were not as effective as had been planned. Several Rangers were killed and more than a dozen wounded in the ensuing firefight, before the island could be secured. As for Noriega, having initially taken refuge in a church, he was eventually extradited to Florida.
Operation ‘Desert Storm’
The F-117’s true baptism of fire began on August 20, 1990. Following Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait, the 415th TFS ‘Nightstalkers’ was ordered to deploy to King Khalid Air Base near Khamis Mushayt, Saudi Arabia, via Langley AFB, Virginia. An unprecedented 18 F-117s completed the move to Saudi Arabia in just 15 hours. King Khalid was well beyond Iraqi ‘Scud-B’ missile range, but the flying distance to Baghdad would necessitate three aerial refuelings per sortie, and a typical mission would last more than five hours.
The Iraqi IADS was sophisticated and its destruction was vital in order to disable Saddam Hussein’s centrally controlled system. In excess of 400 observation posts were used to send basic heading and altitude data to a command post. This data was supplemented by 73 radar-reporting stations, feeding into 17 intercept operation centers (IOCs). Four sector operations centers controlled the IOCs, and from these three-storey, reinforced concrete hubs the defense of Iraq could be orchestrated. The defensive network was systematically dismembered by the F-117s from the outset. Key early warning radars and communications links were then dealt with by other, non-stealthy assets.
On December 4, 1990, the ‘Ghost Riders’ also deployed to Khamis. At 00.22hrs on January 17, 1991, the first of three waves of F-117s got airborne to deliver the opening salvos of Operation ‘Desert Storm’, an air campaign that would not only validate the success of the aircraft and of stealth technology, but would change the shape of air combat forever.
During the next 43 nights, 41 F-117s flew 1,247 sorties in 6,905 flight hours over the most highly defended targets in Iraq, achieving bombing results never before recorded. It all happened without the loss of, or damage to, a single jet.
The move to Holloman
With the F-117’s incredible capabilities having now been demonstrated to the world, the aircraft took another tentative step out of the shadows when it was decided to relocate the fleet from Tonopah to Holloman AFB, New Mexico. Consequently, on July 8, 1992, the now 37th Fighter Wing (FW) formally disbanded and its assets were transferred to the 49th FW. The move to Holloman eradicated the need for Key Airlines to shuttle more than 2,500 personnel on 75 weekly flights to and from their place of work, saving millions of dollars per year. It also enabled the F-117 force to be fully plugged in to operational planning, as well as allowing its participation in a number of exercises.
On August 4, 1992, a Holloman-based F-117A was lost in an accident for the first time. The pilot ejected safely after aircraft 82-0801 entered an uncommanded roll and caught fire. A crash investigation identified the cause as an improperly reinstalled bleed air duct, which led to a hydraulic line malfunction to the flight controls and a fire.
Another unit redesignation in July 1993 saw the 415th and 416th Fighter Squadrons becoming the 9th FS ‘Flying Knights’ and 8th FS ‘Black Sheep’ respectively, followed in December by the 417th becoming the 7th FS ‘Screamin’ Demons’.
Another Nighthawk from Holloman was lost on May 10, 1995. Unfortunately the pilot of 86-0822 was killed and the subsequent investigation concluded that pilot disorientation seemed, yet again, to be the most likely cause.
Trouble in the Balkans
The end of the Cold War triggered the collapse of European communism and the subsequent break-up of Yugoslavia. A series of bloody wars in the region ensued in 1991 as states sought independence from Belgrade. Despite several UN resolutions and a UN Protection Force (UNPROFOR), sent to provide humanitarian assistance, the Serbs continued to gain ground. This eventually forced UNPROFOR to withdraw and NATO to launch Operation ‘Deliberate Force’ on August 30, 1995. A series of precision air strikes over 20 days against selected targets in Serbheld areas led to the so-called Dayton Accord, which was signed in Paris on December 14, 1995.
Alas, in 1998, hostilities erupted in Kosovo and on January 30, 1999, NATO stated it would take whatever steps were necessary — including air strikes — to compel Serbian compliance with UN Security Resolution 1199. As NATO assets were built up in the area, the 8th FS deployed 12 F-117s to Aviano, Italy. When peace talks failed, the NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR), Gen Wesley Clark, was ordered to initiate air strikes against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, signaling the beginning of Operations ‘Allied Force’ and ‘Noble Anvil’.
These attacks began on March 24, 1999. However, significant political interference in the way the air campaign was fought, coupled with a series of electronic countermeasures shortfalls brought about by defense cuts, had dire consequences for the F-117.
Lt Col Zoltan Dani was commander of Serbia’s 3rd Battalion, 250th Air Defense Missile Brigade, equipped with S-125 Neva-M (SA-3 ‘Goa’) SAMs. The redeployable system consisted of a P-18 ‘Spoon Rest-D’ early warning radar, utilizing frequencies in the VHF A-band range of around 150MHz. This radar was used to initially locate a target in azimuth and range only. Once acquired, the target was handed over to operators of the ‘Low Blow’ missile guidance radar system using the I-band frequency range. ‘Low Blow’ then began its own target acquisition, resolving azimuth, range, elevation and velocity based upon details supplied by ‘Spoon Rest’. Once acquired, ‘Low Blow’ was set to tracking mode, and at this point the system was ready to launch a missile. Having been fired, the missiles used guidance commands transmitted via radio datalink.
Aware of the looming conflict, Dani knew his unit would be targeted by allied F-16s and Tornados operating in the SEAD role. He therefore trained it rigorously, achieving a 90-minute total equipment breakdown in readiness to move off to another location. Mobility would be his key to survival. For additional insurance against Highspeed Anti-Radiation Missile (HARM) attacks, he insisted that his unit restrict operation of its high-frequency ‘Low Blow’ radar for a maximum 20-second burst before shutting down.
On March 24, 1999, Dani received orders to move his battalion from Jakovo and deploy to an area near Šimanovci, west of Belgrade, where it would await further instructions. Three days later, on March 27, the unit was ordered to go to alert status. It was allocated four frequencies for the P-18 radar, to prevent potential interference with other P-18 sites.
Meanwhile, Lt Col Dale Zelko of the 8th FS got airborne from Aviano in F-117 serial 82-0806, callsign ‘Vega 31’. Part of an eight-ship first-strike package, he was targeted to hit a well-defended air defense node in the southern suburbs of Belgrade. The weather was reported as being ‘challenging’, forcing the cancellation of other support/strike aircraft which — critically — included HARM-toting F-16s and Tornados. It’s also understood that EA-6B Prowlers, scheduled to provide an electronic countermeasures cloak, were repositioned to cover a later B-2 Spirit strike.
Seated in front of the P-18’s radar display, Dani received notification that aircraft were in the air. He ordered the P-18 to be activated, instructing his technicians to use the lowest of the four allocated VHF frequencies. Almost immediately the battery acquired four targets between 25-30km away. It was clear from the return characteristics that they were stealth aircraft. Soon, one of the targets entered the missile system’s engagement zone and Dani ordered its acquisition with ‘Low Blow’. Tracking manually, the operators initially caught sporadic glimpses of the return, before finally gaining a steady lock on the target. During this time Dani decided to transgress his self-imposed 20-second shut-down rule, since there were no non-stealthy returns in the area, thereby ruling out the possibility of a HARM attack. At 20.40hrs local time, ‘Vega 31’ had its bomb bay doors open (creating a large corner radar reflector) and was on its target run. An all-stations warning transmission from an E-3 AWACS advising ‘Firefly-three, Fireflythree’ — activation of an SA-3 site in Zelko’s vicinity — was made. The Nighthawk fleet was not equipped with radar warning and homing (RWAH) equipment. Now, seconds away from release, Zelko concentrated on tracking the target through the downwardlooking infra-red (DLIR). Once his GBU-27 had hit its target, he snapped 806’s bomb bay doors shut and went into a hard, pre-planned left turn.
In the turn, the F-117’s angular speed dramatically increased from Dani’s perspective, adding further complexity to the intercept solution. But with the ‘Low Blow’ tracking radar engaged, Dani gave the order to fire a salvo of two V-601P missiles in a three-to-fivesecond interval.
Zelko recalls visually tracking two missiles as they blasted through the thin veil of cloud beneath. The first missile (the second to be fired), failed to lock on to the ‘Low Blow’ datalink and went into a ballistic trajectory, passing over the aircraft so close that its shockwave buffeted the Nighthawk. Re-acquiring the second missile, which was guiding, Zelko could see it was going to hit. Sure enough, the impact blew most of the port wing off, slamming the aircraft into a roll to the left and a -7g tuck. Zelko managed to eject, and just 1.8 seconds later he was hanging beneath a fully deployed parachute. Landing in a field near the village of Buctanovci, close to a busy road, Zelko’s luck held. After some four hours on the ground he was plucked to safety by a USAF rescue team consisting of two MH-53s and an MH-60. The popular press carped that the Nighthawk was no longer ‘invisible’, but neither the ‘Skunk Works’ nor the USAF ever claimed that it was. The F-117 was a highly effective, first-generation VLO platform.
On April 3, 1999, 13 F-117s from the 9th FS became involved in ‘Noble Anvil’ and deployed to Spangdahlem AB, Germany. It has recently come to light that an F-117 (possibly 82-0818) was damaged in another attack either by an SA-3 or anti-aircraft fire, sometime between April 4-9. The damage was such that it’s believed to have required the pilot to divert. However, the incident remains classified.
‘Noble Anvil’ was brought to a successful conclusion and hostilities ended on June 10, 1999. During the 80 days of combat, F-117s completed 760 operational sorties. Yugoslav forces agreed to withdraw from Kosovo to make way for an international peacekeeping presence.
’Iraqi Freedom’ and ‘Enduring Freedom’
As Saddam Hussein continued to play cat-and-mouse games with UN weapons inspectors throughout the late 1990s, two F-117 deployments demonstrated US resolve. Then, citing intelligence information that would later prove highly controversial, it was claimed that Iraq had stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction (WMD). In 2002, the United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 1441, and — after yet more prevarication — allied patience with the Iraqi dictator came to an end. The stated political goal of Operation ‘Iraqi Freedom’ was the removal of Saddam Hussein’s regime and to destroy its ability to use WMD or make them available to terrorists.
On the evening of March 19, 2003, an intelligence report was received at short notice stating that Saddam Hussein and other top regime leaders would be staying overnight at the Dora Farms bunker complex south-west of Baghdad. The J-2 intelligence cell within the Combined Air Operations Center (CAOC) at Prince Sultan AB, Saudi Arabia, provided target information, including GPS co-ordinates. It directed that two F-117s of the 8th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron — under the 379th Air Expeditionary Wing, based at Al Udeid, Qatar — should be made ready for the strike and that each aircraft should be equipped with two EGBU-27 ‘bunkerbusters’. These 2,000lb weapons featured a GPS/INS guidance system, enabling them to be dropped accurately through cloud cover without the pilot having to visually acquire and lase the target. But the weapons were very new to the F-117 and had never been tested before in combat — indeed, they’d only arrived at Al Udeid a mere 24 hours earlier.
Just two hours after receiving the intelligence report, an execution order arrived. A pair of ‘One-Seventeens’, flown by 8th FS commander Lt Col Dave Toomey and Maj Mark Hoehn, were airborne at 03.38hrs local time. Near Kuwait City, they rendezvoused with a KC-135 and topped up their tanks. They were joined by three US Navy EA-6B Prowlers to provide support and two HARM-equipped F-16CJs. Clearing the tanker, the two Nighthawks split up, taking different routes to their common target. Just 13 minutes after dawn broke over Baghdad, at 05.30hrs, each of the F-117s released two EGBU-27s through the early morning cloud, catching Iraqi air defenses completely off-guard. Post-strike reconnaissance revealed that the four bombs slammed into the underground bunker — situated beneath a field — just 50ft apart in a square pattern, leaving much of the earth above undisturbed. The bombs had worked as advertised and the two pilots each received a Distinguished Flying Cross for an outstanding mission executed with minimal lead times. Unfortunately for them, the weapon’s intended target wasn’t in residence…
On April 6, 2003, just 18 days after the start of ‘Iraqi Freedom’, the coalition leadership was able to declare complete air supremacy over all Iraq. Ten days later, the first humanitarian relief flight landed at Bashur air base. This action would prove to be the Nighthawk’s final combat operation. In total, 82 missions had been completed, and the EGBU-27 had become the weapon of choice, 98 examples being dropped. It was undoubtedly a highly successful swansong, but the platform wasn’t used in the 2003 Iraq campaign to the same extent as had been the case in previous operations, reflecting the number of other stand-off weapon system options now available to planners. A swift end…
The legendary achievements of Lockheed’s F-117 ensure that the aircraft’s place in military aeronautical history is secure. But the relentless development and application of more complex computer modeling and other technologies surpassed those used in the facet-based stealth technology of the 1970s. Additionally, the changing political climate and ongoing defense spending cuts inevitably ensnared the F-117.
The USAF originally planned to retire the F-117 in 2011, but the platform was maintenance-intensive. In Program Budget Decision 720, dated December 28, 2005, it was proposed that retirement of the entire F-117 fleet should be brought forward to October 2008, thereby enabling the purchase of additional F-22 Raptors to fill the void. The plan envisaged a two-phase drawdown, with 10 aircraft being retired during FY 2007 and the remaining 42 in FY 2008. It cited the presence of more capable low-observable assets in the inventory, which possessed an enhanced precision penetrating weapons capability, such as the B-2, F-22 and the AGM-158 Joint Air-to-Surface Stand-off Missile (JASSM). Implementation of the plan would save an estimated $1.07 billion.
Decommissioning of the first operational aircraft began on March 13, 2007, and the final wave was retired in a ceremony at the ‘Skunk Works’ on April 22, 2008. The F-117 formal training unit (FTU), the 7th FS, was deactivated on December 31, 2006, and 10 Nighthawks were grounded while their bed-down base was being prepared. Unlike most other US military aircraft, the F-117s wouldn’t be going to the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group (AMARG) at Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona. Instead, due to many aspects of the aircraft still remaining classified, they would be retired to their original home at Tonopah.
Four F-117s remained with the 410th Flight Test Squadron at Palmdale for flight test purposes, but by the beginning of August 2008 just two remained. The last F-117 to leave was 86-0831, which duly flew to Tonopah on August 11. This marked the offcial end of Nighthawk operations.
On arrival at Tonopah, the aircraft had their wings removed and were placed at the back of their original, climate-controlled hangars. The F-117s were offcially being kept in Type 1000 storage, indicating that they were maintained in a status from which they could be recalled to active service, should the need arise. This level of care clearly paid dividends, as four F-117s were reactivated as early as 2010, an online video of a low-flying Nighthawk proving the type’s continued use. They have remained active ever since, engaged in a highly classified test program on the Nevada Test and Training Range (NTTR), which is believed to involve establishing baseline radar data in the continued development of new radar-absorbent materials. Such conjecture, however, remains highly speculative. Even so, the fleeting glimpses of F-117s in action to this day have been tantalizing for the ranks of Nighthawk fans.
The author wishes to thank Gabor Zord for his assistance with details relating to the shoot down of ‘Vega 31’.
