Posted on 10/08/2021 8:21:25 PM PDT by blam
For the last year, we’ve noted a series of reports (read: here & here) of (supposedly retired) Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk stealth attack aircraft conducting combat training missions over the skies of California.
The latest sighting of the world’s first stealth aircraft, which first debuted in the early 1980s and retired in 2008, after the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor stealth fighter aircraft was first fielded, was in mid-September at the Fresno Air National Guard Base, California.
The US Air Force released a statement at the time stating “two F-117 Nighthawk aircraft” would be conducting “air combat training missions.”
This is the first time that F-117s have landed in Fresno. Their presence immediately received attention from aviation geeks who captured the planes operating in Fresno in never before seen 4k resolution video, according to The Aviationist.
The Pentagon appears to be bringing some of these legacy stealth aircraft back to active duty as tensions between the US and China continue to soar with Taiwan in focus.
Four decommissioned F-117s were secretly deployed to the Middle East in 2017 to launch surgical strikes. The reason for the deployment was simple; Russia and Syria had shut down Syrian airspace by mid-2016. The U.S.-led coalition was unwilling to lose a fifth-generation aircraft to Russia’s S-400 missile systems in Syria.
As of January 2021, there were 48 F-117s in Type 1000 storage, meaning the planes could swiftly return to active service.
I understand the concept of risk management.
Are they admitting something here about the 5th gen fighters or the s-400 sysrems, or both?
Who
Cares? Vaxed queers flying around. If they took their oaths seriously things would be different now.
It could be that the Chinese and Russians have been focusing their efforts on detecting the F-22 and/or F-35 and here we bring back the one stealth aircraft they have no experience with and thought we got rid of.
The F-117 looks stealthy-er like the B-2 than the F-22 or 35.
I’ve been hearing planes overhead almost everyday during daylight. Can’t see them . . .but the sound is eerie . . . like before the Iraq war.
Gearing up for China?
As I recall, these aircraft were very hard to detect with modern radars but they showed up like a sore thumb on some older Soviet systems - different bands used.
Oh, yes. The Red Chinese may have modernized all their systems and thrown away the old ones. They might be hosed when it comes to the Nighthawks.
It looks that way because of the limited computer power we had designing it back in the 1970s.
I would imagine however they improved some of the coatings on it, and the electronic systems are probably upgraded now.
“Gearing up for China?”
No ... probably for the “Unvaxed”. Wouldn’t put anything past this “gov’t”.
China already has boots on the ground . . . we just can’t see them.
No smart country throws away their older defense systems! Notice that I said “smart” countries.
Normally working systems are “mothballed” for future emergency use and even updating.
Do we actually have some one in our military commands who is that far sighted?
Scratch Gen. Silly Manilli, the whole Dept of the Queens Navy including Kirby, much of the Marine Corps leaderless-ship, etc.
“we just can’t see them.”
The whole BiXiden Crime fam seem to be quite visible...
Biden administration probably going to give them to Somalia.
You definitely have a point!
“Stunning video shows ...”
(Story doesn’t include link to video, nor do the comments).
Someone around here own stock in “Zubu Brothers”?!? (Pretty much all re-posts of other sites’ content). Is Zero Hedge a “no-no” on FR now? Will have to check the FR copyright page again I guess.
Original story: https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/stunning-video-show-supposedly-retired-f-117-nighthawk-stealth-action
Local Fresno (FR HQ) take:
https://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/article254278138.html
No radar in the world including our most advanced AEGIS, etc, can both reliably detect and target the U.S. stealth fighters and bombers. A spurious detection is of little use when targeting radars can’t get a lock on. Occasionally they might get a lucky shot (when the f117 flies the exact same track night after night — but we won’t do that again!!!).
School parents more likely.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.