[FightThePower!]

I wondered why they did not bomb the stealth fighter that was shot down a few years ago.

[SJSAMPLE]

The F117 in Bosnia broke apart in the air.
Nothing big enough left to bomb.

[StormEye]

"I wondered why they did not bomb the stealth fighter that was shot down a few years ago."

Because the Clinton Regime wanted that technology to go to America's enemies. They owed the Chi-Comms for the illegal campaign money they received from them. Giving them the remains of the shot down stealth fighter was their way of paying it back -- some of it anyway. Well, that's my opinion about it.

[tanknetter]

I wondered why they did not bomb the stealth fighter that was shot down a few years ago.

Recall that the F-117 was the parts of LOTS of other legacy planes (F-15, F/A-18) cobbled together into a faceted airframe with anti-radar coatings. The primary mission of which was to attack targets with laser-guided bombs while remaining as unseen as possible to radar. The F-117 lacked its own radar and electronic countermeasures capabilities.

The truly important stuff from the F-117, the anti-radar coatings, would still be salvageable after a bombing. The coatings would just be in smaller pieces.

The F-15Es, on the other hand, have a LOT of modern-day bells/whistles that bombing can take destroy well past the point of reverse-engineering. Advance targeting radar (possible AESA? Can't recall whether the Lakenheath E's have that yet), terrain-following radar, ECM, cockpit displays, etc. Not to mention the missiles (AMRAAMs and AIM-9s, possibly the X variant) it was carrying as well.