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LOS ANGELES - Less than two decades after the world first got a look at the F-117 stealth fighter, the first aircraft built specifically to elude radar is scheduled for retirement by the Air Force - and some wonder whether the plane's mothballing is a bit premature. Now part of Lockheed Martin Corp. and based in Palmdale, Lockheed Advanced Development Projects - also known as the "Skunk Works" - was awarded the F-117 contract in 1973 when the group was based in Burbank. One reason for shelving the plane that played a key role in the first Iraqi war is...

Stealth jet quietly slips into history F-117A fighter retired after 25 years Cutting-edge design cloaked in mystery Nov. 2, 2006. 12:54 PM BILL TAYLOR FEATURE WRITER Almost as furtively as it flew above war zones from Bosnia to Baghdad, America's F-117A Nighthawk stealth fighter has retired from active duty. The years had snuck up on it. Though it remained cutting-edge contemporary in many people's minds, the Nighthawk had hit the quarter-century mark. At a discreet "Silver Stealth" ceremony at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico this week, some of the people who built, serviced and flew the plane marked...

PALMDALE - Command of Air Force Plant 42 passed to a new leader Wednesday, as Lt. Col. Ronald Ortiz ended his three-year tenure and Lt. Col. Ronald Hirtle took over. The morning ceremony took place outside a hangar, against a backdrop of aircraft that claim Air Force Plant 42 as their birthplace: F-117 stealth fighter, B-2 stealth bomber, U-2 and the experimental X-37 spacecraft demonstrator. "If you look around at these airplanes, they speak for themselves. This is where the cutting edge of the Air Force is born," said Col. James A. Godsey , deputy director of the Engineering Directorate,...

Air Force Slates F-117 And B-52 For Cuts F-22 Raptors The Air Force wants to retire the entire F-117 stealth fighter fleet by 2008 and cut the fleet of B-52 bombers in half, but increase the buy of its cherished F-22 fighter from 179 to 183 aircraft. Program Budget Decision 720, the "Air Force Transformation Flight Plan," outlines the service's plan to save more than $21 billion between 2007 and 2011 and direct that money into programs that make the Air Force a "more lethal, more agile, streamlined force with an increased emphasis on the warfighter."

EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. (AFPN) -- With the American flag emblazoned on its underbelly, the F-117 Nighthawk with tail number 782 flies past spectators at the 2005 Edwards Open House and Air Show. About 120,000 people attended the event Oct. 22. This stealth fighter, the oldest of five prototypes, was hand made before full production of the aircraft started. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Jet Fabara) Full Story

ACCORDING TO MEDIA reports, the Defense Department is considering canceling two supersonic jet fighters that are on the Pentagon's drawing board: the Air Force's F/A-22 Raptor and the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. There is no doubt that even with the defense budget at historical highs, the Pentagon cannot afford the $1.5 trillion worth of weapons that the military services would like to purchase. However, although the Defense Department is correct in trying to slash the F/A-22, it is dead wrong in trying to save money by canceling the Joint Strike Fighter. The F/A-22 Raptor is the most unnecessary weapon system...

Vice-president Dick Cheney stepped up America's war of words with North Korea yesterday by calling it a police state run by an irresponsible leader indifferent to the fate of his malnourished people.His words came just 48 hours after the Pentagon announced that it was sending 15 F-117A Nighthawk stealth fighter-bombers to South Korea, a US ally, for an undetermined period. The aircraft crews, trained to seek out targets with precision weapons, needed to familiarise themselves with the Korean terrain, the air force said. Speaking to CNN in an interview broadcast last night, Mr Cheney described North Korea's leader, Kim Jong...

Holloman Again Sends Stealths To South Korea POSTED: 8:26 am MDT May 24, 2005 UPDATED: 8:44 am MDT May 24, 2005ALAMOGORDO, N.M. -- Fifteen F-117A Nighthawk stealth fighters are leaving Holloman Air Force Base this week for South Korea. The 49th Fighter Wing announced the deployment of about 250 airmen and the stealths Monday. About 24 stealths and 300 airmen were deployed from Holloman to Kunsan Air Base in South Korea last summer. Officials wouldn't disclose where in South Korea the new deployment would be going. The deployment comes as North Korea threatens a nuclear weapons test. The White House...

PASADENA - The Rose Parade float that almost wasn't came through in fine fashion Saturday, not only representing the Antelope Valley as it made its way down the famed Colorado Boulevard parade route, but by also grabbing the Princess Trophy for most beautiful small float, under 35 feet. Float organizers speculated that perhaps it had something to do with the luck and charisma of a few of its riders who had already won a coveted prize in their own field: aerospace designer Burt Rutan and pilot-astronauts Michael Melvill and Brian Binnie of SpaceShipOne fame. "We're just ecstatic," said Mary Rainwater,...

PALMDALE - Leaders of an Antelope Valley Float Association booster committee that is working to get a Valley aerospace-themed float into the Tournament of Roses Parade say they have reorganized the group and that a controversial committee officer has left the project. Mary Rainwater, president of the Float Association, and Bill Graham, a real estate sales agent, said Wednesday that the group's former vice president is no longer affiliated with the effort. Sandy Douglass has "absolutely no participation," Rainwater said. Antelope Valley Press reports disclosed Douglass had a number of criminal convictions for offenses that involved bad checks and other...

Yesterday there was mention that several US Air Force Stealth Aircraft were going to overfly the Rose Bowl. Today I searched for photos of this event, finding several. HOWEVER, in my humble opinion (grin ;-) I think the below photo is the best of the few I found of the stealth overfly event. Please visit Yahoo!News - Sports Photos - AP to freep/vote for this photo to number one status ... Yahoo login required though :-( Stealth fighters and a bomber fly over the stadium during opening ceremonies at the start of the Michigan-USC showdown in the 90th Rose Bowl...

They are among the most recognizable aircraft in the world: U-2, SR-71 Blackbird, B-2 stealth bomber and F-117 stealth fighter. But in the beginning, few outside the cloistered world of their development knew of their existence. There were rumors of strange black shapes in the skies over Area 51 in Nevada's desert. But not even the families of those who designed, built and flew these top-secret machines knew what was really taking shape. Now, many of the tales of those "black world" airplanes can be told. Six pilots from those programs shared their stories recently at the Society of Experimental...

PALMDALE - Travelers hurrying down Sierra Highway may have noticed the return of a familiar and friendly presence - the mischievous skunk of Lockheed Martin's famed black project workshop, the Skunk Works. He bears a nodding resemblance to the Warner Bros. cartoon character, Pepe LePew, and for decades he couldn't even come out in public. It would be a national security breach to identify yourself as an employee of the Skunk Works. With the Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co. officially observing the 60th anniversary of the famed hot project shop inaugurated by Clarence "Kelly" Johnson, the skunk emblem is back up...

GOTTA SEE THIS - War for Enduring Freedom 03/20/03 - First Blood, Baghdad, Kuwait, USS Kitty Hawk, F-117 BREAKING: Tomahawks launched BREAKING: Baghdad - smoke over al-Rasheed military facility BREAKING: Kuwait - Incoming missile attack BREAKING: Heroes everywhere return from sorties. =========== USS Bunker Hill delivers justice =========== A Tomahawk 'Land Attack Missile' (TLAM) leaves the USS Bunker Hill and other US assets. In Kuwait, heroes of the British Royal Air Force about to deliver justice. ========= Baghdad ========= In Baghdad, smoke rises from an explosion over the al-Rasheed military facility south east of Baghdad. In Baghdad, one of Saddam's...

Stealth fighters sent to SKorea By Shane GreenTokyo March 13 2003 The United States will boost its arsenal on the Korean peninsula with at least six stealth F-117A fighters, although Washington denies the deployment is part of an action designed to deter North Korean aggression. US officials maintain that the fighters will arrive in South Korea to take part in military exercises with South Korean forces. Described by the US as a "routine" deployment, the radar-avoiding fighters will be based at the Kun San air base in South Korea, taking part in the US-South Korean "Foal Eagle" exercises that end on...

HOLLOMAN AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. – The Air Force has grounded a fighter pilot who accidentally dropped three dummy bombs, including one that fell on a house. The pilot did not know his F-117A stealth fighter was carrying the 25-pound practice bombs as he targeted trash bins and other structures during a training exercise Tuesday, the pilot's wing commander said yesterday. "This is not the way we do business, and we're very disappointed it happened," Brig. Gen. Marc Rogers said. The pilot, whose name was not released, dropped the bombs on a home in Monahans, Texas, and near roads in...

04/03/02 - EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. (AFPN) -- With its low-observable stealth technology, the F-117 Nighthawk has proven its ability to fly deep into enemy territory and unleash an array of weapons with pinpoint accuracy. In an effort to improve the combat effectiveness of the stealth fighter, test experts from the F-117 Combined Test Force at Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, Calif., are working to expand what it brings to the fight. On April 2, developmental test experts in Palmdale teamed up with their operational counterparts from Holloman Air Force Base, N.M., to complete the second phase of...