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F-117 Stealth Fighter


Nice photo series... Cool
Yet.. As much as I love our aerospace technology, one thing that always struck me funny was the Nighthawk's "F" designation (fighter), when all I've ever heard about is its successful bombing campaigns.
I'd hate to see this jet actually engage any other modern fighter jet that could see it.. Surviving that would earn its "F" designation; meanwhile, I don't think it could outmaneuver my cat.
That's fine, except we still had to shell out billions more for the actual "B" (B = Bomber) stealth jet, the B2 Spirit, which isn't supposed to maneuver at all.
But whatever, it's just taxpayer dollars, right?
Methinks they're both bombers, but our gov't was too weak paranoid corrupt to deny one large war-mongering corporation (Northrop-Grumman) a contract in favor of another (Lockheed-Martin), and unable to get two "bombers" in the budget, they simply passed this off as a "fighter".
Link: RIAT 2002 F117 display
via
*edit 5/1/08 - The F-117 is retiring. I learned about it in this thread, and I agree it's early for any military aircraft; the old carriers still launch planes older than me.
It was a subsonic bomber with a tiny payload with one mission (suppression of air defenses), that it could perform only at night. Everything the F-117 could do, could be done better and cheaper with Tomahawk missiles and GPS-guided munitions, and none of the F-117 technology was used in future iterations of stealth designs (the B-2, the F-22, etc).

From

From a reply on Digg, where I posted pretty much the same thing..
>One thing that always struck me funny was the Nighthawk's "F" designation (fighter),
> when all I've ever heard about is its successful bombing campaigns. Yes, well, it's pretty hard to sell a "bomber" than can only drop a singe 1000lb bomb to the folks who have to flip the "buy" switch and then explain it to their constituents. I'd hate to see this jet actually engage any other modern fighter jet that could see it.. Oh, it's maneuverable, alright... in the sense that it is inherently unstable around all it's axies. Surviving that would earn its "F" designation. Here's a hypothetical: What's the difference between an aircraft that kills an opposing aircraft by being invisible to airborne radar and lighting off a few air-to-air missiles and an aircraft that kills an opponent by gunning down the opposing aircraft by putting it squarely in its gun sights? Answer: nothing. (a kill is a kill... doesn't matter how you get there) Now, here's the non-hypothetical modifier to the above question: one of those situations almost *NEVER* happens these days. Now... time for a little history check: when was the last non-radar assisted dog fight that happened at night (not twilight or dawn, but in the dead of night)? Has there even been a jet to jet, non-radar assisted night-time dog fight? It is quite possible the limits of human sensory perception preclude any such thing from happening. The thing I'd be interested to know (and the thing the defense department will probably never reveal) is how many air to air engagements that F117 has had/won. That's fine, except we still had to shell out billions more for the actual "B" (B = Bomber) High capacity stealth bombers are so cold war... B52s should be extended until we finally get nukes (and other ordinance) in orbit and shift the emphasis of the "Air" Force towards complete and total space superiority (including low earth orbit).