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Combat aircraftRetired
Stealth attack aircraft
Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk is a stealth attack aircraft originating in United States. It was built by Lockheed Corporation. Reported operators include United States Air Force.
United StatesLockheed F-117 Nighthawk
Staff Sgt. Aaron Allmon II · Public domain · Resized · Public domain · Source ↗ · ModifiedTechnical data
Stealth attack aircraft
United States
Lockheed Corporation
Retired from combat in 2008, used as training aircraft as of 2025
United States Air Force
64 (5 YF-117As, 59 F-117As)
1981–1990
October 1983 ( 1983-10 )
18 June 1981 ( 1981-06-18 )
1
65 ft 11 in (20.09 m)
43 ft 4 in (13.21 m)
12 ft 5 in (3.78 m)
780 sq ft (72 m 2 )
Lozenge section, three flats Upper, two flats Lower
29,500 lb (13,381 kg)
52,500 lb (23,814 kg)
2 × General Electric F404-F1D2 turbofan engines, 9,040 lbf (40.2 kN) thrust each
594 kn (684 mph, 1,100 km/h)
930 nmi (1,070 mi, 1,720 km)
45,000 ft (14,000 m)
67.3 lb/sq ft (329 kg/m 2 ) calculated from
0.40
GBU-10 Paveway II laser-guided bomb with 2,000 lb (910 kg) Mk84 blast/fragmentation or BLU-109 or BLU-116 Penetrator warhead GBU-12 Paveway II laser-guided bomb with 500 lb (230 kg) Mk82 blast/fragmentation warhead GBU-27 Paveway III laser-guided bomb with 2,000 lb (910 kg) Mk84 blast-fragmentation or BLU-109 or BLU-116 Penetrator warhead GBU-31 JDAM INS / GPS guided munition with 2,000 lb (910 kg) Mk84 blast-frag or BLU-109 Penetrator warhead B61 nuclear bomb
2 × internal weapons bays with one hardpoint each (total of two weapons) equipped to carry:
The Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk is a retired American single-seat, subsonic, twin-engined stealth attack aircraft developed by Lockheed 's Skunk Works division and operated by the United States Air Force (USAF).
The aircraft's faceted shape (made from flat surfaces) heavily contributes to its relatively low radar cross-section of about 0.001 m 2 (0.0108 sq ft). To minimize its infrared signature , its non-circular tail pipe mixes hot exhaust with cool ambient air and lacks afterburners ; it is also restricted to subsonic speeds, as breaking the sound barrier would produce an obvious sonic boom that would increase its acoustic and infrared footprints. While commonly referred to as the "Stealth Fighter", the aircraft was designed and employed as a dedicated attack aircraft ; its performance in air combat maneuvering was less than that of most contemporary fighters. The F-117 has integrated digital navigation and attack systems, with targeting via a thermal imaging infrared system and a laser rangefinder / laser designator . It is aerodynamically unstable in all three aircraft principal axes , thus requiring constant flight corrections via a fly-by-wire flight system to maintain controlled flight.
Even in the years after it entered service, the F-117 was a black project . Its existence was denied by USAF officials until 10 November 1988, when the aircraft was first publicly acknowledged. Its first combat mission was flown during the U.S. invasion of Panama in 1989. The last of the 59 production F-117s was delivered on 3 July 1990. The F-117 gained note in the Gulf War of 1991, during which it flew about 1,300 sorties and struck what the US military described as 1,600 high-value targets in Iraq. F-117s also participated in the conflict in Yugoslavia , during which one was shot down by a surface-to-air missile in 1999. It was also active during Operation Enduring Freedom in 2001 and Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003. The USAF retired the F-117 in 2008, primarily because the F-22 Raptor had entered service, but has kept some aircraft in flying condition for research and development, testing, and training.
The aircraft is air refuelable and features a V-tail . The maximum speed is 623 mph (1,003 km/h; 541 kn) at high altitude, the maximum rate of climb is 2,820 feet (860 m) per minute, and the service ceiling is 43,000 to 45,000 feet (13,000 to 14,000 m). The cockpit was quite spacious, with ergonomic displays and controls, but the field of view was somewhat obstructed with a large blind spot to the rear.
The aircraft is equipped with sophisticated navigation and attack systems integrated into a digital avionics suite. It navigates primarily by GPS and high-accuracy inertial navigation . Missions are coordinated by an automated planning system that can automatically perform all aspects of an attack mission, including weapons release. Targets are acquired by a thermal imaging , infrared system, paired with a laser rangefinder / laser designator that finds the range and designates targets for laser-guided bombs . The F-117's split internal bay can carry 5,000 pounds (2,300 kg) of ordnance. Typical weapons are a pair of GBU-10 , GBU-12 , or GBU-27 laser-guided bombs, two BLU-109 penetration bombs, or, after 2006, two Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAM) GPS/INS-guided stand-off bombs.
The F-117 has an RCS around 0.001 m 2 (0.0108 sq ft). Among the penalties for stealth are subsonic speeds to prevent frame heating, heat on the engine inlet and outlet prevent certain thrusting maneuvers, a very low wing aspect ratio , and a high sweep angle (50°), needed to deflect incoming radar waves to the sides. With these design considerations and no afterburner , the F-117 is limited to subsonic speeds. Additionally, to maintain its low observability, the F-117 was not equipped with radar; not only would an active radar be detectable through its emissions, but also an inactive radar antenna would also act as a reflector of radar energy. Whether it carries any radar detection equipment remained classified as of 2008.
Its faceted shape (made from two-dimensional flat surfaces) resulted from the limitations of the 1970s-era computer technology used to calculate its RCS. Later supercomputers made subsequent aircraft like the B-2 bomber made using curved surfaces while maintaining stealth possible, through the use of far more computational resources to perform the additional calculations. The F-117 was covered by almost one ton of radio-wave absorbing materials, manufactured as flat sheets. The sheets were held in place by glue, with the gaps between filled by a kind of putty material called "butter".
The F-117 reached initial operating capability status in 1983. The Nighthawk's pilots called themselves "Bandits". Each of the 558 Air Force pilots who have flown the F-117 has a Bandit number, such as "Bandit 52", that indicates the sequential order of their first flight in the F-117. Pilots told friends and families that they flew the Northrop F-5 in aggressor squadrons against Tactical Air Command.
The aircraft was operated in secret from Tonopah for almost a decade; after the Gulf War, all aircraft moved to Holloman in 1992, but its integration with the USAF's nonstealth "iron jets" occurred slowly. As one senior F-117 pilot later said: "Because of ongoing secrecy, others continued to see the aircraft as 'none of their business, a stand-alone system'." The F-117 and members of the 49th Fighter Wing were deployed to Southwest Asia on multiple occasions. On their first deployment, with the aid of aerial refueling, pilots flew nonstop from Holloman to Kuwait, around an 18.5-hour flight.
One F-117 (AF ser. no. 82-0806) was lost to enemy action. It was downed during an Operation Allied Force mission against the Army of Yugoslavia on 27 March 1999. The aircraft was shot down at a distance of 8.1 mi (13 km) and an altitude of 26,000 ft (8 km). SA-3s were then launched by a Yugoslav version of the Soviet Isayev S-125 "Neva" (NATO name SA-3 "Goa") antiaircraft missile system. The launcher was run by the 3rd Battalion of the 250th Air Defence Missile Brigade under the command of Colonel Zoltán Dani . After the explosion, the aircraft became uncontrollable, forcing the pilot to eject. The pilot was recovered six hours later by a USAF pararescue team. The stealth technology from the downed F-117 has reportedly been studied by Russia, and possibly China. The U.S. did not attempt to destroy the wreckage; senior Pentagon officials claimed that its technology was already dated and no longer important to protect.
The loss of an F-117 in Serbia caused the USAF to create a subsection of its existing weapons school to improve tactics. More training was done with other units, and the F-117 began to participate in Red Flag exercises . Though advanced for its time, the F-117's stealthy faceted airframe required a large amount of maintenance and was eventually superseded by streamlined shapes produced with computer-aided design . Other weapons systems began to take on the F-117's roles, such as the F-22 Raptor gaining the ability to drop guided bombs. By 2005, the aircraft was used only for certain missions, such as if a pilot needed to verify that the correct target had been hit, or when minimal collateral damage was vital.
The USAF had once planned to retire the F-117 in 2011, but Program Budget Decision 720 (PBD 720), dated 28 December 2005, proposed retiring it by October 2008 to free up an estimated $1.07 billion to buy more F-22s. PBD 720 called for 10 F-117s to be retired in FY2007 and the remaining 42 in FY2008, stating that other USAF planes and missiles could stealthily deliver precision ordnance, including the B-2 Spirit , F-22, and JASSM . The planned introduction of the multirole F-35 Lightning II also contributed to the retirement decision.
In May 2023, two F-117s participated in exercise Northern Edge 23-1, marking the first time they were officially spotted operating outside of the continental US after their retirement. On 1 February 2024, two F-117s were seen at testing range R-2508 in the Mojave Desert.
The United States Navy tested the F-117 in 1984, but determined it was unsuitable for carrier use. In the early 1990s, Lockheed proposed an upgraded carrier-capable F-117 variant dubbed the "Seahawk" to the Navy as an alternative to the canceled A/F-X program. The unsolicited proposal was received poorly by the Department of Defense, which lacked interest in the single-mission capabilities on offer, particularly as it would take money away from the Joint Advanced Strike Technology program, which evolved into the Joint Strike Fighter . The F-117N would have differed from the land-based F-117 in several ways, such as the use of "elevators, a bubble canopy, a less sharply swept wing and reconfigured tail". It would also be re-engined with General Electric F414 turbofans in place of the General Electric F404s . The aircraft would be optionally fitted with hardpoints, allowing for an additional 8,000 lb (3,600 kg) of payload, and a new ground-attack radar with air-to-air capability. In that role, the F-117N could carry AIM-120 AMRAAM air-to-air missiles.
After being rebuffed by the Navy, Lockheed submitted an updated proposal that included afterburning capability and a larger emphasis on the F-117N as a multimission aircraft, rather than just an attack aircraft. To boost interest, Lockheed also proposed an F-117B land-based variant that shared most of the F-117N capabilities. This variant was proposed to the USAF and RAF. Two RAF pilots formally evaluated the aircraft in 1986 as a reward for British help with the American bombing of Libya that year. RAF exchange officers began flying the F-117 in 1987, but the British declined an offer during the Reagan administration to purchase the aircraft. This renewed F-117N proposal was also known as the A/F-117X . Neither the F-117N nor the F-117B was ordered.
80-0785 – Pole-mounted outside the Skunk Works facility at United States Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, California, it is a hybrid airframe comprising the wreckage of 80–0785, the first production F-117A, and static test articles 778 and 779. It is fixed to a pedestal and serves as a monument.
85-0831 – is located at the Strategic Air Command & Aerospace Museum in Ashland, Nebraska , where it has undergone restoration and is now on display. It served as a test aircraft at Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, California from 1987 to 2008.
Length: 65 ft 11 in (20.09 m)
Wingspan: 43 ft 4 in (13.21 m)
Height: 12 ft 5 in (3.78 m)
Wing area: 780 sq ft (72 m 2 )
Empty weight: 29,500 lb (13,381 kg)
Max takeoff weight: 52,500 lb (23,814 kg)
Powerplant: 2 × General Electric F404-F1D2 turbofan engines, 9,040 lbf (40.2 kN) thrust each
Maximum speed: 594 kn (684 mph, 1,100 km/h)
Range: 930 nmi (1,070 mi, 1,720 km)
Service ceiling: 45,000 ft (14,000 m)
2 × internal weapons bays with one hardpoint each (total of two weapons) equipped to carry: Bombs: GBU-10 Paveway II laser-guided bomb with 2,000 lb (910 kg) Mk84 blast/fragmentation or BLU-109 or BLU-116 Penetrator warhead GBU-12 Paveway II laser-guided bomb with 500 lb (230 kg) Mk82 blast/fragmentation warhead GBU-27 Paveway III laser-guided bomb with 2,000 lb (910 kg) Mk84 blast-fragmentation or BLU-109 or BLU-116 Penetrator warhead GBU-31 JDAM INS / GPS guided munition with 2,000 lb (910 kg) Mk84 blast-frag or BLU-109 Penetrator warhead B61 nuclear bomb
Reference text from Wikipedia contributors, used under CC BY-SA 4.0.
True scale
Sourced dimensions beside a 1.75 m human reference.
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Points represent sourced observations, including revisions. Revisions on the same effective date are not separate inventory events. Ranges appear in the table and are not plotted as exact points.
| Observation / report period | Value | Source | Claim state |
|---|---|---|---|
| 28 Sept 2026 | 1 people | Wikipedia contributors | superseded |
Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk equipment records. Variants, orders and quantities are shown as reported in each inventory source; coverage is incomplete.
United StatesReported count for F-117 Nighthawk. Service scope: Air Force; does not replace a national total. 1 distinct count cell(s) from the same source list; shared rowspan cells counted once. Retired, wholly reserve and on-order rows are excluded; the reported count retains any explicitly mixed stock scope in the quoted row. Count column(s): inventory: 4. Origin: USA. The listed variants/roles are the scope, not an immediately deployable count. Dates are the count-cell citations' stated source period (2023), not the article revision. 2023 cited reference period. Edition or publication years do not claim an exact inventory census day.
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