Farewell to the Woblin' Goblin

The original stealth fighter is being retired. It's being replaced by the more stealthy and stable F-22. The F-117 has been around since the 1970's in one form or another. It's being moth balled so it could possibly see service again if needed.

Perhaps the incident in Europe during the Kosovo conflict lead to the decision for such an early retirement. Early considering the F-14 is pushing 40 years. Once the plane was shot down and different governments were able to get a good look at the wreckage, I would surmise the USAF decided to send it to an early retirement due to the fact that these other governments, so called, could develop technologies to detect its presence early enough to kick up the attrition rates of the fighter.

The trade off, I think, is a good one. The F-22 is much more stable in flight and the cool thing is it can go almost Mach 2 without going on afterburner. Sure it's expensive but there is nothing else out there (that we know of) that can touch it. The plane basically flies itself. A friend of mine works on the F-22 program and says the pilots will ask the civilian engineers "How can I get the plane to do such and such and so and so." The engineers basically say "Don't touch anything."


F-117 R.I.P. April 22, 2008