Aircraft

F-117A Nighthawk Facts

• Conventional fighters of the same size appear on radar at about 85 miles out from the radar station--the F-117A is concealed by its Stealth technology until 16 miles out.
• Built mainly of aluminum, the F-117A was extremely complicated to build. In order to keep its radar protection at a maximum, the tooling of the aircraft had to be 10 times more accurate than that of other aircraft.
• The targetting systems are so accurate that the F-117A can hit a target 1 meter in size from an altitude of 25,000 feet.
• After desert storm an autothrottle was installed that allowed the F-117A to reach its target a precise time.
• The secrecy surrounding the stealth-fighter was so good that it wasn't revealed for over 10 years that it existed, and all reports to leaked to the media were completely inaccurate.
• Nighthawk, Wobblin' Goblin, Black Jet, and Frisbee are just a few of the nicknames this aircraft has received. Although it has no official name, Nighthawk is the one most commonly used.
• The 40 F-117s deployed to the Gulf during Operation Desert Storm flew more than 1,270 missions, dropping 30 percent of all precision-guided munitions.
• One B-52 bomber has a larger radar cross section than all the F-117s put together.
• The F-117 was operational for seven years before it made its first public appearance.
• During Operation Desert Storm, the F-117 was the only Coaltion aircraft able to operate with complete freedom over Baghdad's extensive anti-aircraft defenses.
• Only 59 production F-117s were built, yet the total cost of the program is over six billion dollars.