In the eerie dark nights of the Nevada desert, people have often seen an aircraft that looks less like a fighter jet and more like a bat plane.
First flown in 1981, over the years, people had grown used to its alien-looking shape. The F-117 Nighthawk was the world’s first operational stealth aircraft.
However, its recent sightings in the Nevada night sky are a mystery. The aircraft had been officially retired from the US Air Force (USAF) way back in 2008.
Why, despite retiring nearly two decades ago, is the plane still flying? This mystery has troubled many.
Now, the USAF has confirmed that a limited fleet of this iconic aircraft remains airworthy and will remain operational for another eight years, until 2034.
This is the first time the USAF has gone so far as to confirm the continued use of this stealth aircraft.
A portion of the fleet remains airworthy at Tonopah to support research and training, including acting as “red air” to help pilots practice detecting and defeating stealthy threats, the USAF confirmed.
The fleet also serves as a testbed for new stealth technologies, including radars, radar-absorbing coatings, sensors, and other materials. The aircraft can also simulate stealthy cruise missile profiles during large-scale exercises.
Flying the F-117 Nighthawks for training, testing, and evaluation purposes is seen as a low-cost, low-risk strategy to test sensors, IR tracking, and signature-reduction concepts without tying up frontline platforms.
Coincidentally, the aircraft flew in secrecy for years before it was announced to the public, and it remained so for over a decade after its retirement as well.
The F-117 Nighthawk first flew in 1981 and was commissioned into the US Air Force in 1983.
However, the aircraft was kept classified. The USAF flew it only at night, so that it could not be photographed.
The aircraft was announced to the public only in 1988, when it had already flown in secret for over seven years.
Though there is no confirmation on how many F-117 Nighthawks are still operational, some reports suggest that nearly 45 aircraft remain in the inventory and are airworthy.
If correct, this is a substantial number, as only 64 F-117 Nighthawks were ever built, 59 production F-117s and five YF-117A development aircraft.
This means that nearly 76% of the F-117 Nighthawk fleet is operational despite its official retirement 18 years ago.
However, these aircraft, which are operated from Tonopah Test Range Airport in Nevada, are no longer assigned to combat missions.
The stealth aircraft, during its two-and-a-half-decade-long career, has taken part in numerous combat missions, from the Gulf War to Kosovo, and from Panama to Afghanistan and Iraq.
The aircraft also achieved many firsts. It was not only the first operational stealth aircraft and the first to participate in active combat, but it also achieved the unenviable distinction of being the first and only stealth aircraft to be shot down during a conflict.
The F-117 Nighthawk: Making Of The World’s First Stealth Aircraft
In the 1960s, when the Cold War paranoia was at its peak, the US was concerned with the impressive progress the Soviet Union had made in its surface-to-air (SAM) missile program.
In May 1960, a Lockheed U-2 high-altitude reconnaissance spy plane was shot down near Sverdlovsk (now Yekaterinburg) in the Ural Mountains region of the Soviet Union by a Soviet S-75 Dvina (SA-2 Guideline) SAM.
Two years later, in 1962, another U-2 spy plane was shot down over Cuba by a Soviet SA-2 SAM.
With U-2 spy planes becoming increasingly vulnerable, the US sought to develop a combat aircraft capable of penetrating deep into Soviet territory undetected and completing its missions.
The project to develop a combat aircraft with a low radar signature that led to the birth of the F-117 began in 1974 when the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) launched Project Harvey, so-named after the invisible white rabbit from the play and movie.
Lockheed Aircraft’s “Skunk Works” won the highly secretive project, named “Have Blue”.
The aim was to develop an aircraft that prioritized stealth and invisibility over speed and maneuverability for survival. Stealth was to be achieved by dramatically reducing the aircraft’s radar cross-section (RCS), making it almost invisible on radar.
It was a radical departure from the combat aircraft design theories of the time, which depended on speed and maneuverability for survival.
The ‘Have Blue’ program developed two prototypes. The first flight was in December 1978. Both prototypes were eventually lost in accidents, but not before proving that stealth technology could work in practice.
The ‘Have Blue’ program ultimately evolved into the F-117 Nighthawk.
It was a single-seat jet with no curved surfaces whatsoever. It emerged with hundreds of individual flat, triangular, and rectangular plates.
Lockheed further reduced the F-117’s infrared signature by installing a slit-shaped tailpipe to minimize the exhaust cross-sectional area and maximize rapid mixing of hot exhaust with cool ambient air.
The aircraft lacked afterburners as they would create hot exhaust, increasing its infrared signature.
Also, the F-117 was deliberately subsonic, as breaking the sound barrier would produce a sonic boom, heating the aircraft’s surface and increasing its IR signature.
Further, the aircraft was given an internal weapons bay to reduce its RCS.
It was a radical departure, as till then, all aircraft had prioritised speed and maneuverability for survival. However, the F-117 depended on invisibility. It was the beginning of the stealth era in combat aviation.
The aircraft first flew in 1981 and was commissioned into the US Air Force in 1983.
Following the success of the F-117, the US soon began work on a stealth bomber.
Northrop won the contract for the ‘Tacit Blue’ program, which evolved into the B-2 Spirit bombers. The B-2 Spirit had its first flight in 1989 and entered service in 1997.
In the first decade of the 21st century, the US also developed the F-22 Raptor and the F-35 Lightning II.
Together, these stealth aircraft are the cornerstone of the USAF Air Power.
However, the F-117 was the world’s first stealth aircraft.
Only 64 F-117s were ever built, 59 operational aircraft, and five prototypes.
Incidentally, the US’s first stealth aircraft also had a Soviet connection.
A research paper by Soviet physicist Pyotr Ufimtsev on how electromagnetic waves scatter off surfaces helped Lockheed design an aircraft angled to deflect radar waves away from receivers.
Lockheed also used his work to train supercomputers to predict the radar reflection patterns and the ideal shape for their aircraft.
The F-117 has participated in numerous combat missions. Its first combat mission was in Panama in 1989. It also participated in the Gulf War (1991), the Kosovo War (1999), the War in Afghanistan (2001), and the Iraq War (2003).
Incidentally, the F-117 Nighthawk is also the world’s only stealth aircraft to be shot down. The aircraft was visible on radar for a brief moment while its internal weapons bay was open, releasing the missiles. During a mission in Kosovo in 1999, a SA-3 ‘Goa’ Soviet missile shot down the F-117 aircraft.
A detailed Eurasian Times article on how Yugoslav forces shot down the stealthy F-117 Nighthawk can be read here.
The movie Behind Enemy Lines was inspired by this incident.
The Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk was officially retired by the United States Air Force in 2008.
However, despite the official retirement in 2008, a portion of the F-117 fleet (45 aircraft) has been maintained in a flyable or regeneratable condition for specialized uses, such as research, development, stealth aircraft testing, and adversary training.
In September last year, two F-117 Nighthawk stealth bombers were seen refueling from a KC-46 Pegasus air tanker near the coast of California.
Earlier in April 2025, aviation spotter Michał Rokita captured photos and video of two F-117s landing at Groom Lake (Area 51). This occurred while Tonopah Test Range Airport was closed for reconstruction.
Now, the USAF has confirmed that the fleet will remain operational till 2034. Clearly, the world’s first stealth aircraft is refusing to die.
