The F-117 Nighthawk was a revolutionary jump in military aviation from Skunk Works at Lockheed Martin. Conceived in response to the immediate need for a jet fighter able to operate undetected by enemy radar, the development of the Nighthawk was fast-tracked and shrouded in secrecy. While eschewing the sleek designs favored by Skunk Works founder Kelly Johnson, the F-117’s angular panels and radar-absorbent materials made it invisible to radar.
It started in the summer of 1975 with the “pole-off” competition of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA. Skunk Works was selected for Have Blue, the stealth demonstrator that preceded the F-117 Nighthawk because its design had the lowest observability. Less than a year following its successful first flight in 1977, DARPA gave Skunk Works the contract for the Nighthawk. The first flight took place in 1981 just 31 months after the contract award and deliveries started the following year.
The F-117 achieved initial operational capability in 1983 but remained cloaked in secrecy for many years. It was not until 1988 that the program was publicly acknowledged, and the aircraft made its first formal public appearance in 1990. At that point, it had already been operational for seven years, having captured the public’s imagination.
It was quite another thing with the stealth capabilities of the Nighthawk. “The aircraft changed the tactical conversation from ‘How many aircraft do we need to take out a target?’ to ‘How many targets can we take out with a single aircraft?” This shift was in evidence during its combat debut in Operation Just Cause in 1989 and more prominently during Operation Desert Storm in 1991, where it flew over 1,300 sorties and struck more than 1,600 high-value targets.
Work by Soviet physicist Pyotr Ufimtsev regarding the prediction of electromagnetic wave scattering helped in the development of the F-117. Denys Overholser, Skunk Works mathematician, recognized the significance of Ufimtsev’s equations that allowed for an aircraft’s exact radar cross-section calculation. The “Hopeless Diamond” was thus designed, which was so stealthy that, in its tests, radar operators thought a bird was the aircraft.
Operational history lists the Nighthawk as also seeing action in NATO’s Operation Allied Force in 1999 and Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003. However, against such an imposing fighter, advances in adversary technology, coupled with the introduction of newer aircraft like the F-22 Raptor, saw the retirement of the F-117 in 2008.
The F-117 Nighthawk’s legacy remains alive to this date. The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute has just announced, in conjunction with Lockheed Martin Skunk Works, an event entitled “Operation Nighthawk Landing.” It will be bringing an F-117 Nighthawk, Tail 803, into permanent exhibition at the Reagan Museum. Nicknamed the “Unexpected Guest,” it flew more combat sorties than any other F-117 and will serve as a testament to President Reagan’s commitment to rebuilding the U.S. military.
“The F-117 was developed in response to an urgent national need,” said Jeff Babione, vice president and general manager of Lockheed Martin Skunk Works. “It has paved the way for today’s stealth technology and reminds us to continue redefining what’s possible.” The display of Nighthawk at the Reagan Library would offer visitors a scarce view into the pioneering world of stealth aviation.