RIP Nighthawk Stealth Attack Aircraft...or not?
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- Опубліковано 1 гру 2023
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Initial tests of prototypes and test aircraft revealed that despite the Nighthawk’s ability to stay off of a radar, the delta wing design and harsh geometry made it aerodynamically poor, and unstable in flight. This spurred the air force to secretly establish a dedicated Nighthawk squadron before the first planes were even off of the production line, under then Colonel Sandy Sharpe who would lead the formation. After the first test flights of the F117s were conducted, Colonel Sharpe demanded two changes to the airframe, enlarge the tail fins to decrease wobbling, and to paint it black, as he believed it would allow for better visual concealment at night. That, and in the words of Alan Brown, the skunkworks project manager for the Nighthawk, “Real men don’t fly funny pastel airplanes.” that’s probably not at all like how he sounded and I’m certain he could have kicked my ass.
Written by: Chris Cappy & Justin Taylor
Edited by: Ian Fitzgerald
Produced by: August Dannehl
The final design that resulted after initial testing was increased to a wingspan of 43 feet, with the entire fuselage being 65 feet long, weighing roughly 52,500lbs dry. As both speed and agility were low on the priority list of requirements, twin GE F404 Turbofan engines were used. These delivered a combined thrust of 21,200 lbs. This non-afterburning engine could only bring the Nighthawk up to a max speed of Mach 0.9, or just below the speed of sound. This of course was not an issue seeing as afterburners create massive heat signatures, and the sonic boom from supersonic flight would probably be a good indication there is a military jet in the area. The engines were encased within the fuselage, and dispersed the heat of the exhaust over a wider area using distinct slit exhaust ports while enabling it to mix with cooler air before leaving the aircraft. These twin slit exhausts were virtually invisible to most infrared trackers at the time.
The nighthawk could carry a payload of two air to ground munitions which might seem like a limited payload but that’s up to 5,000 lbs of boom boom in a stealth aircraft which is insane that means 2 munitions each weighing 2,000 lbs could fit in there. Those laser guided bombs could hit targets within a combat radius of about 590 miles. Tyler Rogoway who runs the warzone explains the purpose for the black jet best. It was created carry and employ nuclear gravity bombs-namely the B57 and B61 that are shown front and center in this image.
The aircraft's cockpit included an Aircraft Monitoring And Control panel that interfaced with the Permissive Action Link on the nuclear weapons that allowed them to be armed and programmed prior to delivery. Because I know I can only speak for myself personally but I hate having to program my nuclear weapons at the last minute. It's like can’t we just program this on the ride over there?
So remember this thing comes out in the early 1980s and if you’re the soviet union seeing it then it would have been a scary thing to see because it was designed to silently sneak in and drop a big one. Giving new meaning to the term silent but deadly. Sorry that was dumb I’m dumb.
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Ill take a pair of pants.
sooooooo fucking kooooooooooool
@@187thRecon2010I’ll see if ridge is down to make a prototype pair
Why doesn’t ridge make a task and purpose version? They have a Chael Sonnen bad guy inc version.
Or....thats what they tell.... beacause they allways tell the truth about secret poroyects..... they can find a UFO..... Or a dinosour fart..... they will never tell the truth.....
An aircraft so stealthy, even its operators don't know if they're still using it or not.
lol good one.
Hell the F-35 is so stealthy that the Marines lost 2 of them.
@@thegreyhound1073 Thats pretty damn good considering the f16 had 17 crashes in a single year back when it was new
@@amazin7006 I really wasn't really joking about them crashing. I meant when they completely lost them. Like they had no idea where they crashed.
Epic comment.
Possibly one of the coolest looking planes ever created.
I saw one as I was passing Camp Shelby in Hattisburg. One was flying low over hwy 49 because it was landing at the army base. It was cool realizing it was right overhead.
Especially so from the ground near the nose . It looks like something from Stargate SG-1
@@deonngregory9808 wow that must've been wild to see.
@@mikefallwell1301 oh yeah I never even put those two together, yea I see it. Between the F117/B2/SR71 I think we really nailed it with those designs.
I like how it looks, but also have a lot of favorites I like more. The SR71 Blackbird is my top pick.
Here's a theory: It is still good enough for some missions, and why risk an F-22 or B-2 when you have an available, paid for, platform, one whose loss wouldn't jeopardize any cutting edge tech? Edit: And that's the conclusion the video comes to.
The F22 and F35 rely heavily on radar absorbing paint, the F117 is much less so, it was specifically designed to redirect radar, now if you take modern stealth paint and put it on the F117, you are talking like the RCS of a fucking toothpic.
It is also true that the f117 is arguably less visible than a f22 or f35. It is just old, and and also lacks on board stealth radar. It's only obsolescence is in regards to electronics and on board systems. If they upgraded everything beneath the hood, it is essentially a super cheap f35.
You have the outdated F22 for that
F-117 should be a UCAV
For the missions it's going to fly, it's probably going to be completely unmanned in our lifetime. They'll just come up with drones without a cockpit onboard touchscreens or life support systems.
The only reason the one got shot down is because they flew the same route over and over and got too predictable. Allowing the air defense operator to position and get a lucky shot.
And only by an experienced air defender who violated the standing order to energize their radar no more than twice before packing up and moving locations to minimize the risk of HARMs headed their way.
Rookie pilot move
Air defense also got clever and decided to experiment with different radar bands until they found one that worked. They also set up a decoy target so they could be certain of approach for the very brief time needed to use the targeting radar.
@@doujinflip Also, the responsible party was an experienced Russian operator...
I want number of your dealer
Very nice overview of the F-117 but I was disappointed that you didn't mention its capability to deploy a team of special ops troops onto a 747 while in flight.
Brilliant.
In Hollywood, anything can happen.
It was an Executive Decision to leave that information out.
@@thelandofnod123thank you was tryna remember the movie
@thelandofnod123 This and the OP's comment are absolutely perfect 😂
I loved my time with the 117! So happy to see them still flying. Makes me feel not as old. 37 TFW rocked! We really did “own the night”! It had to had the F designation. Because at the same time we were developing and funding a B-2. No way would we be able to fund two bombers. Even though their missions were completely different! Also standing alone it wasn’t completely stealth. Several things had to be retracted and removed to aid in its low RCS!
You sound like you worked on them. That being so, this thing looks like it had a wicked jet exhaust blast. I've stood behind Navy bombers & fighters & at idle, they weren't too bad. But with the size of the openings on the F-117, how was it ?
@@billotto602 wasnt bad at all. Most of the thrust exhaust was directed upwards by the duckbill type exhaust which kept heat signatures down. It had material similar to the space shuttle tiles that was meant for cooling. You used to walk under them to check certain gauges etc on EOR ( End of Runway) checks.
@kinch613 very cool. Thank you for adding to the comments.
Stealth is more than about shape.
Stealth is also about electronics, radar, improvements in coatings.
And for all we know, the F-117 may have aggressively upgraded electronics, radar, coatings on a level with F-35s, making its true current stealth status unknown, except to those authorized to know.
Agree, with new electronics and a stealth coating it would be just as viable now as it was 40 years ago. The F-117 does have an advantage over the F-35, that it's heat signature is smaller. I think a smaller, easier to maintain and repair aircraft is why we are seeing these return. For special missions i could see it having uses. Also lets not forget that the F-35 can't go super sonic without ruining it's coating. If the F-35 were to replace the Nighthawk in it's role, it would have to be a set number of airframes that could never go super sonic to maintain the stealth coating integrity. Just a theory, but it would make sense. Often weird and usually cost effective solutions are what we see for very specific SF missions.
I don’t see why not the A-10 got a significant electronics upgrade. It communicates directly to F-35s and F-22s and acts as a communications network with the rest of the aircraft
Shape/electronics/coatings etc are a lot of the "stealth" but the pilots/planners need to fully understand how stealth works, its limitations and know the radar systems employed against it. You then plan/fly the aircraft so the radar's weaknesses can be exploited.
I thought stealth was about standing perfectly still so nobody can see me... Dammit Drax!
@@vicdiaz5180stealth ma’boy what about a aircraft that’s named “warthog” with a giant canon sticking out sounds stealthy to you. A10 is good for uncontested skies
Cappy: "Why is the Air Force deploying a decades old platform to combat in the middle east?"
B-52: *probably bombing someone somewhere right now."
I think the Air Force has always been super secretive about the F117. I did see one once while in tech school in late 92 early 93. My class was on T shift, which meant our normal duty hours were at night. We marched the same route to and from class every night. One night, there it was, in a hanger far away from the road, way in the back. We all could see it though, and knew what it was. Next night, it was gone, never to be seen again.
My dad was an F117 crew chief in the early 90’s.
@@notthecracker5816That’s incredible, that must have been an awesome job!
@@notthecracker5816shall we grovel before you? So?
correct. they were flying missions for a decade before the dod even announced it to the public. just proves that people thinking they know whats currently being tested or flown is way off based and way out of touch. the military has equipment from the future we have no idea about. civilians dont know anything at all regarding classified things. if its on google its obsolete in practice
@@skillfulsteak847 Don't be rude. His father served our great country.
While most military aircraft these days are not aerodynamically stable and need lots of computer assistance to stay in the air, the F-117 was one that just looking at it you immediately thought: there's no way that thing can fly, right? Such an amazing looking aircraft
The remaining airframes entered climate-controlled storage at Tonopah, with several being maintained in flyable condition for the Air Force Flight Test Center. I worked with the F-117 at Holloman AFB from 2000-2004, and the little parachute that came out the back cost well over $10,000 buck for just one.
Correct. They still test new equipment in them and are hangared when not in use.
Sounds about right for military spending
Military procurement is the equivalent of telling the cake shop you’re buying it for a wedding…
I was at TTR. The fact was when they first went to Holloman they were kept outdoors just under overhead shelters. I will ALWAYS be convinced that it was that caused the catastrophic wing failure at the airshow. At least my ACESII worked!
@@kinch613 Your ACES II, as in you maintained them or you were sitting in it?
"Giving new meaning to the term.... Silent but deadly." COME ON DUDE! That one killed me! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
The F-117 was always my most favorite aircraft growing up. It just looks so damn cool and futuristic and it's invisible (not as cutting edge nowadays of course)??? Til this day I still bust nuts over how sick this thing looks
Did you notice once the widespread use of the aircraft was seen and pictured, that cars began to mimic those lines? Particularly the smaller sports cars had the razor corner edges of the stealth aircraft. Clearly you weren’t the only one who liked the aesthetic nature of the F117. 😊
You should definitely check out the USAF museum if you haven’t already. Being up close and personal with one of these beautiful machines is an experience that can’t be described.
The fact that some of these older designs won't die fits a broader pattern many militaries fall into. Equipment designed to be disposable or used for a limited number of years gets used far beyond that. Sometimes it's because the thing intended to replace it falls way behind schedule in development or ends up not being better enough to actually buy. In this case a new need is articulated and someone thinks the old thing about to be thrown away would suit it, saving a lot of money and time over making another new thing.
I think there might still be a Sherman still operating in Africa or South America
Or like posited by the "It's still active" conspiracy, new toys are just too expensive to risk sometimes. Same reason we had mostly SMAW-D & AT-4 on us during the Iraq invasion despite having perfectly capable Javelins as well. The CLU & the rounds are not light by any means nor are they cheap. So we often left them with HQ platoon or weapons squads in support by fire positions. We very rarely actually carried that thing in the rife squad because it was the fancy new toy & we knew damn well a SMAW-D or AT-4 could take out all of Saddam's old Soviet armor.
Quick clarification. The delta wing was part of the stealth design but that is not enough to shrink the radar cross-section. The facets all over the air frame are a major factor. Also, it was unstable but had an advanced fly bi wire system to make it easier for pilots to fly.
F-117 used off the shelf parts where it could. The FBW system was from an F-16
@@billkilbourne6409Yes, this was to avoid drawing attention to the program. Same reason it got an F designation when it was really should have had a B or A designation.
According to a colleague at work who was an F-117 pilot (and knows the guy who got shot down IIRC), the one that got shot down was because of complacency of the chief mission planner who was forcing the pilots to fly the same routes over and over, in some cases with little support. This allowed an air defense operator to get lucky with that famous shot
Wasn't that over Iraq back in the 90s?
@@LordDirus007 balkans, not Iraq
There was more to it than that. First there was a spy in Italy that was passing info to the then yugoslavians about the routes they were taking. Secondly at the time of that deployment there was always heavy jamming in place by EA-6 prowlers but on the night of said shoot down said prowlers were grounded. thirdly, when the shoot down happened they got EXTREMELY lucky to have their search radars on at the exact moment said pilot opened his bomb bay to drop his bombs. Yes, and lastly due to poor mission planning not changing their ingress routes all lead up to that event. But that being said I do believe there were double digits of Nighthawks in the air at that time and only the one was unluckily hit by a sam.
There is speculation that they got a radar hit when its bomb bay doors were open.
@@necronoverlord2306 bullshit. we didn't get extremely lucky, our guys used a HF radar with wavelengths of 10 meters, it illuminated that tincan easily and it got shot down. I dont understand the need to make up crazy stories when in reality it was just a group of guys with a bit of good old fashioned ingenuity.
"giving new meaning to the term: silent, but deadly"
should've been the slogan for the entire USAF stealth program
Its probably still in use because it is still a serviceable aircraft that can be used as a training aircraft and test bed for newer stealth technology while also being used in combat areas where the US wants to intervene without risking newer more valuable aircraft because as you mentioned if lost and unrecoverable it limits the amount of technology lost to near peer militaries.
And at the end of the day the newer stealth aircaft face the same issues the F-117 did all those years ago, its hard to mass produce things you want to keep secret, so best to have these F-117s around as they are something that is good enough to at least achieve some task and better than having nothing at all should something bad kick off
Right? Why dismantle a perfectly good airplane if it still has use?
@@The88Cheatbecause it's a really expensive aircraft to maintain that doesn't offer anything that the F35 can't do just as well or a B2 can do way better.
@@tobiasrietveld3819The F-35 has more tech that could be reverse engineered if shot down and the B-2 is way more expensive
@@micaheiber1419 You'd be surprised at how much scrutiny your country went through for whatever part they do manufacture. It wasn't exactly your country doing the vetting, but the U.S.
The F117 nighthawk was still flying in September 2021 two nighthawks were part of a exercise in Fresno Ca.
I saw one of these flying in Duluth, MN. Around August of this year, I saw them 2 days in a row.
The most impressive thing about the B-2 project IMO, is the insane leap in stealth technology they made. The F-117 looks like it was developed in the 70's, while the B-2 still looks like it could have been developed today, and the maiden flight of the B-2 was only 8 years after the F-117's maiden flight. Both of them had ofc been under development for many years before that, but still.... Northrop must have been stealing tech from the future when designing the B-2. Just saying.
Read a book on this exact thing. Northrop used a more holistic approach with the design of the B-2, where, I kid you not, the Radar engineers ate, slept, and breathed the equations for RCS, they were able to design by steps (i.e. design, build, test, wash, rinse, repeat) with smooth curves instead of relying purely on a computer model that could only do flat surfaces as Lockheed did with the F-117. Both programs were so secretive, that it was a case of parallel development.
@@Eihort Absolutely nuts. It's a technological and engineering marvel, to say the least. I'd definitely place it alongside things like the Saturn 5 rocket, the SR-71 Blackbird, and the International Space Station.
Still is being developed today, if you look at China.
@@aionarkhe5260 What do you mean?
Just being a smart ass, the stealth bomber they've been showing off in development is a clear ripoff of the B-2.
Like Habitual Line Crosser said. "Detecting is not that same as targeting". I wonder how many switchblades missiles could fit in a Nighthawk bomb bays? Also air to air missiles?
Like Cappy said, the F-117 lacks its own radar. Some air-to-air missiles have their own radar, but the pilot wouldn’t be able to really tell the missile which target, to well target.
There might be ways of getting something to work, but likely not without compromising the F-117d stealth capabilities, and also the question of “why?” when you have platforms like F-22 and F-35.
I can’t imagine a scenario where a F117 would be used with the switchblade. A stealth drone would be a better launch vehicle. That’s why we have stealth drones after all.
@@cruisinguy6024 What if the target area has been saturated with signals that deny any gps or control signals to a drone. As far as we know no drone have been sent on a mission completely controlled by A.I.
@@billykorando6820 which would be more economical? The same way the A-10 was given modification so can the F-117. Make it a A-117. Give a data link and a wing man drone. Also what is the most missiles a Predator drone can carry? F-117 are in the inventory now. Why not modify and use them?
@@billykorando6820 Price.
The F-117 is cheaper to deploy than the F-35 and F-22 both who fulfill fighter roles, and far more expensive. The F-117 is a dedicated attacker in a fighter frame. Its the scalpel to the F-35 knife and the F-22 Hammer.
Ever since I saw one of these as a kid when it was still in service it’s remained my favorite jet and I’m so glad they’re still around. I hope I’ll see another one in person one day.
The F-117 proved the concept of stealth can work and also proved the limitations of stealth
The limitations of stealth for that aircraft and time anyway. I'm sure they have learned some new tricks that went into the B-2 and now B-21.
@@CheekyMenace
No the F-117 was a lot of lessons for the USAF
The F-117 was designed for maximum stealth so it lacked a lot EW and ECM the F-22 and F-35s has
It also highlighted the USAF/USN shortcomings with SEAD
Serbian defense survived because the AGM-88 at the time could only home on actively transmitting radar
The newer models of the AGM-88 can home even if the target is cold. Additionally it can track moving targets as well target items beside the radar
The EA-18G has datalink so it can transmit target info to closer assets. Thanks to better targeting pods technology, those assets can engage targets up close and at long range
Both stealth and SEAD has advanced a lot from the F-117s lessons
@@verdebusterAP No what?? You're going into way more than you initially said. You only mentioned stealth. I agreed and said that they learned the limitations of stealth for that aircraft and time anyway, but it wasn't a permanent limitation as they have incorporated what they learned into further advancements of new stealth aircraft.
@@CheekyMenace
The B-21 isnt about stealth
The B-21 is about functionality
B-2 is stealthy but expensive
B-1 is fast but drinks fuel
B-52 has great versatility but its very old
How do you take their best qualities but still make a bomber for modern and future warfare
Sure there are some lessons from the F-117s
I really love your videos and I know your target audience is mainly from the US and that is great! For a European man myself its hard to convert every feet, inch, mile etc. to the metric system (to fully comprehend everyting). It would make it a lot easier to follow if you could mention the metric measurements next to the empirical ones if you could! Love your channel and keep up the good work!
I’m going to make sure this is I’m going forward !
Yeah, I watch a lotta tech and engineering related UA-camrs & this is just kinda standard practice, you just run your usual script but have both on screen.
Type 1000 storage is flyable storage. So you have to fly them every once in a while. Also its used for testing in the Air Force.
I've actually always been very curious about what happens in type 1000. Are there really scheduled maintenance flights?
@@yikemoo They sure are. The F117 sits in the hangars with wings removed and periodicaly they pull them out put the wings back on and fly them around. Also the pilots who fly them have currencies they have to fly that you cannot get on maintenance flghts so some have to be good to go and ready to fly at all times. One of the not acknowledge testing the did was in Syria. They wanted to see if Russian fighter jets could see the F117 and fly to intercept. This operational combat testing is important to gain intel on Russian capabilites. Just like all the stuff we are giving to Ukraine it is just operational testing against their tech. Im sure we are getting a ton of captured equipment as part of the deal.
@@jamieaulbach5120 There's a pic floating around social media of a T-80 on a flatbed trailer in Louisiana, iirc, from about a year ago
Not to divulge anything too deep, but it uses a LOT of the same parts and avionics systems from the F16. It was later integrated with the maintenance lines and even more of those same parts. Its more stealth from some angles than others when it comes to detection. Needs a lot of intel of where radar sites are in advance to fully interdict under stealth. The most expensive parts in the past, when it was "retired" was the coatings and storage. There has been lots of advances to bring that tech price down now, glad to hear they can bring it back.
It was a parts bin special other than the stealth bits.
@@chrissmith7669 hell yeah. The solutions already existed for every issue they ran into. It's closer to a highly specialized F-16 than anything else. Part of the pipeline for becoming a maintainer (mechanic) on 117s internal systems was first going to the F-16 school, then going to a second school to just learn the differences. The outside parts was compartmentalized entirely separately.
@danielescobar7618 thanks for info. But opsec my bud...
@@jawndoekck it’s not relevant
@@jawndoekck no we need to stop locking in on democrats and republicans in office. Bipartisan system is still a single party state. Less Democrats though is ok short term
i remember buying the game f117 nighthawk a few years after it came out. included was a book of facts and trinkets of trivia. it seems microprose actually got investigated after the game was released. the pentagon wanted to know how accurate the flying and controls were because the plane was still very secret and its speck certainly werent published. eventually it was chalked up to luck and educated guesses on the programmers behalf.
Those old Microprose flight sims were a labour of love. The instruction books alone were like a novel.
M1 TANK platoon was the first real computer game to make a serious attempt at small unit level grouns combat
I loved MicroProse and Project Stealth Fighter was my favourite! Good old C64 wireframe graphics and all! 😂
The instructions and keyboard overlay were awesome!
Always liked the Nighthawk. Felt like the perfect future plane. Angled, black, sharp, stealthy. Great combo
What I find cool, in the book Red Storm Rising by Tom Clancy, he describes this jet in certain detail. Not all correct obviously, as the book was released in 1986. Recommend the read if anyone hasn't yet.
Good book, Tom Clancy was on the cutting edge of that stuff for quite some time. Also there's another one that I haven't read but heard about where he describes an Ageis like system intercepting a ballistic missile heading for the east coast. Pretty cool!
Actually no, the aircraft he described in "Red Storm Rising" was based on a Revell model of the fictional F-19 (a design which remains classified to this day)
Read "Skunk Works: A Personal Memoir of My Years at Lockheed" by far the best book on the F117 and its development from people that actually built the plane and not some civilian.
"You don't actually think they spend $20,000 on a hammer, $30,000 on a toilet seat, do you?" -Julius Levinson
Being a contractor working on aircraft a $10k hammer is 100% believable, the cost of some of our tools still astounds me
The only thing more shrouded in secrecy than a stealth aircraft is their operations. I'm not surprised if we have official channels saying "Oh yeah, we retired that thing" while we most certainly haven't. It's an aircraft designed to operate entirely around deception.
Also: when most of the conflicts we've dealt with for a past 20 years have involved old hand-me-down Soviet-era electronics and weapons, of _course_ we're going to keep using a system designed to defeat them.
US fascism mainly bombs third world countries who can't fire back anyway.
Meanwhile its more and more certain that the us army is more about a giant money laundring scheme than anything else.
The F-117 may be obsolete in terms of stealth technology, but is it easier to defeat than, say, that enormous F-15 Strike Eagle? Than a Super-Hornet? Both of which are current front line attack jets, and neither having any appreciable stealth capability. Than a B-52?
My guess is that they're still more than capable of performing any number of missions for the USAF.
As the F-35 comes online the tactical stealth strike role can be handled by it, it doesn't require nearly the same level of upkeep that the F-117 needed to maintain the stealth coating. With the added benefit of the more advanced systems that allow the pilot to detect and deal with pop up SAM threats (like the one that took out Vega 31).
And there are more F-35As delivered to the USAF than total F-117s built.
A squadon of F-15s or F-18s has a smaller radar return than *ONE* BUFF
But B-52s aren't *expected* to go so deep into harm's way anymore
Yes but unless you spend a ton on newer more durable stealth coatings it’s a mute point, the f117 needs super specific and expensive logistical support to be mission capable far beyond even a b2
@@Farweaselyeah it’s just a cruise missile truck, a big badqss cruise missile truck
@@Teampeglegthis also the f35 is stealthier has better datalink systems ew capabilities air to air self defense, more payload etc
Awesome bits of humor in this episode! Thanks for the thorough investigative work as usual.
Dude...from the 1st time i saw this in like 1st grade....and it still hits the same way. Coolest fucling plane dude...the lines, the paint, capablility, etc!
It wasn't the delta wing that dispersed radar energy to the side. The faceted shape does much of that (even the edges of the canopy are "sawtooth" to keep energy bouncing off at odd angles). The plane also has a coating of special material that absorbs radar energy, further minimizing the amount of energy returned to any emitter. A regular off-the-shelf delta wing can have a radar cross section that screams, "HERE I AM SHOOT ME" without these other design features.
The advantages of avoiding GPS jamming for both navigation and munitions is huge, particularly as countries get better at jamming or spoofing gps
BEST "true natural delivery" of entertaining precise information - like best professor with zero excess
Regards R-2508 complex: I regularly hike and camp in the upper Kern. One of my favorite spots is a granite dome near the Needles, which gives me a great view of the approach to it, overlooking a valley. It's a veritable airshow some weekdays. Mostly F-18s from Lemoore and China Lake, but plenty of 16s and 15s, and in June saw a pair of 35s. Not seen a 117, but might have heard them as there is a surprising amount of activity at night in that corridor.
I remember in 9th grade school stopped and they played live footage of the gulf war and showed the f-117....it was almost like seeing a ufo...still love that plane almost as much I love the sr71
Fun Fact; The mathematics that made the modeling and simulation of RCS data possible was developed years prior by a Soviet physicist and mathematician named Pyotr Yakovlevich Ufimtsev. His work, largely ignored in Soviet Russia, caught the attention of Denys Overholser, a stealth engineer at Lockheed. So once again the Lockheed Skunkworks gets to pulled one over on the Soviets, just like they did with the SR-71 when they purchased the Titanium used to construct the plane from the Soviets, the worlds largest supplier at the time.
Anyone interested in this topic should read "Skunkworks" by Ben Rich, the lead at Skunkworks after Kelly retired.
Not exactly, that scientists work was a derivation and while the U.S. did use some of it they were already developing stealth far before that
As always you combine technical info with good humor and commentary as well as nice footage of the subject(s). Damn fine video.
Thanks for the shout out! great to catch these guys in the wild. 😁
I still remember the desert storm. It was impressive. This lady was the very first airplane I heard Radar Cross Section. The original thesis was written by , ironically , a Russian mathematician.
is this a AI-generated comment?
That is just a myth. the Russian Mathematician did something that was only tangentially related to stealth technology, it had nothing to do with the 117 or any other stealth aircraft's development.
@@Evirthewarriorit wasn’t tangentially related - it was how electromagnetic waves bounce off of a surface. It is literally the underpinning of the concept that you can defeat radar with geometry. The guys at skunkworks directly cited his work if I remember correctly.
He didn’t build anything or develop technology. He worked out the theory.
@@Evirthewarriorand why do you seem pissed off by the mere suggestion that a Russian person did something great? Just because the country has been run by complete shitbags for over a century does not mean all Russians are shit bags. And I’ve got plenty of reason to not be a fan of Russians- my family is Polish, Ukrainian, and Hungarian. Unfortunately, most of my family that stayed behind in Europe didn’t make it through the middle decades of the 20th century for obvious reasons.
@@just9911 That seems pretty tangential to the development. Having nothing to do with the development and only contributing a part of the massive whole that is stealth technology.
The way most people tell the myth it is like saying Ernest Rutherford built the first atomic bomb.
This channel keeps getting better ❤
Hey Cappy, I appreciate you making all these wonderful videos. I respect the amount of work you put into each video with research and putting in your silly jokes every once in a while. Keep it up ❤
Wow! What an amazing story about a "retired plane" that perhaps isn't quite retired yet. Also it's clearly it is still more capable than a Walmart greeter. Thanks for great look at ground breaking engineering.
Man when I was a kid, this was the COOLEST jet ever. I had a bunch of hot wheels versions, posters all kinds of stuff haha.
It was just so futuristic to me (I had no idea it was more than a decade old lol). I never really knew when it was made or utilized, but I do remember as a kid it defintiely was just so different from other jets, I couldn’t imagine how it wasn’t somehow sent back in time 😂
As a kid who grew up with all the fancy tech
Its still too futuristic
In my opinion the F-117 is still incredibly amazing!
F-117
@@thespacemanfil4921to be fair a lot of ppl generally refer it as the F one seventeen
@@lee.as.in.l.e.e.7394he means the Formula 1, driver #17, duh 🙄
I am very sorry for the miss pronunciation, I don’t claim to be an aviation expert by any means I just think it is really cool. But thank you for educating me it’s always appreciated.
That thing still looks absolutely iconic and looks so unreal if seen from the ground
Excellent content mixed with "That was dumb. Sorry, I'm dumb." 😂 we love you Cappy!
💡 the 'F' in F-117 {Wobblin’ Goblin} was to attract pilots, the none scared type😮 The plane was, as you said, never a fighter... More a bomber. A very stealthy bomber. 👍🏼
Saw one in May of 2022 down in Savannah GA flying along the F35 and F22.
Few months ago saw one flying around Wisconsin when the air guard was doing operations “Northern lighting”
No kidding? Whereabouts? I’m in Milwaukee area….
Dane County?
Good one, Chris. Thank you! I especially appreciated "mothball to fireball."
For a super high value target they would make the ultimate drone. No point in destroying them with that option can be used at a later date.
My understanding is that although low frequency radar can detect stealth aircraft the fact that they are low frequency equalts to a largely diminished precision required to guide anti aircraft missiles to their target. So yes while it (a well as 5th gen) stealth aircraft are detectable with LF and VLF radar that's not the same as saying they're at risk of being targeted.
Modern radars are far more capable than the 60's tech the Serbs used.
@@deanwilliams433 you miss the point. The F-117, F-22, and F-35 are designed to not be visible to high frequency radars that fit into missiles and fighter jets. They have never been stealthy to low frequency radars which require very large antenna.
Thus a ground based radar with a large antenna can say that a stealth aircraft is in an area and provide an approximate location and vector. Anti-aircraft missile radars cannot lock onto these aircraft because their small size restricts them to high frequency radars which cannot detect these aircraft untill they are exceedingly close, which means that radar guided missiles never get fired as they never get a missile lock at normal engagement distances.
The F-117 was immune to infrared (IR) sensor missiles in its day even for missiles fired from behind a F-117 (and all but the latest generation of todays IR missiles). The F-22 and F-35 can easily be seen and targeted by almost all IR missiles of the last 60 years that are fired from behind these aircraft as their jet engine exhaust is not shielded and cooled.
Saw two flying while camping in Owen's Valley California last year, usually F-15s and F-18s but these were obvious. So cool
Unarguably one of the most futuristic and stellar design from aesthetic POV.
I can reveal the purpose of the new chrome finish.....
It's sick AF!
The first one I ever saw was is the mid-80s. I was driving at about 125mph on US50 westbound past Fallon Naval Base around 3am when one passed me just as it touched down. It was dark, but clear enough to realize that was a strange plane.
“Officer, I was just driving that fast as a stealth military aircraft target.” I, myself, had such an experience with A-10s in SC.
"I used to be a badass, now I just have one."
I like that you mentioned the Yugo incident. The pilot that was shot down was flying someone else's plane too. It's written on the side of the cockpit. This story is interesting on its own as there is a lot involved, including the fact that before that day the sorties were ran on different flight paths, while this time they used the same one. And the Yugoslavian's were expecting them. They had a lot of planning on their side, and a little bit of luck. If I recall, it had something to do with the bomb bay doors being open, being a vulnerable point in the F-117's stealth.
no, it had everything to do with the fact that HF radars operating on 10m wavelengths can spot them. after a few nights the AA figured it out and it got shot down. it's as simple as that.
I keep hearing "Good evening Lasers & GBUs, this is your Captain speaking..." with the short-sleeved aviator in the PC sim @4:37. "Please settle in and enjoy the flight, where we'll be flying over Baghdad and for those of you seated on the left side of the aircraft can see 'shock & awe'...."
I never understand why the air force retires aircraft when you know the Marines would gladly take them.
They can’t transfer these to the Marine Corp because the maintenance and operation manuals were never made in the form of coloring books
@@jasonpeacock9735 I heard that we hired translators to work with Crayola (color commentary) and DC comics (original author) to get the manuals into Marine Speak from the current Candy A** Speak...
I can see the Marines being interested in something like the A-10...lots of firepower, good for CAS, durable to the point that almost anything shy of a direct hit to the fuselage won't take it down quickly...
But I think the Nighthawk loses on the operational cost vs benefit ratio for USMC operations. I could be wrong...but if the Marines are headed into a situation where stealthy first-strike capabilities are needed, they're going to be so far from friendly territory that a ground-based attack plane (whose offensive capabilities are limited to two laser-guided bombs each) would require so many logistical hoops to jump through that they'd just have the USAF fly a couple of bombers over the area and hit all the same targets in one pass, as opposed to a few dozen sorties.
The Nighthawk really isn't designed for the kinds of conflicts the USMC deploys to.
@@matchesburn The USMC will have to make do with F-35Cs. 😉
The USMC got rid of their tanks to buy F35B and F35C aircraft... I think they are far better off without this platform, which requires land bases, than with it.
Awesome video! Keep it up!
Thanks !
14:05 was about to say, living in Vegas, every once in a while I use to see the silhouette of one of these. Even once I remember having a discussion with my father about how early UFO sightings were probably just these things flying around the desert.
Great info, we have about 50-100 nighthawks, which can be used as for other uses.
That’s just some outright bad information
UHF and VHF might be able to detect something is there but it isn't accurate enough to pin point or provide fire control. Passive radar can't provide fire control at this moment either and require electromagnetic radiation to be present. It's reconed that an S400 could target an F35 at about 20 miles but it isn't going to go within 20 miles. Stand off weapons will have attacked the S400 by then.
Hey bud looking a new person without the beard and stash 🤣. Keep up the amazing content bud. Mad Respect a d thanks for fighting for our freedom.
Feeling fresh and clean next w haha
Now they are Supported By next generation Satellite Constellation compared to back in the day.
Intel for flight path is critical for stealth Aircraft. And is hardly ever mentioned, without it it will get shot down just like it did.
That's amazing. I had no idea any of these had flown in the past decade or more.
The loss of that F117 was mostly due to using the same route area all the time, and radar operators noticed odd reflective radar signatures on each inbound pass. That heightened the tracking ability for shootdown....
The primary reason was chair force arrogance which resulted in the canceling of the ATOs for the EA-6Bs, F-16CJs and F-15Cs that were to escort the F-117s south. LtGen Michael C. Short USAF should have been relieved, demoted and forced to retire over that screwup.
7:33
Soviet Union: Radar's Clear
F-117 Nighthawk: Hi *Drops payload*
Soviet Union: Welp, I really called Murphy on that one huh?
lol
Alex Hollings over at Sandboxx did a pretty good piece on this. besides the cruise-missile role i've heard of it acting in an opfor capacity as well. fantastic piece of engineering. doesn't hold a place in my heart the way the sr71 does but still an achievement
I don’t think humor is normally your focus with these videos, but this is probably the funniest video I’ve seen from you. Imo
when I see Cybertruck, it reminds me of Nighthawk
When I see a Cybertruck, I see a child that got a participation award 😆
The difference is that the Cybertruck is slightly bullet proof.
Underrated comment
I have watched you go from a few subscribes to over 1.3 M that is awesome! Great show (content) keep up the great work!!
Thank you ! I would have kept making them even if I only had a few subscribers
Nothing makes me more excited than to see old aircraft that should’ve been completely replaced used competitively. The Douglas DC3, Nighthawk, old MIGS, and even this cyberpunk looking birb
I remember seeing them take off on base, and also getting a tour of them when they landed. Got lucky with some contractors taking a video of them taking off, still have that video to this day.
A recently discovered principal of stealth is that size does not matter. The Navy discovered this while designing stealth systems for ships. Large objects can be stealthy at lower frequencies🎉🎉🎉
I know the Nighthawk is from 1981, but it still looks scifi to me.
Thanks for sharing Cappy
Great story. I loved the put it from diverse sources to create an interesting story.
“Give us the size and shape and we will make it fly.”
It's just too cool of a plane to ever retire, just admit, we're all thinking it!
The inertial navigation unit. Basically, the plane knows where it is, because it knows where it isn’t…
Good coverage. But I was surprised the 1st combat operational mission for the F-117 (Just Cause '89) was omitted.
I could possibly see the US Airforce turning its old F-117 Nighthawks into essentially drones. Using them as a distraction for a near peer adversary. Although I could also see them being put into airforce museums.
Training aircraft for other stealth fighters to fight.
Why don't they just make a drone version?
I saw an F-117 in the flesh in rural NY state between Geneseo NY and Rochester NY, it was likely on its way to an airshow It was at approximately 1000 feet in altitude and looked positively other worldly in its black angular design It also was quiet much less loud than commercial aircraft
solid capture of data points and analysis... comprehensive presentation. these scenarios seem operational necessity and fit a niche...
why would you need to drop a 2000lbs bomb on a moving target, what sort of moving target requires a 2000lbs bomb to neutralize it?
It's overkill, yes...but if you need something to hit a moving target, there aren't a whole lot of options in the US arsenal that are smaller, and most of those are designed to fire from under-wing hardpoints on planes that would definitely light up a radar screen.
So, you have a choice...risk a "regular" plane and pilot to use a Maverick missile or something similar, knowing enemy forces will see them and be able to target them at any point...or send an over-sized bomb on a platform that the enemy may or may not see...and even if they can see it, they'd only be able to MAYBE get a radar lock on it for a few seconds while it delivered its payload. The pilot's odds of making it back home are hundreds of times higher...
2000lb LGBs are expensive...but you can make a lot of them for what it costs to make a good pilot.
Enemy Warships
So cool that the air force has Chat GPT flying these now on totally unmanned missions.
Wow! Outstanding episode! After Gulf War 1 I built a model of the F 117.
When you are content to be simply yourself and don't compare or compete, everybody will respect you.
F117 has a hatch on bottom to connect to top opening of passengers airliners. I saw it in a movie, OK? And Steven Seagal has the most powerful martial arts moves.
But did YOU know...passenger jets have a hatch on them to connect them to the F117
the chrome like finish is likely an anti optical tracking coating
Waiting for the Serbs "Sorry, we didn't know it was invisible" in 3, 2, 1...
They even tried to say to they downed 21 of them 🤣🤣🤣 including a B-2. Sad little Serbs, still butt hurt years later. Maybe if they could tell planes apart they would avoid shooting down their own migs. They puff their chest until you talk about air to air combat. The crickets get real loud in that moment.
Long live the Wobblin' Goblin.