With the limited payload and flight characteristics/performance, i've always maintained this was never a tactical aircraft, but more of a strategic/logistics aimed one. The only way those 2 bombs are gonna make a difference is if they hit somewhere it really hurts, and i'm afraid such targets just don't exist right now in most mission modes.
There are many, many, aircraft (both IRL and in the game) that kindof fit into that category - good at their specific intended role, but WT's game modes and/or matchmaker just don't make it as useful as it could be.
@@danielsieker9927 likely because it is still difficult to see visually and track on radar, I imagine you can get some nice sneaky kills and rtb without being noticed
@@danielsieker9927 probably not because in sim there's just way too many equally important targets for the 2 bombs to make much of an impact Except maybe the aircraft carrier, but that one can be taken care of with the improved ASM missiles on tornado
Legend has it only serbians can see the thumbnail Now that the update is dropped how long b4 you can do a review of the new premium Viggen? Thanks so much, i listen to you in background while i fail
I’ve got it, it’s pretty good just lacks HMD, has a good amount of countermeasures, turns hard but bleeds speed if you bit careful, very good for 13.0 if you know what your doing
>get into air rb >side climb up to space >get behind enemy airfield >camp AF as other planes come in to land and watch as the SAMs are helpless to defend >confuse rest of server with how you keep getting aircraft kills in a defenseless stealth bomber
A note on the shoot down in Serbia: to my knowledge, the operator of the missile that shot down the f-117 was specifically obsessed with shooting down an f-117, and employed numerous tactics during that incident, such as using a different frequency of radar, changing the time he turned on the radar from the norm, etc. Even then, part of reason given for the down was that the f-117 used an already well known and recently used route, and the operator turned on its radar just as the f-117’s weapons bay door opened, the precise time when the plane would be the most visible to radar.
Not so much time the time he turned it on, as much as how *long* he turned it on for. He went far above the time he was allowed to have the radar on before standard SOP was for him to shut down and move.
You are pretty on the money there. The only thing that I would add is there is a lot of evidence that the loss of an F-117 was more of an operational failure than an aircraft failure. The Airforce was flying the same patrol route over and over at a set schedule, allowing it's activities to be highly predictable. With modern day mission planning, this same scenario would not have happened. The only reason it was shot down was because every aspect of its mission was known in advance, and so a one-in-a-million radar lock suddenly became much more likely.
He wasn't obsessed, the F-117 used the same flight path and was denied air coverage. So he knew where to look, he used the tactics you mentioned. It was more out of luck.
The TLDR is - as BR goes up, its stealth effectiveness goes down. It was fairly hard to detect by the (few) aircraft it faces in its BR bracket, but more modern stuff didn't have much trouble.
@@TimsVariety i wonder if we'll see any changes with it in the future i.e., (curious how the b2 spirit holds up against SAM radars) I imagine it'll be hard for the snail to gather 'accurate information'- . . . with so much data about stealth technology being classified
@@johnsmith91528 Thats a big part of why I offered observations on its stealth features instead of criticism - I can't really blame them for having to just guess.
@@TimsVariety huge part of why I enjoy this channel so much- your objective analysis over any bias is unparalleled in the WT community I'm always looking forward to your videos mate 👍
I'd expect the stealth value to majorly change in the future. Apparently gaijin got the rear aspect wrong as it's supposed to be as stealthy as the front with its worst aspect being the sides and above
Truly a beautiful aircraft. I love this thing historically and will 100% play it constantly. Sadly though, it is very VERY underwhelming in ARB. Sim is a very different story though, low bomb yield, but incredibly fun.
This thing might be fun in sim, at these BRs you start to rely on radars and IFF, so as long as you stay below contrails and away from middle of the map it might be just a chill ride lmao
I am friends with one of the crew members who operated the SAM system that shot down the first F-117 stealth fighter over Yugoslavia (now Serbia) in 1999. He has authored an excellent and highly detailed book about the event. Contrary to popular belief, no "special" equipment or "special" modes of operation were used. The operation followed standard procedures: the target was first detected on surveillance radar, then locked onto by the targeting radar, and finally destroyed in a conventional "lock-on, shoot-down" sequence. The SAM system used was the S-125 Neva, which requires a locked target for engagement. Even if the crew had prior knowledge of the F-117’s position, they would have been unable to fire without achieving a radar lock. It was only hours later, after the wreckage was recovered, that the downed aircraft was identified as an F-117. The aforementioned book is available in English language: "Night Hawk Down" by Slaviša Golubović. Cheers!
100% recommended, an easy ready too. Required reading for anyone interested in the behind-the-scenes wrangling that led to the Nighthawk and Blackbird.
A few years ago when at the Wright Patterson Museum, they were restoring a number of jets in the Cold War Gallery an rearranged the remainder for easy access. In the then unused section of the hanger, even tho the lights were off, I spotted the silhouette of an F-117. A plain closed guard were standing by one of the jet exhibits trying to blend in but I made him easy cause of where he were standing. I look at him then the F-117 and walked passed the guard rail to the jet. After getting closer I knew for certain it were not part of the exhibit and in operational condition. So i made my inspection doing my best to keep my hands to myself. As I walked back, I were grinning like a bear having become one of the few people to be that close to a functional F-117. We both nodded at each other and I went off to another part of the museum. Couple hours later, the F-117 were gone, they moved the jet.
What was in fact confirmed during the first invasion of Iraq was that a sortie of half a dozen 117s pierced iraq alone in front of several other groups of aircraft. And bombed strategic locations in the heart of Baghdad. They moved past several air stations and ground radar sites and loitered over the area for hours before dropping their ordinance and then left while the rest of NATO was spamming other areas around Baghdad
the fact they will add this thing but not the b-36 is a real kick in the balls for bomber players. we are always told "they are not competitive" "they just make matches take forever" "they have no skill" meanwhile this gunless, subsonic, radar hiding THING is allowed in and no one bitches.
because it's le stealth bomber!! it's the NIGHT HAWK TUAH baybeeee!!! aren't you so happy that the flagship vehicle for this update doesn't even need be here, and fucking SUCKS!?!? bbBBBbut the hawk tuah! y'know, on that thang? I swear this community's will to get curbstomped to the balls and apologize for it is nearly equal to tf2's
I will agree the Nighthawk is very easy to intercept, as I found out when I was playing with my Chinese mig-17, he was flying low trying to avoid the one aircraft on our team that had a radar but against the ground he basically stuck out like a sore thumb, so yeah I dove down and very easy catched up to him and no matter how hard he tried he just couldn't avoid my guns, so I think I'll keep that in mind when I eventually do pick up the Nighthawk, but anyway love the review as always :).
OOOH, start of that video really gave me some SkyShips vibes I can't wait for us, as your audience to get your viewcount up, to get that decal of yours. It would look really good on light-gray planes like grippen/viggen
Here's what I think about the F-117: I think it's GOOD that it's not necessarily competitive or even...GOOD to use in GRB/ARB. I like the fact that it's not meta-defining or anything of the sorts. War Thunder is so competitively-oriented that it's nice to play something simply because it's novel and/or fun, not everything needs to perform well.
Tim working hard to bring us another cracking review in super quick time! This is the best review of the nighthawk by far - the controlled testing of detection ranges is so practically useful for playing the game (this would be a great feature for reviews of any future stealth aircraft the snail brings out).
this jet has single-handedly in only about 3 hours been the best cas experience I've ever had for about 6 months compared to normal jets. IMO, it was worth it
@@justus_invictus991 I dont remember which video, but on one of my recent uploads someone posted a comment asking for it again. I replied to the comment saying they had worn me down, and that THAT specific comment was what got me to add it back for a future vid. This was the vid. :-)
@TimsVariety I always look forward to watching your videos when I'm on break or in the car by myself. You give very concise and easy to understand commentary on a game I have played for 10+ years. You are easily the best WT UA-camr I know
WT has so much potential not only with this bomber, but with many many more aircraft. But they simply don't have any other gamemodes apart from deathmatch.
Tom Clancy's F-19 "Wobbly Goblin." A rare swing and a miss for him. In Red Storm Rising, he wrote the "F-19" being used as a stealthy interceptor of Soviet Mainstays well behind their lines. In the book, the pilot flies low and at night in to East Germany, until he's practically right underneath Soviet AWACS; he pulls up sharply and puts his throttles to the stops, and launches IR missiles at the AWACS. He wrote Red Storm Rising before the F-117 was officially publicly announced. It's why the old Microprose game "F-19 Stealth Fighter" exists and has optional air to air loadouts from the internal bay. It's also why Microprose's "F-117 2.0" a revamp of the older game maintains that legacy inaccurate loadout option. Yes I am old.
In a real hot scenario, it's likely that those sorts of missions might have been done. The F117 was just never in a situation where it had to perform that role. It was tasked with hitting radar sites during gulf war, and went in first to go hunting. It's still classified, so it is perfectly possible that there was a variation of the loadout for taking out mainstays (a radar site, just in the sky) to clear the way for attacks. Think about what the F35 and the F22 are supposed to be used for, and you get an idea of the role it could have played.
@@pluemas It had no way of carrying AAMs. The internal bay was not designed for them, and there were no external hardpoints, as that would have completely negated the point of a stealth aircraft to begin with. The F-117 as designed would never have been used as nor would ever have been considered for any sort of air-to-air engagement.
@@johnroscoe2406 1) we don't know what the specs were, as they're mostly still classified. 2) internal storage made it more complex, but also ended up being the default for modern stealth planes so wasn't a deal breaker. If it could fit a paveway inside it, it could fit an AIM-9. 3) HARMS on Flankers were supposed to be impossible, but we're pretty easily made to work when the situation required it. I'm not saying they made ones from the factory that fired heat seekers, or that it was a thing that was done in any real action. I'm saying that if it was considered as being something that would have been strategically sound, they could have found a way to do it if they wanted to.
Unpopular opinion: I think the a4e early is a better "strike aircraft "than the f117 due to having an early rwr and 60 countermeasures And better payload I mean strictly for cas or striking ground targets
It's actually highly debatable that that study was the origin of stealth. The CIA "Archangel" project (the A12) was already working on stealth at its onset, and had a prototype flying before that study was even published. The equation was just helpful for one of the engineers at skunkworks to solve one particular aspect of its design, and only described an equation for calculating radar return rather than any means of mitigating it or using it in a stealth context. Imo, it has very little to do with the story other than it's a name that's not classified that people can point to. The real inventors are likely lost to time and black tape, and this guy is the one name that people can latch on to.
Using it in test flight, it's honestly beautiful. The cockpit and details are 10. Gaijin did fantastic. Its honestly simple to learn. Just switch views and drop only 2 bombs. Sadly only 2 but the upgraded ones are higher in payload obviously. 8.7 for air is so weird. It honestly is a weird number but again NO guns, NO missiles, NO counter measures and literally 2 bombs. I can definitely see it going to 8.3 but I doubt they will move it down any time soon
Ya, being the first stealth aircraft it was always going to be a bit bad in most aspects. It is nice to see that stealth does work to a degree, and I always love seeing niche vehicles even if they have no chance at being meta.
Tim getting a lot of firsts this year saying things about War Thunder he never thought he'd say. Today is the F-117. Couple months ago it was the AMRAAM.
It's genuinely insane that Gaijin would rather release a new plane that doesn't work with any of their current game modes instead of just releasing a new permanent game mode
They want new players to come in, not old players to stay. I think their belief is that if they keep getting new players (which explains why they market modern jets and tanks instead of anything achievable for a new player) then those new players might buy one thing from the game. Thusly give them more funds than if they tried to appeal to old players in hopes they haven't already bought everything they wanted. It's all about getting new players to spend some cash than old players to spend a lot of cash.
This is awesome, though I still continue to be worried about the implications of releasing later and later generation aircraft, particularly those with low observability characteristics. This community is not necessarily known for great discretion in this area, and as sweaty try hard form posters begin to discuss, it will only take one leak for this to be a real real real big problem. Certainly lots of this data is all in the open source space in terms of the math behind the aircraft and the theory behind the performance of systems for low-observability shape and materials, but I think Gaijin needs to draw a line in the sand as to what they will model not because of a technical or feasibility standpoint, but from an international security standpoint. Again, not based off of theoretical performance data, but when we start trying to model actual aircraft and comparing them in a simulation environment like War Thunder, I am just a bit concerned at what happens when data inevitably leaks from this. Also I want this in the tech tree, I want one but my squadron has like three active players.
Yeah bro it's not a game developers responsibility to keep state secrets lmao. Don't put X plane because of outside behavior lmao. Get out of here. Let the vehicles keep coming.
G'day Tim, I can totally see it being shot down by in a naval custom battle with an S-125 (navalized variant V-600P found on the Project 56K destroyer Bravyi) & made into a meme, since that was the missile type that downed it over Yugoslavia. I wonder what'll come of this test as it's afterall a test, further proper stealth fighters? (probably) & or more gunless strikers/ bombers? (maybe?).
@@TimsVariety already viewed, liked, and commented on it last night in preparation for today. Love what you do Tim. You’ve knocked it out of the park for everything I’ve flown or faced with question.
@@TimsVariety no doubt, playing with my buddy in his German MiG 15 Bis and usually half the enemy team is Nighthawks being hunted harder than any other bomber I have ever seen. Almost feel bad for them having dropped the GE to get it today just to have this experience.
oh absolutely its a fun toy nothing more just like the intruder premium. Id rather just bring an F-16C at that point. my hot take is that ground RB in its current state should be a different mode. call it "combined arms" maybe bring back world war mode and have it in that or something make tank rb just tanks It would fix alot of the issues with the game.
WT players think it’s cool to hate on the Nighthawk. I don’t care if it’s not the best aircraft in the game. I’ll fly it in the right game modes and at the right BRs.
I feel that the Nighthawk in War thunder didn't have its stealth features wasted. It's proof of concept and testing, basically gaijin saying "yes, we can implement stealth. Here's our test for how it will perform". I would expect things like the F-22 in the somewhat near future maybe, if they refine the stealth aspect of it
Never understood the reasoning behind not giving the F-117 countermeasures like flairs and such. It's not like the CMS would have compromised the stealth by just sitting in their launchers but when you would need them the stealth would already be compromised so a few CMS wouldn't make things worse.
Early F117s had a Radar Locating System (not as accurate as a RWR, and supposed to be more of a long range thing to guide to targets) that was retractable but it got removed for the same reason that the countermeasures were never needed. They never worked alone. Essentially, these things would take out the ground sites things that limited F16 or other planes to do their work unmolested, but they always had EWS flights and ground pounders with them. Those birds would usually keep the the SAMs or interceptors attention away and would angrily kill any threat to the F117 before they arrived. The order went as such: SEAD by F16/F111, EWS (EA6/EF111) supporting initial penetration by F117, F117 would attack behind the lines targets (SAM/radar sites) to allow the F16s to push hard ibto the breach. They basically didn't need to worry about heat seekers because they were either already dead or aiming at the other birds, and didn't need to worry about chaff because it didn't really help any more than the radar mitigation it already had.
*"Sorry, we didn't know it was stealthy"* So, F-111A was the first jet ingame with missiles inside the belly bay, now we have our first stealth fighter, F-22, F-35, Su-57, J-20, J-35 Soon-tm! I'm more interested when the Su-37 and 47 get added. Particularly the Su-47 my beloved.
@Tim's Variety War Thunder Is there any way to gradually zoom in with the Targeting Pod without using the mouse wheel? Would like to use other buttons to do so.
It wont be an all-the-time thing, as it kills the stats by a measurable amount, but folks occasionally ask for it, so I'll bring it out every now and then.
Oh nooo stealth aircraft. What ever shall I do? (Go-go gadget: Gun) But I'm perfectly fine with this. A gimmick vehicle is a nice addition every so often. Not everything has to be meta defining. That being said: will I get it? Probably not
When I said the effectiveness of its bomb drops is a hot topic, I meant the accuracy of the individual drops and the targets they were assigned to hit. More of an operational thing than anything about the aircraft.
Before watching this video i was playing a simulation battle and on my team we had 6 Nighthawks and they were very effective destroying enemy vehicles and not dying, even when i, more than once, almost shot at them by mistaken as a enemy Edit: playing as the Javelin in a mix battle i couldn't use the radar iff to identify this guys, they were completely invisible at any ranges
I was surprised that the F3H couldn't see it until basically point-blank. Higher tiered stuff didn't have as much trouble, so it seems that at-BR it worked fairly well.
I can't wait to test fly this plane once and never think about it again!
Literally just did my one 😂
And the new test flight maps are sick af
@@jonesy279me too bro I flew then i was like cool lmao
Exactly fuck war thunder
@@paymo14 it has a cracked flight model in full real.
With the limited payload and flight characteristics/performance, i've always maintained this was never a tactical aircraft, but more of a strategic/logistics aimed one. The only way those 2 bombs are gonna make a difference is if they hit somewhere it really hurts, and i'm afraid such targets just don't exist right now in most mission modes.
There are many, many, aircraft (both IRL and in the game) that kindof fit into that category - good at their specific intended role, but WT's game modes and/or matchmaker just don't make it as useful as it could be.
I wonder if WT's Simulator battles provide a good niche for the F-117
@@danielsieker9927 likely because it is still difficult to see visually and track on radar, I imagine you can get some nice sneaky kills and rtb without being noticed
@@danielsieker9927 probably not because in sim there's just way too many equally important targets for the 2 bombs to make much of an impact
Except maybe the aircraft carrier, but that one can be taken care of with the improved ASM missiles on tornado
@@danielsieker9927if the 4000lb payload could destroy a target on the enemy airfield then yes
Legend has it only serbians can see the thumbnail
Now that the update is dropped how long b4 you can do a review of the new premium Viggen? Thanks so much, i listen to you in background while i fail
It wont be next, but its on the list.
I’ve got it, it’s pretty good just lacks HMD, has a good amount of countermeasures, turns hard but bleeds speed if you bit careful, very good for 13.0 if you know what your doing
I don't even see it, is it a pack plane ?
@@jacknickolstine3355 No, premium.
@@jacknickolstine3355tech tree and pack I think
>get into air rb
>side climb up to space
>get behind enemy airfield
>camp AF as other planes come in to land and watch as the SAMs are helpless to defend
>confuse rest of server with how you keep getting aircraft kills in a defenseless stealth bomber
>2 bombs
Doesn't sound like a bad idea if you have enough time to get all the way around without being close enough to be seen
@@_wayward_494 they are bombs, they explode, if one is lucky he can kill two (three, four) birds with one stone
Air RB base AA are not effected by the stealth of the F117, they will shoot from the same distance as any other plane.
@@_lo8241 dawg he said climb up near space altitude, how is the AA gonna reach him 💀💀
Strela and Type 81 are the biggest pain you can face as they don't even need an IR lock to shoot you down since they can just switch to Optical
Stealth Jet vs Comically Simple Telescope
@@xiphosura413well in real life they fly really high tho
@@annguyenlehoang7779They don't, they fly in the middle to low altitude block and specifically at night.
@@annguyenlehoang7779bullshit
@@annguyenlehoang7779 in reality they flew at night and low/mid altitude, they were hard to visually spot and even harder to see on radar.
A note on the shoot down in Serbia: to my knowledge, the operator of the missile that shot down the f-117 was specifically obsessed with shooting down an f-117, and employed numerous tactics during that incident, such as using a different frequency of radar, changing the time he turned on the radar from the norm, etc. Even then, part of reason given for the down was that the f-117 used an already well known and recently used route, and the operator turned on its radar just as the f-117’s weapons bay door opened, the precise time when the plane would be the most visible to radar.
Not so much time the time he turned it on, as much as how *long* he turned it on for. He went far above the time he was allowed to have the radar on before standard SOP was for him to shut down and move.
You are pretty on the money there. The only thing that I would add is there is a lot of evidence that the loss of an F-117 was more of an operational failure than an aircraft failure. The Airforce was flying the same patrol route over and over at a set schedule, allowing it's activities to be highly predictable. With modern day mission planning, this same scenario would not have happened. The only reason it was shot down was because every aspect of its mission was known in advance, and so a one-in-a-million radar lock suddenly became much more likely.
I love how this story keeps changing every week.
He wasn't obsessed, the F-117 used the same flight path and was denied air coverage. So he knew where to look, he used the tactics you mentioned. It was more out of luck.
love how ppl want the 117 to look as good as possible and make the serbins look bad when its an american plane that was shot down
THE INTRO MUSIC IS BACK. HE BROUGHT IT BACK! I CAN DIE HAPPY KNOWING IT RETURNED! MY QUEST IS OVER
Only for this one vid lol
Please don't die.
I appreciate the radar testing you did with this plane
It definitely cleared up a lot of questions I had about it's stealth capabilities in-game
The TLDR is - as BR goes up, its stealth effectiveness goes down. It was fairly hard to detect by the (few) aircraft it faces in its BR bracket, but more modern stuff didn't have much trouble.
@@TimsVariety i wonder if we'll see any changes with it in the future
i.e., (curious how the b2 spirit holds up against SAM radars)
I imagine it'll be hard for the snail to gather 'accurate information'-
. . . with so much data about stealth technology being classified
@@johnsmith91528 Thats a big part of why I offered observations on its stealth features instead of criticism - I can't really blame them for having to just guess.
@@TimsVariety huge part of why I enjoy this channel so much-
your objective analysis over any bias is unparalleled in the WT community
I'm always looking forward to your videos mate 👍
I'd expect the stealth value to majorly change in the future. Apparently gaijin got the rear aspect wrong as it's supposed to be as stealthy as the front with its worst aspect being the sides and above
Truly a beautiful aircraft. I love this thing historically and will 100% play it constantly.
Sadly though, it is very VERY underwhelming in ARB.
Sim is a very different story though, low bomb yield, but incredibly fun.
Needs an air spawn
This thing might be fun in sim, at these BRs you start to rely on radars and IFF, so as long as you stay below contrails and away from middle of the map it might be just a chill ride lmao
Is it 8.7 in sim?
@FXIIBeaver it is when people actually play that BR.... sometimes...
I am friends with one of the crew members who operated the SAM system that shot down the first F-117 stealth fighter over Yugoslavia (now Serbia) in 1999. He has authored an excellent and highly detailed book about the event. Contrary to popular belief, no "special" equipment or "special" modes of operation were used. The operation followed standard procedures: the target was first detected on surveillance radar, then locked onto by the targeting radar, and finally destroyed in a conventional "lock-on, shoot-down" sequence.
The SAM system used was the S-125 Neva, which requires a locked target for engagement. Even if the crew had prior knowledge of the F-117’s position, they would have been unable to fire without achieving a radar lock.
It was only hours later, after the wreckage was recovered, that the downed aircraft was identified as an F-117.
The aforementioned book is available in English language: "Night Hawk Down" by Slaviša Golubović.
Cheers!
Skunk Works is a great book that describes the development of the Night Hawk
100% recommended, an easy ready too. Required reading for anyone interested in the behind-the-scenes wrangling that led to the Nighthawk and Blackbird.
i actually just checked your channel for this review not 15 seconds ago
A few years ago when at the Wright Patterson Museum, they were restoring a number of jets in the Cold War Gallery an rearranged the remainder for easy access. In the then unused section of the hanger, even tho the lights were off, I spotted the silhouette of an F-117. A plain closed guard were standing by one of the jet exhibits trying to blend in but I made him easy cause of where he were standing.
I look at him then the F-117 and walked passed the guard rail to the jet. After getting closer I knew for certain it were not part of the exhibit and in operational condition. So i made my inspection doing my best to keep my hands to myself. As I walked back, I were grinning like a bear having become one of the few people to be that close to a functional F-117. We both nodded at each other and I went off to another part of the museum. Couple hours later, the F-117 were gone, they moved the jet.
What was in fact confirmed during the first invasion of Iraq was that a sortie of half a dozen 117s pierced iraq alone in front of several other groups of aircraft. And bombed strategic locations in the heart of Baghdad. They moved past several air stations and ground radar sites and loitered over the area for hours before dropping their ordinance and then left while the rest of NATO was spamming other areas around Baghdad
the fact they will add this thing but not the b-36 is a real kick in the balls for bomber players. we are always told "they are not competitive" "they just make matches take forever" "they have no skill"
meanwhile this gunless, subsonic, radar hiding THING is allowed in and no one bitches.
because it's le stealth bomber!! it's the NIGHT HAWK TUAH baybeeee!!! aren't you so happy that the flagship vehicle for this update doesn't even need be here, and fucking SUCKS!?!? bbBBBbut the hawk tuah! y'know, on that thang?
I swear this community's will to get curbstomped to the balls and apologize for it is nearly equal to tf2's
Gonna be fun to use in Air Sim
I'd agree if not for having the worst cockpit design in existence lol
@ works fine for me
@chesterhiggens it's a joke about the visibility and the fact sim confines you to cockpit views, nothing to do with "how it works" lol
@@SA80TAGE yeah I get that, that’s the point of it though.
I will agree the Nighthawk is very easy to intercept, as I found out when I was playing with my Chinese mig-17, he was flying low trying to avoid the one aircraft on our team that had a radar but against the ground he basically stuck out like a sore thumb, so yeah I dove down and very easy catched up to him and no matter how hard he tried he just couldn't avoid my guns, so I think I'll keep that in mind when I eventually do pick up the Nighthawk, but anyway love the review as always :).
I did a test flight with it earlier today, flying this thing felt almost surreal, I cant even describe it how.
OOOH, start of that video really gave me some SkyShips vibes
I can't wait for us, as your audience to get your viewcount up, to get that decal of yours.
It would look really good on light-gray planes
like grippen/viggen
Here's what I think about the F-117:
I think it's GOOD that it's not necessarily competitive or even...GOOD to use in GRB/ARB.
I like the fact that it's not meta-defining or anything of the sorts.
War Thunder is so competitively-oriented that it's nice to play something simply because it's novel and/or fun, not everything needs to perform well.
I tend to agree. I enjoy "off-meta" vehicles. Its pretty satisfying when you can get a good match on in one.
Well done tim. The channel is one of my favorites on UA-cam. You've done an amazing job growing.
Tim working hard to bring us another cracking review in super quick time! This is the best review of the nighthawk by far - the controlled testing of detection ranges is so practically useful for playing the game (this would be a great feature for reviews of any future stealth aircraft the snail brings out).
this jet has single-handedly in only about 3 hours been the best cas experience I've ever had for about 6 months compared to normal jets. IMO, it was worth it
My granddad worked on Have Blue and he said it was the weirdest looking plane he’d seen up til that point and still is
Thats awesome!
Legit saw 4 on my team first match after the update (AirRB), they didn't last long despite thinking they were actually invisible.
My stela kiss there asses
The amount of f117 that shoot down in each battle make every Serbian go crazy.😭😭😭🙏
Ahh yes, flying the nighthawk during the day. Classic french maneuver.
Gaijin should give it 2 dumb Napalm bombs to finish a base in ARB.
9:16 no way you, DonutWithMustache collab XD
Caught me off guard as well
Yeah, I needed a target, and he volunteered.
Been using it in ground rb and it’s been a blast. Got about a 4.2-1 kdr in it after playing it for a day.
Let’s goooo was waiting for this!!
First ETA: I’m feeling SNEAKY!
Im soooo glad you put your theme song in the intro. I missed it
It gets requested often, so I threw it back in just this once.
@TimsVariety Youre awesome dude!
@@justus_invictus991 I dont remember which video, but on one of my recent uploads someone posted a comment asking for it again. I replied to the comment saying they had worn me down, and that THAT specific comment was what got me to add it back for a future vid. This was the vid. :-)
@TimsVariety I always look forward to watching your videos when I'm on break or in the car by myself. You give very concise and easy to understand commentary on a game I have played for 10+ years. You are easily the best WT UA-camr I know
WT has so much potential not only with this bomber, but with many many more aircraft.
But they simply don't have any other gamemodes apart from deathmatch.
10:22 I like what you did there.
Tom Clancy's F-19 "Wobbly Goblin." A rare swing and a miss for him. In Red Storm Rising, he wrote the "F-19" being used as a stealthy interceptor of Soviet Mainstays well behind their lines. In the book, the pilot flies low and at night in to East Germany, until he's practically right underneath Soviet AWACS; he pulls up sharply and puts his throttles to the stops, and launches IR missiles at the AWACS.
He wrote Red Storm Rising before the F-117 was officially publicly announced.
It's why the old Microprose game "F-19 Stealth Fighter" exists and has optional air to air loadouts from the internal bay. It's also why Microprose's "F-117 2.0" a revamp of the older game maintains that legacy inaccurate loadout option.
Yes I am old.
Micropose's F117 was a great game! Its sequel, F15 Strike Eagle III, was disappointing, imho.
In a real hot scenario, it's likely that those sorts of missions might have been done. The F117 was just never in a situation where it had to perform that role. It was tasked with hitting radar sites during gulf war, and went in first to go hunting. It's still classified, so it is perfectly possible that there was a variation of the loadout for taking out mainstays (a radar site, just in the sky) to clear the way for attacks.
Think about what the F35 and the F22 are supposed to be used for, and you get an idea of the role it could have played.
@@pluemas It had no way of carrying AAMs. The internal bay was not designed for them, and there were no external hardpoints, as that would have completely negated the point of a stealth aircraft to begin with. The F-117 as designed would never have been used as nor would ever have been considered for any sort of air-to-air engagement.
@@johnroscoe2406 1) we don't know what the specs were, as they're mostly still classified.
2) internal storage made it more complex, but also ended up being the default for modern stealth planes so wasn't a deal breaker. If it could fit a paveway inside it, it could fit an AIM-9.
3) HARMS on Flankers were supposed to be impossible, but we're pretty easily made to work when the situation required it.
I'm not saying they made ones from the factory that fired heat seekers, or that it was a thing that was done in any real action. I'm saying that if it was considered as being something that would have been strategically sound, they could have found a way to do it if they wanted to.
@@pluemas Please stop.
Love the thumbnail!
Very informative video
I’m excited for it but only for Sim, that’s the only way I could see it being useful in WT
Unpopular opinion:
I think the a4e early is a better "strike aircraft "than the f117 due to having an early rwr and 60 countermeasures
And better payload
I mean strictly for cas or striking ground targets
Damn the soviets dropped the ball hard not taking that scientists research in
Most of the world did, really. Nobody connected the dots.
It's actually highly debatable that that study was the origin of stealth.
The CIA "Archangel" project (the A12) was already working on stealth at its onset, and had a prototype flying before that study was even published. The equation was just helpful for one of the engineers at skunkworks to solve one particular aspect of its design, and only described an equation for calculating radar return rather than any means of mitigating it or using it in a stealth context. Imo, it has very little to do with the story other than it's a name that's not classified that people can point to. The real inventors are likely lost to time and black tape, and this guy is the one name that people can latch on to.
Intro music IS BACK
Just this once. ;-)
❤Nice video.
Glad to be of help in testing it ingame!
Using it in test flight, it's honestly beautiful. The cockpit and details are 10. Gaijin did fantastic. Its honestly simple to learn. Just switch views and drop only 2 bombs. Sadly only 2 but the upgraded ones are higher in payload obviously. 8.7 for air is so weird. It honestly is a weird number but again NO guns, NO missiles, NO counter measures and literally 2 bombs. I can definitely see it going to 8.3 but I doubt they will move it down any time soon
3:25 that is a sentence i hoped i never hear you say due to the implications for the future
Ya, being the first stealth aircraft it was always going to be a bit bad in most aspects. It is nice to see that stealth does work to a degree, and I always love seeing niche vehicles even if they have no chance at being meta.
OLD INTRO BACK?!?!?!?!?!? :DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD
Just this once
Man I haven't heard THAT intro in quite a while! Took me by surprise!
Folks request the old intro now and then, so I promised I'd throw it in once. Not going to be a regular thing though.
This is the best thing I ever saw.
Interesting review, but next time maybe include some footage of the plane? I can't even see it!
Tim getting a lot of firsts this year saying things about War Thunder he never thought he'd say. Today is the F-117. Couple months ago it was the AMRAAM.
Theres still a month left, I might still be able to say "THEY FIXED BOMBER GAMEPLAY!" .... but probably not ....
Well, looks like Tim has got a lotta work to do lol
Tacit Blue when?
The r73 on the su25bm also was a gimmick (according to some) until it got added to other planes and i think it's the same with stealth and the f117
It's genuinely insane that Gaijin would rather release a new plane that doesn't work with any of their current game modes instead of just releasing a new permanent game mode
They want new players to come in, not old players to stay.
I think their belief is that if they keep getting new players (which explains why they market modern jets and tanks instead of anything achievable for a new player) then those new players might buy one thing from the game. Thusly give them more funds than if they tried to appeal to old players in hopes they haven't already bought everything they wanted.
It's all about getting new players to spend some cash than old players to spend a lot of cash.
Didn't know that Donut and Tim was a duo, but im glad it is!
We're all on the Gaijin discord, most of us know each other at least a little bit.
Do you think they’ll rework the spotting system for air RB once we get some stealth aircraft that can actually fire back?
I hope so. I haven't flown out into any top tier air RB since the patch yet, but I'm hearing rumblings that they tweaked spotting.
This is awesome, though I still continue to be worried about the implications of releasing later and later generation aircraft, particularly those with low observability characteristics. This community is not necessarily known for great discretion in this area, and as sweaty try hard form posters begin to discuss, it will only take one leak for this to be a real real real big problem. Certainly lots of this data is all in the open source space in terms of the math behind the aircraft and the theory behind the performance of systems for low-observability shape and materials, but I think Gaijin needs to draw a line in the sand as to what they will model not because of a technical or feasibility standpoint, but from an international security standpoint. Again, not based off of theoretical performance data, but when we start trying to model actual aircraft and comparing them in a simulation environment like War Thunder, I am just a bit concerned at what happens when data inevitably leaks from this.
Also I want this in the tech tree, I want one but my squadron has like three active players.
Yeah bro it's not a game developers responsibility to keep state secrets lmao. Don't put X plane because of outside behavior lmao. Get out of here. Let the vehicles keep coming.
I wonder if we ever get the B-52, B2 Spirit, B1 Lancer, or other modern bombers at some point?
I've got several videos up discussing that topic.
The B52A could work at roughly 8.0- 9.0 with a tail gun, the b2 spirit will be too OP or too garbage and B1 lancerf could fit
G'day Tim,
I can totally see it being shot down by in a naval custom battle with an S-125 (navalized variant V-600P found on the Project 56K destroyer Bravyi) & made into a meme, since that was the missile type that downed it over Yugoslavia.
I wonder what'll come of this test as it's afterall a test, further proper stealth fighters? (probably) & or more gunless strikers/ bombers? (maybe?).
The cockpit visibility is actually WAY better than I was expecting, to be honest.
Unlocked the Mig 15 Bis today, perfect time to hunt F117’s plaguing US player teams in ARB. Lol
If people try to fly this thing anywhere near the middle of the map, its cannonbait for sure.
Also, shameless plug for my recent review of the Mig-15 Bis ;-)
ua-cam.com/video/JbB10ds2dSc/v-deo.html
@@TimsVariety already viewed, liked, and commented on it last night in preparation for today. Love what you do Tim. You’ve knocked it out of the park for everything I’ve flown or faced with question.
@@TimsVariety no doubt, playing with my buddy in his German MiG 15 Bis and usually half the enemy team is Nighthawks being hunted harder than any other bomber I have ever seen. Almost feel bad for them having dropped the GE to get it today just to have this experience.
Should’ve tested how having the bomb bay open affects stealth, as that’s what led to its shoot down in Serbia
I want this plane so bad but I hardly play ground battles😂
Im on console, so i can lock the target and track it without radar. Thats how i got so good at using the BMP-2M as a SAM. No stealth jet will stop me.
My take on this is that the F-117 is basically DoA because of its BR, the game's mechanics, and its lack of armament.
oh absolutely its a fun toy nothing more just like the intruder premium. Id rather just bring an F-16C at that point. my hot take is that ground RB in its current state should be a different mode. call it "combined arms" maybe bring back world war mode and have it in that or something make tank rb just tanks It would fix alot of the issues with the game.
for air RB basically all unarmed bombers are DoA in terms of effectiveness in a match
WT players think it’s cool to hate on the Nighthawk.
I don’t care if it’s not the best aircraft in the game. I’ll fly it in the right game modes and at the right BRs.
one day my friend will see that the super tweet is added
I find it hard to believe a plane that lives or dies by its radar cross section has no rwr. I saw one irl, neat plane. It looked wierd without RAM.
Pantsir shouldn't be able to lock it that far away. This should be dependent on the plane's altitude aswell
I feel that the Nighthawk in War thunder didn't have its stealth features wasted. It's proof of concept and testing, basically gaijin saying "yes, we can implement stealth. Here's our test for how it will perform". I would expect things like the F-22 in the somewhat near future maybe, if they refine the stealth aspect of it
WOOOO INTRO MUSIC BACK BABY!!!!🔥🔥🔥🔥💯💯
Just for one.
@@TimsVariety Aww :(
Never understood the reasoning behind not giving the F-117 countermeasures like flairs and such. It's not like the CMS would have compromised the stealth by just sitting in their launchers but when you would need them the stealth would already be compromised so a few CMS wouldn't make things worse.
Early F117s had a Radar Locating System (not as accurate as a RWR, and supposed to be more of a long range thing to guide to targets) that was retractable but it got removed for the same reason that the countermeasures were never needed. They never worked alone. Essentially, these things would take out the ground sites things that limited F16 or other planes to do their work unmolested, but they always had EWS flights and ground pounders with them. Those birds would usually keep the the SAMs or interceptors attention away and would angrily kill any threat to the F117 before they arrived.
The order went as such: SEAD by F16/F111, EWS (EA6/EF111) supporting initial penetration by F117, F117 would attack behind the lines targets (SAM/radar sites) to allow the F16s to push hard ibto the breach.
They basically didn't need to worry about heat seekers because they were either already dead or aiming at the other birds, and didn't need to worry about chaff because it didn't really help any more than the radar mitigation it already had.
uh oh. is the F-117 gonna be the next classified document leak meme?
Already was.
Hopefully not.
@@TimsVariety i hope so
Are you gon review the new mi8?
I'll get to the upgunned Mi-8s eventually, the next heli will be the SuperHind.
F-117 must comeback in Ace Combat 8. 45 years of F-117 in 2026.
you need fighter cover in war thunder, but otherwise it is okay for ground rb only basically
Guys why the thumbnail is a picture of the sky?
*"Sorry, we didn't know it was stealthy"*
So, F-111A was the first jet ingame with missiles inside the belly bay, now we have our first stealth fighter, F-22, F-35, Su-57, J-20, J-35 Soon-tm! I'm more interested when the Su-37 and 47 get added. Particularly the Su-47 my beloved.
F-106 was before, british buckenier also etc is not first, not last
I remeber the Sega Genesis game could put sidewinder on it...good ole day
YAY THE INTRO MUSIC IS BACK!!!
Just this once.
Does it interact differently with Airfield AA?
I didn't get notice any difference.
They'll add this but not the F-106.
@Tim's Variety War Thunder
Is there any way to gradually zoom in with the Targeting Pod without using the mouse wheel? Would like to use other buttons to do so.
I missed that little intro music bit.
It wont be an all-the-time thing, as it kills the stats by a measurable amount, but folks occasionally ask for it, so I'll bring it out every now and then.
Another plane that war thunder doesnt have a proper playground.
Oh nooo stealth aircraft. What ever shall I do? (Go-go gadget: Gun)
But I'm perfectly fine with this. A gimmick vehicle is a nice addition every so often. Not everything has to be meta defining.
That being said: will I get it? Probably not
donut helped? didn't know 2 of my favorite war thunder youtubers were friends!
now only for spookston to pop in...
We're all on the gaijin discord, most of us know each other at least a little bit.
awesome
Can you revisit the Ho229 with the same test to see if it go an upgrade in the stealth department?
It didn't, nor should it have.
ua-cam.com/video/ZhnKT03W8p8/v-deo.htmlsi=woIHLah7xqSEuDQS@@TimsVariety
It honestly feels like a high BR stuka.
Still questioning why they removed RWR from it. It was quite specific but stil RWR.
Only 1 was downed when it's a frontline bomber designed to bomb HVT. I don't see any doubt about its effectiveness
When I said the effectiveness of its bomb drops is a hot topic, I meant the accuracy of the individual drops and the targets they were assigned to hit. More of an operational thing than anything about the aircraft.
Incredible fun for sim battles, but doesn't seem to have much else.
Its really sad that they made the stealth realistic when the engagement distances aren't realistic at all, makes it unrealistically useless.
Such is the case for a lot of the game's "realistic" features, very sad to see
I wouldn't say realistic nothing much is in this game
Great strategic plane, but not really suited to how the objectives are organized in War Thunder.
nice vid
it does make me wonder why the f117 was added in the first place i would have taken the b1 lancer over the f117 as cool as it it or f18
Before watching this video i was playing a simulation battle and on my team we had 6 Nighthawks and they were very effective destroying enemy vehicles and not dying, even when i, more than once, almost shot at them by mistaken as a enemy
Edit: playing as the Javelin in a mix battle i couldn't use the radar iff to identify this guys, they were completely invisible at any ranges
I was surprised that the F3H couldn't see it until basically point-blank. Higher tiered stuff didn't have as much trouble, so it seems that at-BR it worked fairly well.