RIP F117-A stealth fighter

Then: new hotness.

Now: Outhustled and outsneaked.

http://www.lcsun-news.com/ci_8979043?source=most_emailed

 

I don't think the F-117-A ever really took off (no pun intended). The F-22 Raptor seems to be replacing several older fighter jets.

 

Holy shit...has it REALLY been 27 years since those came out? I remember all the furor surrounding those back in the day.

I was at an air show about 10 years ago where they were doing a bunch of flyovers with military aircraft. First they brought over a B-52 with all the doors open real low, and then followed that with a streaking F-117. That thing was unreal -- you just saw this skinny little black thing on the horizon coming at you and then boom! Right past you. It looked like something Batman would have flown in. Very cool.

 

Yes, the F-22 is replacing most older fighter jets in the military's arsenal, not just the Air Force's, if I recall correctly.

It is dubbed the Joint Strike Fighter. Joint, meaning between services.

 

The budget ain't what it used to be. I fly on Southwest. ;D

 

I thought the Joint Strike Fighter was something different? It looks similar, but has a different designation (the F-35 maybe?). And, unlike the F-22 which has actually been developed, the JSF was in development hell for a while. The "too many things to too many people" syndrome. I could be wrong.

 

Urban legend has it that at an Air Force football game shortly after the F117 came out they announced in the stadium that that day's flyover would be by the Air Force's new "nearly invisible" fighter.

When the time came for the flyover they played the sound of a jet flying over the stadium.

 

The F-35 is different. It's a single-engine aircraft and it's primarily a strike aircraft (such as attacking ground installations). It's supposed to be introduced in 2011.

The F-22 has two engines and it's primary role is air superiority (dogfighting against other aircraft). It's already in service.

 

You're exactly right. They are different aircraft. I was confused.

 

To prove my dumbassery ... http://www.jsf.mil/

 

Different plane. JSF is the F-35 Lightning II.

Unlike the Raptor, the F-35 will have variants that can land on a boat and/or has a STOVL abilities. F-35A will replace the F-16 and A-10 for the Army and the Army Air Corps ;D , F-35B (the jump jet variant) subs in for the Harrier and F/A-18 currently used by the Marine Corps, F-35C replaces the F/A-18 series A-D models currently used by the Navy (but not the Super Hornet). Also unlike the Raptor, the F-35 will be available for allied export; a big chunk of traditional NATO members have signed on and placed orders, as have Australia and Israel.

Might be the widest-used plane since the F-4 Phantom.

 

At the Edwards Air Base Air Show a couple of years ago, I was talking to a pilot of the JSF plane and he made an excellent point: This will be America's last manned fighter plane.

Given the incredible advances in avionics for pilotless craft, I think he's right.