Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk

"F117" redirects here. For the F117-PW-100 turbofan engine, see Pratt & Whitney PW2000.

F-117 Nighthawk
Role	Stealth attack aircraft
National origin	United States
Manufacturer	Lockheed Corporation Lockheed Martin
First flight	18 June 1981
Introduction	15 October 1983
Retired	22 April 2008
Primary user	United States Air Force
Number built	64 (5 YF-117A, 59 F-117A)
Developed from	Lockheed Have Blue

The Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk is a stealth ground attack aircraft formerly operated by the United States Air Force. The F-117A's first flight was in 1981, and it achieved initial operating capability status in October 1983. The F-117A was "acknowledged" and revealed to the world in November 1988.

A product of the Skunk Works and a development of the Have Blue technology demonstrator, it became the first operational aircraft initially designed around stealth technology. The F-117A was widely publicized during the Persian Gulf War of 1991. It was commonly called the "Stealth Fighter" although it was an attack aircraft, making its F-designation misleading.

The Air Force retired the F-117 on 22 April 2008, primarily due to the fielding of the F-22 Raptor and the impending fielding of the F-35 Lightning II.

Development

In 1964, Pyotr Ya. Ufimtsev, a Soviet/Russian mathematician, published a seminal paper, "Method of Edge Waves in the Physical Theory of Diffraction", in the Journal of the Moscow Institute for Radio Engineering, in which he showed that the strength of a radar return is related to the edge configuration of an object, not its size. Ufimtsev was extending theoretical work published by the German physicist Arnold Sommerfeld. Ufimtsev demonstrated that he could calculate the radar cross-section across a wing's surface and along its edge. The obvious conclusion was that even a large aircraft could be made stealthy by exploiting this principle. However, the airplane's design would make it aerodynamically unstable, and the state of computer technology in the early 1960s could not provide the kinds of flight computers which allow aircraft such as the F-117, and B-2 Spirit to stay airborne. However, by the 1970s, when a Lockheed analyst reviewing foreign literature found Ufimtsev's paper, computers and software had advanced significantly, and the stage was set for the development of a stealthy airplane.

Senior Trend

F-117A painted in "Gray Dragon" experimental camouflage scheme.

The F-117 was born after combat experience in the Vietnam War when increasingly sophisticated Soviet surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) downed heavy bomber flights. It was a black project, an ultra-secret program for much of its life, until the late 1980s. The project began in 1975 with a model called the "Hopeless Diamond" (a wordplay on the Hope Diamond due to its appearance). In 1977 Lockheed produced two 60% scale models under the Have Blue contract. The Have Blue program was a stealth technology demonstrator that lasted from 1976 to 1979. The success of Have Blue led the Air Force to create the Senior Trend program which developed the F-117.

The decision to produce the F-117A was made on 1 November 1978, and a contract awarded to Lockheed Advanced Development Projects, popularly known as the Skunk Works, in Burbank, California. The program was led by Ben Rich. Rich called on Bill Schroeder, a Lockheed mathematician, and Denys Overholser, a computer scientist, to exploit Ufimtsev's work. They designed a computer program called Echo, which made it possible to design an airplane with flat panels, called facets, which were arranged so as to scatter over 99% of a radar's signal energy "painting" the aircraft.

The F-117 first flew in June 1981, only 31 months after the full-scale development decision. The first production F-117A was delivered in 1982, operational capability was achieved in October 1983. The Air Force denied the existence of the aircraft until 1988, when a grainy photograph was released to the public. In April 1990 two were flown into Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, arriving during daylight and visible to a crowd of tens of thousands. Five Full Scale Development (FSD) aircraft built and were designated "YF-117A". A total of 59 production F-117s were delivered through July 1990.

F-117 taxiing.

As the Air Force has stated, "Streamlined management by Aeronautical Systems Center, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, combined breakthrough stealth technology with concurrent development and production to rapidly field the aircraft... The F-117A program demonstrates that a stealth aircraft can be designed for reliability and maintainability." The aircraft maintenance statistics are comparable to other tactical fighters of similar complexity. Logistically supported by Sacramento Air Logistics Center, McClellan AFB, California, the F-117A was kept at the forefront of technology through a planned weapon system improvement program located at USAF Plant 42 at Palmdale, California.

Several of the F-117s were painted with a gray camouflage pattern in an experiment to determine the effectiveness of the F-117's stealth during daylight conditions. 2004 and 2005 saw several mid-life improvement programs implemented on the F-117, including an avionics upgrade.

Designation

The operational aircraft had the official designation of "F-117A". Most modern U.S. military aircraft use post-1962 designations in which the designation "F" is usually an air-to-air fighter, "B" is usually a bomber, "A" is usually a ground-attack aircraft, etc. (Examples include the F-15, the B-2, and the A-6.) The F-117 is primarily a ground-attack aircraft so its "F" designation is inconsistent with the DoD system, but it is an inconsistency that has been repeatedly employed by the U.S. Air Force with several of its ground attack aircraft since the late 1950s (i.e., F-105, F-111, etc.).

F-117 flight demonstration

The designation "F-117" seems to indicate that it was given an official designation prior to the 1962 U.S. Tri-Service Aircraft Designation System and could be considered numerically to be a part of the earlier "Century series" of fighters. The assumption prior to the revealing of the aircraft to the public was that it would likely receive the designation F-19 as that number had not been used. However there were no other aircraft to receive a "100" series number following the F-111. Captured Soviet fighters were given F-series numbers for their evaluation by U.S. test pilots, and with the advent of the Teen Series fighters, most often Century Series designations.

As with other exotic military aircraft types flying in the southern Nevada area, such as captured fighters, an arbitrary radio call of "117" was assigned. This same radio call had been used by the enigmatic 4477th "Red Hats/Red Eagles" unit that often had flown expatriated MiGs in the area, but there was no relationship to the call and the formal F-19 designation then being considered by the Air Force. Apparently, use of the "117" radio call became commonplace and when Lockheed released its first flight manual ("dash one"), F-117A was the designation printed on the cover.

A televised documentary quoted a senior member of the F-117A development team as saying that the top-notch fighter pilots required to fly the new aircraft were more easily attracted to an "F" plane, as opposed to a "B" or "A" aircraft.

Design

Front view of an F-117

The F-117 is shaped to deflect radar signals and is about the size of an F-15 Eagle. The single-seat Nighthawk is powered by two non-afterburning General Electric F404 turbofan engines, and has quadruple-redundant fly-by-wire flight controls. It is air refuelable. To lower development costs, the avionics, fly-by-wire systems, and other parts are derived from the F-16 Fighting Falcon, F/A-18 Hornet and F-15E Strike Eagle. The parts were originally described as spares on budgets for these aircraft, to keep the F-117 project secret. The F-117 Nighthawk has a radar signature of about 0.025 m².

F-117 with its canopy opened

Among the penalties for stealth are lower engine power thrust, due to losses in the inlet and outlet, a very low wing aspect ratio, and a high sweep angle (50°) needed to deflect incoming radar waves to the sides. With these design considerations and no afterburner, the F-117 is limited to subsonic speeds.

The F-117A is equipped with sophisticated navigation and attack systems integrated into a digital avionics suite. It carries no radar, which lowers emissions and cross-section. It navigates primarily by GPS and high-accuracy inertial navigation. Missions are coordinated by an automated planning system that can automatically perform all aspects of an attack mission, including weapons release. Targets are acquired by a thermal imaging infrared system, slaved to a laser that finds the range and designates targets for laser-guided bombs.

The F-117A's split internal bay can carry 5,000 lb (2,300 kg) of ordnance. Typical weapons are a pair of GBU-10, GBU-12, or GBU-27 laser-guided bombs, two BLU-109 penetration bombs, or two Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAMs), a GPS/INS guided stand-off bomb.

Operational history

An F-117A during landing employing a drag-chute.

During the program's early years, from 1984 to mid-1992, the F-117A fleet was based at Tonopah Test Range Airport, Nevada where it served under the 4450th Tactical Group. Because the F-117 was classified during this time, the 4450th Tactical Group was "officially" located at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada and equipped with A-7 Corsair II aircraft. The 4450th was absorbed by the 37th Tactical Fighter Wing in 1989. In 1992, the entire fleet was transferred to Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico, where it was placed under the command of the 49th Fighter Wing. The move eliminated the Key Air and American Trans Air contract flights, which flew 22,000 passenger trips on 300 flights from Nellis to Tonopah per month.

F-117 pilots called themselves "Bandits". Each of the 558 Air Force pilots who have flown the F-117 have a Bandit number, such as "Bandit 52", that indicates the sequential order of their first flight in the F-117.

The F-117 has been used several times in war. Its first mission was during the United States invasion of Panama in 1989. During that invasion two F-117A Nighthawks dropped two bombs on Rio Hato airfield.

File:USAF F-117 Nighthawk formation (1).jpg

F-117s in formation

During the Persian Gulf War in 1991, the F-117A flew approximately 1,300 sorties and scored direct hits on 1,600 high-value targets in Iraq over 6,905 flight hours. Only 2.5% of the American aircraft in Iraq were F-117s, yet they struck more than 40% of the strategic targets. F-117As dropped over 2,000 tons of precision-guided munitions and struck their targets with over an 80% success rate. "Although the 37th Tactical Fighter Wing Provisional and its 42 stealth fighters represented just 2.5 percent of all allied fighter and attack aircraft in the Persian Gulf, the F-117As were assigned against more than 31 percent of the strategic Iraqi military targets attacked during the first 24 hours of the air campaign."

F-117 Nighthawk USAF video

It was one of very few U.S. or coalition aircraft types to strike targets in downtown Baghdad. Its stealth characteristics protected it from the SAM and AAA -saturated environment of the city, and due both to its precision-guided weaponry and its avoidance of having to jettison ordnance in defensive maneuvers F-117 missions proved less likely to cause civilian casualties and collateral damage.

Since moving to Holloman AFB in 1992, the F-117A and the men and women of the 49th Fighter Wing have deployed to Southwest Asia more than once. On their first trip, the crews flew non-stop from Holloman to Kuwait, a flight of approximately 18.5 hours – a record for single-seat fighters that stands today.

It has subsequently been used in Operation Allied Force in 1999, Operation Enduring Freedom in 2001, and Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003.

Accidents

• S/N 79-0785 was lost on 20 April 1982 during takeoff on its maiden flight. The cause was determined to be incorrect assembly. A major design change had occurred, which caught the Lockheed workers off guard. The inputs for the flight control computer were changed to a different sequence then on previous aircraft. As a result, the aircraft went out of control on takeoff, and crashed. Pilot Robert L. Riedenauer was unable to eject in time, and was seriously injured, requiring eight months hospitalization. As a result of his injuries he was forced to retire from flying. The battered airframe of 785 was returned to the Lockheed Skunk Works plant at Burbank, California where it was used as a functional engineering testbed to test the fit of new components.
• S/N 80-0792 was lost on 11 July 1986. The aircraft suffered a controlled decent into terrain, and was destroyed on impact. The pilot, Maj. Ross E. Mulhare, was killed in the crash. The cause was determined to be spatial disorientation.
• S/N 81-0793 was lost on 14 September 1997 during an airshow at Martin State Airport in Baltimore, Maryland. The aircraft suffered a catastrophic wing failure, resulting in the port wing completely separating from the fuselage. The aircraft was destroyed on impact. The pilot ejected safely. The cause was determined to be missing wing bolts.
• S/N 82-0801 Perpetrator was lost on 4 August 1992. The aircraft crashed approximately eight miles northeast of Holloman Air Force Base, and was destroyed on impact. The pilot, Capt. John B. Mills, 416th FS, ejected safely. The cause was determined to be an improperly installed bleed air duct.
• S/N 85-0815 was lost on 14 October 1987. The aircraft suffered a controlled decent into terrain, and was destroyed on impact about 100 miles north of Nellis Air Force Base just east of Tonopah. The pilot, Maj. Michael C. Stewart, was killed in the crash. The cause was determined to be spatial disorientation.
• S/N 86-0822 was lost on 10 May 1995. The aircraft suffered a controlled decent into terrain, and was destroyed on impact approximately seven miles south of Zuni, New Mexico on the Zuni Indian Reservation. The pilot, Capt. Kenneth Levens, was killed in the crash. The cause was determined to be spatial disorientation following an autopilot failure.

Combat losses

F-117 (S/N 82-0806) "Something Wicked" remains the only F-117 lost to enemy action. It was lost during a mission against the Army of Yugoslavia on 27 March 1999, during the Kosovo War. The Nighthawk was shot down by a missile fired by elements of the 3rd Battalion of the 250th Air Defence Missile Brigade under the command of Colonel Zoltán Dani, a Hungarian national with extensive experience in missile defense systems who was employed with the Yogoslav military's air defense. "Something Wicked", callsign "Vega 31", was downed with a Yugoslav version of the Soviet Isayev S-125 'Neva' (NATO name SA-3 'Goa') anti-aircraft missile system. According to NATO Commander Wesley Clark and other NATO generals, Colonel Dani detected F-117s by operating his radars on unusually long wavelengths, making the aircraft visible to radar for brief periods. It is also possible that the aircraft was visible on radar due to a disruption or enlargement of its radar signature caused by open bomb-bay doors. This was the justification given by Colonel Dani in a 2007 interview.

Canopy of F-117 shot down in Serbia in March 1999 at the Museum of Aviation in Belgrade.

On 27 March 1999 "Something Wicked" was flying its fifth OAF mission when, at about 8:15 pm local time, several SA-3s were launched from approximately 8 miles (13 km) away. One of the missiles detonated near the F-117A by means of its proximity fuze. Following the explosion the aircraft became uncontrollable, forcing the pilot to eject. The pilot was recovered a short time later by a Combat Search and Rescue Team. Photos show that the aircraft struck the ground at slow speed in an inverted position, and that the airframe remained relatively intact. Despite the condition of the aircraft, the wreckage of the F-117 was not promptly bombed due to the presence of civilians surrounding the crash site. The Serbs are believed to have invited Russian personnel to inspect the aircraft's remains, compromising the then 25-year-old US stealth technology. The F-117's pilot was initially misidentified. While the name "Capt Ken 'Wiz' Dwelle" was painted on the canopy, it was revealed in 2007 that the pilot was actually Lt. Col. Dale Zelko, USAF.

Although the exact nature of the F-117's threat receivers is still classified, it is believed that the aircraft has no radar warning indicator, so the pilot's first indication of an incoming missile was probably seeing its flame. At this distance and combined speed the pilot had about six seconds to react before impact. According to an interview, Zoltán Dani kept most of his missile sites intact by frequently moving them, and had spotters looking for F-117s and other NATO aircraft. He oversaw the modification of his targeting radar to improve its detection. The commanders and crews of the SAMs guessed the flight paths of earlier F-117A attacks from rare radar spottings and positioned their SAM launchers and spotters accordingly. Spotters located near the F-117s' airfield are believed to have been equipped with cell phones, enabling them to communicate directly with SAM batteries, calling them to inform them when an aircraft took off. It is believed that the SA-3 crews and spotters were able to locate and track F-117A 82-806 visually, probably with infrared and night vision systems. Dani also claimed that his battery shot down an F-16 as well.

Some sources claim that a second F-117A was damaged during the same campaign, allegedly on 30 April. Although the aircraft returned to base, it supposedly never flew again.

Scrapping

• To date only one F-117 has been scrapped. Aircraft S/N 79-0784 was scrapped at the Palmdale test facility on 26 April 2008. The aircraft was the last F-117 at Palmdale, and was scrapped to test an effective method for destroying F-117 airframes.

Retirement

An F-117A parked at Langley AFB, Virginia.

Despite its productive combat service, the F-117 was designed with late 1970s technologies. Its stealth technology, while more advanced than that of any other aircraft except the B-2 Spirit and the F-22 Raptor, was maintenance intensive. Furthermore, the facet-based stealth design has been surpassed by newer technology. Program Budget Decision 720 (PBD 720), dated 28 December 2005, proposed retiring the entire fleet by October 2008 to permit buying more F-22As. PBD 720 called for 10 aircraft to be retired in FY 2007 and the remaining 42 aircraft in FY 2008 and stated there were more capable Air Force assets that could provide low observable, precision penetrating weapons capability including the B-2, F-22 and JASSM. The Air Force originally planned to retire the F-117 in 2011. The Air Force later decided to retire the F-117 sooner to shift funds to modernizing other types of aircraft. This was expected to save an estimated $1.07 billion.

In late 2006, the Air Force closed the F-117 formal training unit (FTU), and announced the retirement of the F-117. The first six aircraft to be retired made their last flight on 12 March 2007 after a ceremony at Holloman AFB to commemorate the aircraft's career. Brigadier General David Goldfein, commander of the 49th Fighter Wing, said at the ceremony, "With the launch of these great aircraft today, the circle comes to a close — their service to our nation's defense fulfilled, their mission accomplished and a job well done. We send them today to their final resting place — a home they are intimately familiar with — their first, and only, home outside of Holloman."

A pair of specially painted F-117 Nighthawks fly off from their last refueling by the Ohio Air National Guard's 121st Air Refueling Wing.

Unlike most other Air Force aircraft which are retired to Davis-Monthan AFB for scrapping, or dispersal to museums, the F-117s were retired to their original hangers at the Tonopah Test Range Airport. At Tonopah, their wings were removed and the aircraft are stored in their original climate-controlled hangars. The decomissioning occurred in eight phases, with the operational aircraft retired to Tonapah in seven waves beginning on 13 March 2007, and ending with the last wave's arrival on 22 April 2008. Four aircraft were kept flying beyond April by the 410th Flight Test Squadron at Palmdale for flight test. By the beginning of August, two were remaining. The last F-117 (S/N 86-0831) left Palmdale to fly to Tonopah on 11 August 2008. This was the last flight of an F-117. With the last aircraft retired, the 410th was deactivated in a ceremony on 1 August 2008.

Although officially retired, the F-117 fleet remains intact, and photos show the aircraft carefully mothballed. No further aircraft have been scrapped, or transferred to museums, and it appears they could be returned to service with little difficulty.

Variants

F-117N “Seahawk”

In the early 1990s, Lockheed proposed an upgraded, carrier capable variant of the F-117 dubbed the “Seahawk” as an alternative to the canceled A/F-X program. The unsolicited proposal was received poorly by the Department of Defense, who had little interest in the single mission capabilities of such an aircraft, particularly as it would take money away from the Joint Advanced Strike Technology program (which evolved into the Joint Strike Fighter). The new aircraft would have differed from the land based F-117 in several ways, including the addition “of elevators, a bubble canopy, a less sharply swept wing and reconfigured tail". The “N” variant would also be re-engined to use General Electric F414 turbofans instead of the older General Electric F404s. Furthermore the aircraft would be optionally fitted with hardpoints, allowing for an additional 8,000 lb (3,600 kg) of payload, and a new ground attack radar with air-to-air capability. In that role the F-117N could carry AIM-120 AMRAAM air-to-air missiles.

After being rebuffed by the Navy, Lockheed submitted an updated proposal that included afterburning capability and a larger emphasis on the F-117N as a multi-mission aircraft, rather than just an attack aircraft. In efforts to boost interest, Lockheed also proposed an F-117B land-based variant that shared most of the F-117N capabilities. This variant was proposed to both the US Air Force and the RAF. This renewed F-117N proposal was also known as the A/F-117X. Neither the F-117N or the F-117B were purchased by any party.

Operators

Three F-117s during maintenance

United States

United States Air Force

• 4450th Tactical Group - Tonopah Test Range Airport
  • 4450th Tactical Squadron (1981–1989)
  • 4451st Tactical Squadron (1981–1989)
  • 4453rd Test and Evaluation Squadron (1985–1989)
• 37th Tactical Fighter Wing - Tonopah Test Range Airport
  • 415th Tactical Fighter Squadron (1989–1993)
  • 416th Tactical Fighter Squadron (1989–1993)
  • 417th Tactical Fighter Training Squadron (1989–1993)
• 49th Fighter Wing - Holloman AFB
  • 7th Fighter Squadron (1991–2006)
  • 8th Fighter Squadron (1992–2008)
  • 9th Fighter Squadron (1993–2008)

Aircraft on display

• The first YF-117A (s/n 19-0780) is currently on pedestal display at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada. (36°13′38.00″N 115°3′33.28″W) It was placed on display on Nellis Boulevard on 16 May 1992, and was the first F-117 to be made a gate guardian.
• The second YF-117A (s/n 79-0781) "Scorpion" is currently on static display at the National Museum of the Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. It was delivered to the museum on 17 July 1991.
• The third YF-117A built (79-0782) "Scorpion 3" is on static display at Holloman Air Force Base, repainted to resemble the first F-117A used to drop weapons in combat. This aircraft was used for acoustics and navigation system testing. While wearing a flag painted on its bottom surface, this aircraft revealed the type's existence to high-ranking officials at Groom Lake on 14 December 1983, the first semi-public unveiling of the aircraft. It was placed on display at Holloman on 5 April 2008.
• The fourth YF-117A (s/n 79-0789) "Scorpion 4" is currently on static display in the Blackbird Airpark at Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, California. It was used for avionics integration tests. It was moved to the Airpark on 3 March 2008.
• The remains of the F-117A (s/n 82-0806) "Something Wicked", downed over Serbia (see "Combat losses"), are displayed at the Museum of Aviation in Belgrade close to Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport.

Specifications

An orthographically projected diagram of the F-117A Nighthawk

An F-117 conducts a live exercise bombing run using GBU-27 laser-guided bombs.

Nighthawk's left "ruddervator" or V-tail shown

Data from USAF National Museum, US Air Force

General characteristics

• Crew: 1

Performance

• Thrust/weight: 0.40

Armament

• 2 × internal weapons bays with one hardpoint each (total of two weapons) equipped to carry:
  • Bombs:
    • BLU-109 hardened penetrator
    • GBU-10 Paveway II laser-guided bomb
    • GBU-12 Paveway II laser-guided bomb
    • GBU-27 Paveway III laser-guided bomb
    • JDAM INS/GPS guided munition
    • B61 nuclear bomb

Notable appearances in media

Main article: Aircraft in fiction § F-117 Nighthawk

The Omaha Nighthawks professional football team uses the F-117 Nighthawk as its logo.

Nicknames

The aircraft's official name is "Night Hawk", however the alternative form "Nighthawk" is frequently used. Early in their carreer, before their official unvailing, they were often referred to as the "roaches", because they were kept hangered during the day and only brought out at night, in order to avoid detection by spy satellites.

As it prioritized stealth over aerodynamics, it earned the nickname "Wobbly-Goblin" due to its alleged instability at low speeds; according to F-117 pilots, the nickname is undeserved. "Wobbly (or wobblin') Goblin" is likely a holdover from the early Have Blue / Senior Trend (FSD) days of the project when instability was a problem. In the USAF, "Goblin" (without wobbly) persists as a nickname because of the aircraft's appearance. Locals around Holloman Air Force Base call it the "Stealth".

See also

• Facetmobile

Related development

• Lockheed Have Blue
• Sea Shadow

Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era

• MBB Lampyridae
• B-2 Spirit
• BAE Replica

Related lists

• List of Lockheed aircraft
• List of military aircraft of the United States

References

Notes

Bibliography

• Aronstein David C. and Albert C. Piccirillo. HAVE BLUE and the F-117A. Reston, VA: AIAA, 1997. ISBN 1-56347-245-7.
• Crickmore, Paul F. and Alison J. Nighthawk F-117 Stealth Fighter. St. Paul, Minnesota: Motorbooks, 2003. ISBN 0-7603-1512-4.
• Crocker, H.W. III. Don't Tread on Me. New York: Crown Forum, 2006. ISBN 978-1400053636.
• Donald, David, ed. Black Jets: The Development and Operation of America's Most Secret Warplanes. Norwalk, Connecticut: AIRtime Publishing Inc., 2003. ISBN 1-880588-67-6.
• Fisk, Robert. The Great War for Civilisation: The Conquest of the Middle East. New York: Alfred Knopf, 2006. ISBN 1-84115-007-X.
• Grant, R.G. and John R. Dailey. Flight: 100 Years of Aviation. Harlow, Essex: DK Adult, 2007. ISBN 978-0756619022.
• Logan, Don. Lockheed F-117 Nighthawks: A Stealth Fighter Roll Call. Atglen, Pennsylvania: Schiffer Publishing, 2009. ISBN 978-0-7643-3242-5.
• Miller, Jay. Lockheed F-117 Stealth Fighter. Arlington, Texas: Aerofax Extra, 1990. ISBN 0-94254-848-5.
• Rich, Ben R. Skunk Works. New York: Back Bay Books, 1994. ISBN 0-316-74330-5.
• Richardson, Doug. Stealth Warplanes. New York: Salamander Books Ltd, 2001. ISBN 0-7603-1051-3.
• Sun, Andt. F-117A Stealth Fighter. Hong Kong: Concord Publications Co., 1990. ISBN 962-361-017-3.
• Winchester, Jim, ed. "Lockheed F-117". Modern Military Aircraft (Aviation Factfile). Rochester, Kent, UK: Grange Books plc, 2004. ISBN 1-84013-640-5.
• The World's Great Stealth and Reconnaissance Aircraft. New York: Smithmark, 1991. ISBN 0-8317-9558-1.

External links

• F-117A Nighthawk U.S Air Force history page
• The 49th Fighter Wing at Holloman Air Force Base
• F-117A.com - The "Black Jet" website (a comprehensive site)
• F-117 article and Stealth article on Centennial of Flight web site
• F-117A Nighthawk page on AirAttack.com
• F-117A Nighthawk page on FAS.org
• Lockheed F-117 Stealth Fighter on Vectorsite.net
• "Filling the Stealth Gap," in Air and Space Power Journal Fall 2006
• The Advent, Evolution, and New Horizons of United States Stealth Aircraft
• "The Secrets of Stealth" on Discovery Military Channel
• Austrian Radar Plots on acig.org
• CNN - U.S. plane shot down, pilot rescued - March 27, 1999
• Template:De icon Austrian article about interception of F-117