F-117 Retirement

(April 3, 2008)

The USAF has announced that the Lockheed F-117 Stealth Fighter will retire in April 2008. The last four F-117s will make their final flight on April 22nd, 27 years after the first flight of the prototype.

The retirement has been advanced to an earlier date in order to use the F-117 budget to purchase newer aircraft, such as the F-22 and F-35. The stealth technology of the F-117 dates back to the '70s and is very maintenance-intensive and costly. In addition, that technology has now been partially defeated, exposing the F-117 to enemy defences.

Surprisingly, the USAF has announced that the F-117's replacement would be the F-22 Raptor. While the F-22 also uses stealth technology, it is not designed for ground attack and is a pure air-to-air fighter. It is possible that in the future, the F-22 will be developped for ground attack, as has been the case with the F-15.