F-117 info

Here's a little info about the Nighthawk for all of you haters out there:

- F-117 pilots had code words to advise US Forces in the are that they were about to transit their sector of responsibility - this was to ensure safe passage - and to minimise the issue of a visual contact and friendly fire issues.

- that when approaching the Saudi Air Base they were initially denied entry - the pilots advised that they were going to go in - even if it meant turning "stealth on" to avoid sensors

- that the Saudi ATC's didn't know that they were there until they landed (this is when they were running aggressive CAP against the Iraqis and the Yemenis)

- that they were "physically" WVR of Mig 23's and Mig 29's - all of whom passed them by (and went straight over the top of them). The onboard FLIR was able to descriminate aircraft by "type".

- that even USAF F-15C CAPs who knew their approximate transit times were unable to acquire them electronically, and only confirmed them as they had WVR on a moonlit night as they passed underneath

- that stealth systems were turned "on or off" depending on mission stage.

"Bandits over Bagdhad" Personal Stories of Flying the F-117 over Iraq.
ISBN 1-580007-031-0 Specialty Press
Warren E Thompson

[edit on 21-6-2005 by Hockeyguy567]

The publicly admitted way of "turning stealth on" is to retract all the lights and other objects that stick out. All the running lights/beacons, and the antenna retract into the fuselage when they're going into a combat zone.

I heard of them taking the lights off for stealth flights i never heard of them actually retracting the stuff in flight thats sweet. so will this turning on of stealth be transfered over to the 22 as well? any one know or have thoughts on this?

Actually for flight safety esp. when ferrying the plane around it has a retractable reflector that when deployed boosts its return so it can be picked up.

This highlights how difficult the stealth is to maintain on the F-117. Even a screw backed out a milimeter can increase it detectability

so threating to turn on stealth is real eh. thats crazy cool indeed.

Originally posted by Canada_EH
so threating to turn on stealth is real eh. thats crazy cool indeed.

The plane is stealthy at all time unless they extend the relfector. The radar stealth on the F-117, B-2 et al is passive. Its structures either bounce the radar away from the source or absorb it.

If you read some of the account of desert storm and the development of the plane. Ground crews would often have to pick up dead bats that plower right into the planes parked on the tarmac as the bats did not see it with thier sonar systems. Stealth is on by default unless they extend the reflector for flight safety reasons.

Originally posted by Canada_EH
I heard of them taking the lights off for stealth flights i never heard of them actually retracting the stuff in flight thats sweet. so will this turning on of stealth be transfered over to the 22 as well? any one know or have thoughts on this?

If I remember right, I read that the HF antenna and others were to built into the body of the F22, the first time it's been done as it presents some challenges to the effectiveness of the antennas. I don't think people realize how much new tech is in that aircraft, sustained supersonic speeds with no afterburner for example. One other awesome thing is that there are only three steps to starting the aircraft, it can also go from completly cold to ready for take off in under 90 seconds.

About the F117 though, don't forget the accoustic stealth as well. Baffled engines make it hard for accoustic sensors to pick it up until it's nearly passed and almost silent to the human ear until it's flown past. Also by only flying on solo missions and flying at varying altitudes and flight paths on missions makes them hard to track as well.

Has anybody seen the thing that looks like an old Atari game that the 117 pilots plug into the flight computer? It stores the whole pre-planned mission and loads it into the aircraft allowing it to almost act as a UAV. Navigation and targets, the whole thing is already loaded before the aircraft starts taxiing.

All stealth aircraft can switch between regular and stealth mode in flight. They use radar reflectors and a transponder to make them look like a regular aircraft in peace times. what they do is, right before entering enemy airspace, they turn off the transponder and retract the radar reflectors. this litterly makes the plane(s) vanish from the radar in the blink of an eye.

i had always figures as much about the reflectors and such. any one have any photos of stealths with reflector out? or are they really small fins and shuch that you dont see all that easly?basically what the reflectors look like?

If you want to see the reflector, look for pics of the -117 where you can see the lights and other things hanging out there. You would be amazed at how much anything sticking out blows the RCS up. That's why if you ever get the chance to walk around under a B-2 everywhere there is a rivet line, there is a strip of tape over the rivets. Rivets are a massive bloom for RCS. To work on the -117, you have to actually take the RAM off to get to what's under it. The first time I was allowed to walk around a -117 we were told three things. Absolutely no pics from above or below, autofocus cameras had to be set to manual focus, and absolutely under no circumstances touch the skin. The oil from our skin would be enough to take away some of the stealthiness and cause an RCS bloom.