I have been doing some research on my fav bird. The F-117. After looking at some photos of the Have Blue prototype and the F-117 production model, I have decided that Have Blue is a lot sexier that the production model. I know they a both different birds. Anyone else agree? Does anyone know what caused the design changes to transform Have Blue to the F-117? Does the F-117 have a smaller Radar Cross Section the Have Blue?

And was the F-117 retired because of a newer technology? I don't think the Raptor counts, is it as stealthy as the F-117?

the raptor smokes the 117. the raptor is generation 5 aircraft. the only way to detect it is by sight,it is completely invisible to radar. the f-117 was subsonic also. the raptor has supercruise, which enables it to cruise at 1500 mph without afterburners.
they are also linked with broadband so they act as one force in an attack.
another cool thing about the raptor is that every square inch of the skin is a sensor. there is no aircraft on earth or on the drawing board that equals the raptor. that is just a few of the reasons the airforce is selling their soul to get them. also the f-22 has thrust vectoring...one bad ass plane

Going by memory without checking, the F-117 was a little more stable than the Have Blue. There was something about the inward canted tails on the Have Blue that made it unstable. ALong with a few other issues that were changed slightly to make the F-117.

Senior Peg was hideous.

Even the Blue Whale was better looking than that thing.

One of the problems with HAVE BLUE's inwardly canted tails was the way they reflected engine exhaust heat downward. This resulted in a greater IR signature than the designers wanted.

The design philosophy for the F-117A is called "cold bottom, hot top." The underside of the airplane shields the engine/exhaust heat from ground based IR sensors. The IR signature of the upper surface is higher than the bottom.

To reduce IR signature overall, the engines are deeply buried in the fuselage. The exhaust outlets are wide and thin with fixed vanes to spread the flow. The trailing edge of the exhaust deck is lined with multilayer ceramic bricks with an outer coating of LI-900 (space shuttle tile).

BTW, supercruise means that it can cruise supersonically without afterburner. Supersonic is 720mph at sea level - not 1500 mph.

[edit on 7-8-2008 by HatTrick]

Remember that the Have Blue was just that a prototype and lacked many things the front line a/c would have. In addition the production a/c would have to carry a meaningfull fuel load.

As noted there was aflutter issue I think according to the Ben Rich auto bio, and the tails were changed.