I think they all help fill its role after its retired, its kinda funny that we will probably be done with our 1st gen stealth while other countries havn't even made 1 yet.

It is weird that we are talking about replacing a plane that alot of countries would love to have in their Airforce.

I guess thats what happens when you spend more then everyone eles combined. I cant even imagine what is the present cutting edge projects they are working on at places like Area 51.

Little off topic but there is no real high tech testing going on at Area 51. Would you test secret concepts with a bunch of people arround looking for something to photograph.

Look at maps a satellite photos, its a big chunk of land, ownd by military and has tighter security then the white house.

Its the PERFECT place to do R&D and test the craft all in the same place, under a very dark vail of secrecy. There are several sat photos on the net, and you can never find not even ONE that shows something out of the ordinary, it even looks as though they have painted the runway on both sides a sandy color to makes people think its inactive, but the truth is its always been very active.

There is a HUGE public interest of the place but nobody even dares to go past the signs that say "Use of deadly force authorized". I cant think of a better place to test black projects, after all these years and still no one who worked there has come forward about things going on there (maybe Bob Lazar, but i'm not sure on that one yet).

They even grabbed more land years back, when the gained a mountain to there land mass, they did it because telescopes were getting very good and people weren't pointing them up, they were hooking them to their computers and taking pics and recording real time video, so they took the whole damn mountain.

But if anyone did make a new Stealth plane now to join you in the game they wouldn't be making an equivalent to the F-117 would they.

Sure America was the first country capable of fielding a modern stealthy warplane, and remains the only one to do so, thats obvious, the thing a lot of you seem to think, and forgive me if I've read this wrong, is sort of "wow, we're doing away with our first gen stealth and no-one else has even got that far yet" in a sort of 'aren't we great' way.

The truth is that stealth technology, as such, is now on a par with Americas in Russia, Japan, Germany France and the UK and probably several other countries too. It is not the lack of knowledge that has prevented these nations from fielding aircraft at least up to F-117 standards if not beyond it in the last decade, but an inability or unwillingness to spend the cash.

This puts a slightly different perspective on it and also, and I admit I'm wandering now but as its on my mind here goes, begs the question;
How would America view the situation if it was Russia, not the USA, spending all these billions more than everyone else and constructing forces so capable, such as an 'all-stealthy'air force as has been mentioned. Outstripping, I think, the next 35 countries combined?

Would you not view it as a major threat to world peace and feel extremely sure that a major war was in the offing?

I think you would. Yet you do not expect the rest of us to be worried about what Americas intentions might be as you are the 'good guys'

Now take that all-stealthy USAF and fast forward 20 years, when the first combat-rated solid state lasers are fitted as weaponry on the planes.Now that is a feared force, but one anyone would love to command if they had the chance.What then of supposed alien activity, how does thsi tie in with all that so-called alien invasion jazz..Worth a ponder.

Just think. If everyone is looking at 51 then you could do testing elsewhere without much worry. It is a diversion. They bring cars and people in, do a few weird things and you got every person with a camara out there just looking at Area 51.

I dont think you relize the size of how much land they have, and that mountains around it cover everything.

Its not like the Whitehouse or Fort Knock where you can see it, but just cant see in it. The only thing people know is where it is, and the government doesn't care if they take pictures, because they are to far away to see anything, and if they do test a flying saucer or black aircraft at night then the most the people on the ground would see is its light, in which case most of the pictures or videos are garbage because the people with there few thousand dollar high def camcorders dont use a tripod and so what looks like the "object" moving around at sharp turning is actually them with an unsteady hand.

Area 51 is about the size of Switzerland according to ATS so it's probably one of the biggest testing grounds in the US. Think of it this way, were else could we do this outside of say Alaska. The federal goverment owns 80% of Nevada so it's ideal for testing.