WANE: F-117 Nighthawks photographed heading toward Area-51

Article ...

WANE: F-117 Nighthawks photographed heading toward Area-51

... Basically, looks like F-117s (officially retired some time ago) are perhaps being used in some sort of training operation (for pilots of some newer platform like F-22s or F-35s) or maybe to test ability of some new sensory equipment to detect them better now?

originally posted by: EnhancedInterrogator
Article ...

WANE: F-117 Nighthawks photographed heading toward Area-51

... Basically, looks like F-117s (officially retired some time ago) are perhaps being used in some sort of training operation (for pilots of some newer platform like F-22s or F-35s) or maybe to test ability of some new sensory equipment to detect them better now?

I swear I saw one in central AZ last week near major airbase.

Couldn't convince myself to believe own eyes though.

Maybe converting into drones?

I'd like that.

Very likely there are a few in warm storage.

Lots of interesting things fly around the NTTR north of Vegas. Lots of different airframes available for the Aggressor Squadron. Saw them in the air more than once while stationed at Nellis in the early '10s. Figured they were just supporting a Red Flag or those pilots getting airtime to maintain currency. Always cool to spot one.

Kinda like the SR-71. Operationally retired in 1990 (date varies depending on source), yet made an airshow appearance at Beale AFB, north of Sacto, Cali in '97. I remember it being a big deal because it had been retired for a while.

a reply to: EnhancedInterrogator

Better get Zaphod58.

If he can't explain this, you got a conspiracy.

Maybe they're like Salmon and feel the need to go home once in a while. It's good to see them flying again even if it's for a short while. I remember back in the early 90s, one visited Selfrige for an air show, armed marines and everything. They had to move all the parking lot ropes and whatnot and put them back willy nillie and nobody could find their cars. I wandered around for an hour looking for mine.

a reply to: davegazi2

It does make you wonder, when you have a great platform that was once in the black world, then revealed, that was such a brilliant machine.

Then pretending it’s retired, though re cloaked into the Grey world.

They've been flying for years. Sammamishman and I caught them out of Tonopah in 2016 on one of our trips. They're playing aggressor for Red Flag, and other exercises helping to develop anti-stealth tactics.

a reply to: robsmith

They are operationally retired. They're being used for developing anti-stealth tactics and doctrine.

a reply to: davegazi2

Three SR-71s were brought back into operational service around 1991 and flew until 1998, with NASA flying them until 1999.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
They've been flying for years. Sammamishman and I caught them out of Tonopah in 2016 on one of our trips. They're playing aggressor for Red Flag, and other exercises helping to develop anti-stealth tactics.

Thank you Zaph!


Do you know if there was an exercise in central/southern AZ last week and week before?

A lot more activity than usual.

Mostly high flyers that I can't identify, but appear to be fighter size.

But also a lot of heavy lift type, and other helicopters.

Not a ton of them, just a lot more than usual.

I assumed they were heading to boneyard at first, then saw some of them departing NNW the next week.

a reply to: Nunyabizisit

March ARB has been sending tankers down near Nogales to train with the A-10s out of DM, and the F-16s out of Tucson, who have also been on nights. Summer Fury 21 has been going on all month, involving Yuma, Miramar, and Canon. It's included long range missions, as well as operating off shore.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: Nunyabizisit

March ARB has been sending tankers down near Nogales to train with the A-10s out of DM, and the F-16s out of Tucson, who have also been on nights. Summer Fury 21 has been going on all month, involving Yuma, Miramar, and Canon. It's included long range missions, as well as operating off shore.

Thank you!


That pretty perfectly describes what I observed.

Explains why I haven't seen any A-10s.

I've been trying to spot one in in the air since I moved here.

I am north of tucson.

From OP's linked article:

"While Arnu believes the Nighthawks are taking part in the current Red Flag exercises, he speculated the jets might have come out retirement for another reason, a distraction to take attention away from a bigger secret project at the Tonopah base.

They may also be distracting from what’s really flying out of Tonopah. There has been a lot of money put into Tonopah Test Range in the last couple of years. The construction is almost non stop for the last year and a half. They are putting a lot of money into upgrading the runway, both the surface of the runway but also the electronics associated with the runway such as nav. aids and such. And another thing you can see, the economy of the town of Tonopah largely depends on work at TTR. And when I go to Tonopah, these days, I can see new stores opening, new businesses opening, there’s money their all of a sudden. All this together leads me to believe that there’s a big project that is still classified going on a TTR. And that these F-117’s, they are distracting from what else is going on the TTR.

"

Any speculation on what this other alleged "big project" might be, or is this "distraction" theory most likely bunk?

a reply to: SleeperHasAwakened

That is also a possibility. Often times they fly one bird to cover for another.

Back when developing the F-117 the pilots flew SLUF's as a cover with a fake Klingon Cloaking device.

They even took some photos of crew servicing a fake invisible jet. That must of been fun.

a reply to: grey580


Thank you!

First post to make me laugh today!

a reply to: Nunyabizisit

I added the fake Klingon Cloaking Device photo.

They would actually sling that under the wing of the A7 and fly it. Supposedly it looked impressive.

Glad you got a kick out of it.

a reply to: EnhancedInterrogator

Wane tv is one of my local stations.
Several thousand miles away from area 51.

Kinda funny that they had this story.

a reply to: Nunyabizisit

Nine times out of ten the A-10s head west to the Goldwater range, or south of the Casa Grande area. You see them on tracker fairly often lately, with some great callsigns. They've gone as far as Fort Irwin recently, supporting Army training on their ranges.

Hella lot going on then

Scaled composites been testing the 401 with this laser type weapon fitted and in another test with a morror type of coating?

Are they working on anti laser weapon technology?

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: Nunyabizisit

Nine times out of ten the A-10s head west to the Goldwater range, or south of the Casa Grande area. You see them on tracker fairly often lately, with some great callsigns. They've gone as far as Fort Irwin recently, supporting Army training on their ranges.

Did you check that Black A-10 paint job with the snakes head at the front? bloody awesome

link