F-117
The Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk — the world's first operational stealth aircraft — captured as an RC EDF scale model.
About
The Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk was the world's first operational stealth aircraft. Developed in extreme secrecy by Lockheed's Skunk Works under chief designer Ben Rich, the F-117 grew out of the earlier "Have Blue" demonstrator program and made its first flight on June 18, 1981. The type entered USAF service in 1983 and remained classified until publicly acknowledged by the Department of Defense in November 1988.
The F-117's defining engineering choice was the faceted external surface — flat planes carefully oriented to reflect radar energy away from the source rather than back to it. Modern radar-absorbent coatings supplemented the basic faceted geometry. F-117s opened the 1991 Gulf War with strikes on Iraqi air-defense and command targets — the first deployment of stealth aircraft in combat — and remained at the forefront of US precision-strike capability until the type's retirement in 2008. Total production reached 64 airframes.
In the simulator
A demanding modern stealth-fighter scale subject. A sibling of the F-117 Nighthawk EDF (Jet Planes pack) and the F-117 with Smoke variant in this same pack.
