Top: On April 22,
2008, the last
four operational
F-117s departed
Palmdale
for storage
at Tonopah.
Lockheed Martin
Above: Retired
from active
service, the
remaining
Nighthawks
are stored in
air–conditioned
hangars at
Tonopah.
Jim Goodall28, 2005, it was proposed that retirement
of the entire F-117 eet should be
brought forward to October 2008, thereby
enabling the purchase of additional F-22
Raptors to ll the void. The plan envisaged
a two-phase drawdown, with 10 aircraft
being retired during FY 2007 and the
remaining 42 in FY 2008. It cited the
presence of more capable low-observable
assets in the inventory, which possessed
an enhanced precision penetrating
weapons capability, such as the B-2, F-22
and the AGM-158 Joint Air-to-Surface
Stand-o Missile (JASSM). Implementation
of the plan would save an estimated
$1.07 billion.Decommissioning of the rst operational
aircraft began on March 13, 2007, and the
nal wave was retired in a ceremony at the
‘Skunk Works’ on April 22, 2008. The F-117
formal training unit (FTU), the 7th FS, was
deactivated on December 31, 2006, and
10 Nighthawks were grounded while
their bed-down base was being prepared.
Unlike most other US military aircraft, the
F-117s wouldn’t be going to the 309th
Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration
Group (AMARG) at Davis-Monthan AFB,
Arizona. Instead, due to many aspects of
the aircraft still remaining classi ed, they
would be retired to their original home
at Tonopah.Four F-117s remained with the 410th
Flight Test Squadron at Palmdale
for ight test purposes, but by the
beginning of August 2008 just two
remained. The last F-117 to leave was
86-0831, which duly ew to Tonopah on
August 11. This marked the o cial end
of Nighthawk operations.
On arrival at Tonopah, the aircraft
had their wings removed and were
placed at the back of their original,
climate-controlled hangars. The F-117s
were o cially being kept in Type 1000
storage, indicating that they were
maintained in a status from which they
could be recalled to active service,
should the need arise. This level of
care clearly paid dividends, as four
F-117s were reactivated as early as
2010, an online video of a low- ying
Nighthawk proving the type’s continued
use. They have remained active ever
since, engaged in a highly classi ed
test program on the Nevada Test and
Training Range (NTTR), which is believed
to involve establishing baseline radar
data in the continued development of
new radar-absorbent materials. Such
conjecture, however, remains highly
speculative. Even so, the eeting
glimpses of F-117s in action to this day
have been tantalizing for the ranks of
Nighthawk fans.The author wishes to thank Gabor Zord for
his assistance with details relating to the
shoot down of ‘Vega 31’.http://www.combataircraft.net // June 2018 63
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