It is 2008, and it is technically an airplane that is officially retired. Yet in some respects, the F-117A Nighthawk remains a potent asset for the U.S. Air Force.
As the Air Force faces a severe shortage of aircraft in its inventory and will have its oldest warplane, the B-2 Spirit, replaced by the B-21 Raider in coming years, there is an upsurge in demand to reinstate the Nighthawk for full operational capacity.
The Air Force has kept approximately 40 Nighthawks in service for testing. It has flown these to test newly developed stealth technologies and sensors designed specifically to detect stealth aircraft.
As for the remaining F-117A, its status is unknown, War Zone says, but as of 2019, the total number of jets the Air Force maintains is 51, including at least 12 assigned for museums.
Therefore, due to the strategic liabilities being formed since the B-21 Raider is unlikely to arrive anytime soon, some experts advocate bringing the Nighthawk back to fighting health.
The B-2 Spirit replacement is not likely to be forthcoming in sufficiently large numbers any time soon, thus leaving an absolute void in the long-range stealth bomber capabilities of the Air Force. Loss of such critical assets may well compromise the combat effectiveness of the Air Force.
There is a lack of transparency within the Air Force on why there are so many Nighthawks still operational.
Upgrades of F-117A could be the cheapest way to realize critical current strategic needs, while not investing heavily in a next-generation warplane like the Next Generation Air Dominance program.
Meanwhile, the U.S. has upgraded some of its legacy B-2 Spirit stealth bombers with some of the newest software available, which lifted combat readiness to significantly enhanced high levels.
New open missions systems (OMS) software capability is being developed through partnership collaboration by the Air Force Global Strike Command and the B-2 Systems Program Office to maintain the bomber relevance until the B-21 becomes operational.
The B-2 adopted an agile software development process. That dramatically reduced the update times that previously required two years to produce an update: it now takes less than three months.
The 19-aircraft B-2 fleet remains the only penetrating aircraft of the U.S. Air Force until the B-21s arrive at Ellsworth Air Force Base to achieve initial operational capability.
However, the U.S. might not have enough B-21s for a Taiwan campaign, compelling the U.S. to extend the retirement of the B-2 by a few more years than expected.
In a report produced for the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies in March 2023, Mark Gunzinger made clear that a 300-plus bomber force with at least 225 penetrating B-21s is required to sustain levels of overwhelming strikes and deter opportunistic aggression.
However, plans to build 300 B-21s over the next decade at a production rate of only 10 aircraft per year may not be enough to deter near-peer adversaries.
The United States fielded more stealth aircraft than any other country, with three publicly disclosed stealth platforms in service and at least three more in development.
Other programs may have helped stealth technology come of age, even if they never quite made it onto the roster of operational aircraft- Boeing’s Bird of Prey or McDonnell Douglas’ A-12 Avenger II.
While the F-117A Nighthawk may be somewhat of an old bird and its technology is rather old, it still stands out as a credible asset for the Air Force.