Dark Eagles: A History of the Top Secret U.S. Aircraft

Two years after the start of the Gulf War, the F-117As were once more in action against Iraq. A detachment of six to eight F-117As had remained at Tonopah East as part of the U.S. forces in Saudi Arabia. The cease-fire agreement directed that Iraq dismantle all nuclear, chemical, and biological facilities, as well as giving up all Scud missiles and long-range weapons.

United Nations inspectors were to enforce compliance. Saddam attempted to interfere with the inspections. There was also an increasing number of border incidents with Kuwait and interference with allied planes policing "no-fly" zones in the north and south of the country. By January of 1993, these demanded a response.

On January 13, six F-117As, each with one LGB, were sent to hit targets in southern Iraq. The Al-Amara IOC was hit, as was an SA-3 SAM site's radar at Ashshuaybah. Yet again, the F-117A's old nemesis, low clouds, caused problems. Bombs dropped against the two radars at Nasiriya lost their locks due to clouds. Weather also prevented one pilot from even finding the Tallil SOC. Bad weather also apparently caused one pilot to bomb a farmhouse a mile from the Basra radar. Still, the results were successful — air defenses again collapsed.[557]

THE FUTURE OF THE F-117

As with other Dark Eagles, the F-117A has undergone improvements to its systems. The planes were sent to the Skunk Works plant at Palmdale for modifications that included color displays, a satellite navigation system, and improvements to the infrared system. One modification was a result of the loss of Mulhare and Stewart in 1986 and 1987. It is called the pilot activated automatic recovery system: at the touch of a button, the plane would return to level flight.[558] Stealth modifications were also made. New coatings were added to reduce radar return. Changes were also made to the exhaust system to reduce both infrared emissions and the visible glow.[559]

In the longer term, in 1992-93 Lockheed proposed a navy version, the F-117N. It would use the basic F-117A fuselage, with a new wing and horizontal stabilizer. The F-117N, like the air force version, would be a "silver bullet" force. It would attack air defenses and other high-priority targets.

The navy rejected the proposal, saying the plane was too limited and was not a multimission aircraft. A later proposal called for adding afterburning engines and advanced radar-infrared systems to give the plane both an all-weather air-to-ground and air-to-air capability. Even this later proposal attracted little interest, due to budget problems; there were also questions about the F-117N's carrier suitability and whether it actually was a multimission aircraft.[560]

Major modifications were also proposed for the air force F-117As, to improve payload and range. The major limitation is the plane's inability to carry more than two bombs. Proposals have been made to increase the size of the bomb bay to hold four bombs.

With new engines, the F-117A's payload could be increased to eighteen thousand pounds. Some of the added bomb load could be carried externally, as many as four internal weapons and another four under the wings. To preserve the plane's stealth, the external weapons would be covered with lightweight RAM. Such improvements would have a major impact — if the F-117A's bomb load and radius of action could be doubled, a single squadron could handle a regional conflict such as the Gulf War. Such modifications are problematical, however, given the current budget situation and the reduction in U.S. forces overall.[561]

Nonetheless, with the B-2 force limited to twenty aircraft and the number of F-22 fighters also likely to be smaller than originally planned, the F-117A will continue to be a key strike aircraft. The Black Jet from Groom Lake could still be flying into the second decade of the twenty-first century.

(As the final proofs for this book were being reviewed, two incidents occurred involving F-117A. On April 5, 1995, an F-117A was seriously damaged by a fire after landing. Then, on May 10, an F-117A crashed during a night training flight. Contact was lost at 10:25 P.M. The plane crashed on Red Mesa at the Zuni Indian Reservation, its impact dug a 20-foot deep crater. The pilot, Capt. Kenneth Levens, did not eject and was killed. The Zuni Tribal Police were the first on the scene and secured the area. Due to the remote location, it took the Air Force five hours to reach the crash site.

As with the other two fatal F-117A crashes, Captain Levens had only limited flight time in the F-117A (70 hours). News accounts that the crash occurred in an sacred Indian burial ground are not correct.)

^{The first XP-59A prototype. The plane was both the first U.S. jet aircraft and created the concept of the Black airplane. Bell test pilot Robert Stanley, left, made the XP59A's first flight on Oct. 2, 1942. Colonel Lawrence "Bill" Craigic became the first U.S. military jet pilot when he made the plane's third test flight that same day. U.S. Air Force}

^{The second XP-59A prototype. The fake propeller on its nose was used in March and April, 1943, to thwart the curious. U.S. Air Force}

^{North Base at Muroc in 1942-43. In background are the hangar, water tower, and "Desert Rat Hotel." In foreground is Bell's portable mission control center during the XP-59A tests. U.S. Air Force}

^{The U-2 combined the aerodynamic simplicity of a glider with careful weight control that enabled it to reach altitudes far above those of contemporary Soviet fighters. The U-2 overflew the Soviet Union with impunity for nearly four years. Lockheed}

^{The SS-6 test pad at Tyuratam, as photographed in 1959 by a U-2. The pad was used to launch early ICBM tests as well as Sputnik I and Vostok. CIA}

^{Overflight photo of ground zero of Soviet nuclear test site. CIA}

^{U-2 photo of Soviet submarine base. CIA}

^{The first A-12 design: the Archangel 1. Lockheed}

^{A-12 production line at Burbank. Different areas were walled off to prevent individuals working on one project from knowing about the others. The large box in the foreground was used to moves the completed A-12s to Groom Lake for reassembly and flight tests. U.S. Air Force}

^{A-12s went through several paint schemes. The first planes were bare metal without any markings. Ultimately, an all-black finish was used (which improved airframe cooling). On missions, the national insignias were removed; the only markings carried a false, five-digit serial number in red paint. CIA}

^{The A-12 Article 125 was the fifth Oxcart built and was lost on Jan. 5, 1967, due to a faulty fuel gage. The CIA pilot, Walter L. Ray, was killed. CIA}

^{A pre-delivery photo of a Model 147E drone. Teledyne Ryan Aeronautical photo, courtesy San Diego Aerospace Museum}

^{By the time Kelly Johnson and the Skunk Works engineers had worked up to the n i n t h version of the A-6 proposal, a trend toward a delta with a long forward fuselage had developed. U.S. Air Force}

557

Giangreco, Stealth Fighter Pilot, 120-23.

558

Timothy R. Gaffney, "Secrets of the F-117A," Popular Science (September 1993), 73–77, 105, 106.

559

David A. Fulghum, "Planners Seek to Exploit U.S. Technology Lead," Aviation Week and Space Technology (January 17, 1994), 52.

560

John D. Morrocco, "Lockheed Returns to Navy with New F-117N Design," Aviation Week and Space Technology (March 7, 1994); and Miller, Lockheed's Skunk Works, 182-84. The F-117N proposal highlights the decline of naval aviation. While the air force is deploying a second generation of stealth aircraft, the B-2 Spirit and F-22 Lightning II, the navy has yet to build even a first-generation stealth aircraft. When the last A-6 Intruder is retired in 1999, the navy will be without a long-range, all-weather attack aircraft for a decade.

561

Fulghum, "Planners Seek to Exploit U.S. Technology Lead," 52.