Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk - Baghdad's nightmare

The Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk is a stealth ground attack aircraft formerly operated by the United States Air Force. The F-117A's first flight was in 1981, and it achieved Initial Operational Capability status in October 1983. The F-117A was "acknowledged" and revealed to the world in November 1988.

The F-117 Nighthawk has been used several times in war. Its first mission was during the United States invasion of Panama in 1989. During that invasion two F-117A Nighthawks dropped two bombs on Rio Hato airfield.

During the Gulf War in 1991, the F-117A flew approximately 1300 sorties and scored direct hits on 1600 high-value targets in Iraq while flying 6905 combat flying hours.
The F-117 comprised only 2.5 percent of the American aircraft in Iraq yet struck more than 40 percent of the strategic targets. "During their mission, the F-117A pilots delivered over 2000 tons of precision-guided ordnance with a hit rate of better than 80 percent. Although the 37th Tactical Fighter Wing Provisional and its 42 stealth fighters represented just 2.5 percent of all allied fighter and attack aircraft in the Gulf, the F-117As were assigned against more than 31 percent of the strategic Iraqi military targets attacked during the first 24 hours of the air campaign."
It was among the only U.S. or coalition aircraft to strike targets in downtown Baghdad. Among the aircraft the Nighthawk shared this distinction with were the F-16s which attacked Baghdad during daylight on 19 January 1991 during the "Package Q" mission - the largest single strike flown during the war.

Since moving to Holloman AFB in 1992, the F-117A and the men and women of the 49th Fighter Wing have deployed to Southwest Asia more than once. On their first trip, the F-117s flew non-stop from Holloman to Kuwait, a flight of approximately 18.5 hours a record for single-seat fighters that stands today.

It has since been used in Operation Allied Force in 1999, Operation Enduring Freedom in 2001 and in Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003.

A total of 64 F-117s were built.
The US Air Force retired the F-117 on 22 April 2008.