The F-117 Nighthawk was designed and built buy Lockheed's famous Skunk Works as a stealth fighter and ground attack aircraft for the USAF, it first flew in 1981, entering active service two years later for night-time missions only, the aircraft soon gained the nicknames "Frisbee" and "Wobblin' Goblin" with it's USAF pilots. The F-117 Nighthawk was the World's first ever true stealth aircraft, the aircraft's stealth technology and stealth design being given a higher priority than it's aerodynamics. The Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk is due to be withdrawn from active service with the USAF in mid 2008, it's role being taken over by the newer and higher performance, but less stealthy, F-22 Raptor and F-35 Lightning II.
Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk Specifications: Crew: Pilot only Length: 69 ft 9 in (20.08 m) Wingspan: 43 ft 4 in (13.20 m) Height: 12 ft 9.5 in (3.78 m) Empty weight: 29,500 lb (13,380 kg) Loaded weight: 52,500 lb (23,800 kg) Engines: Twin 10,600 lbf (48.0 kN) General Electric F404-F1D2 turbofans. Maximum speed: Mach 0.92 (617 mph, 993 km/h) Cruise speed: Mach 0.92 (617 mph, 993 km/h) Range: 930 NM[42] (1720 km) Service ceiling 69,000 ft (20,000 m)
Armament: Twin internal single hard-point weapons bays with a total weapons load of any two of the following: BLU-109 low-level hardened penetrator laser-guided bomb GBU-10 Paveway II laser-guided bomb GBU-12 Paveway II laser-guided bomb GBU-27 Paveway III laser-guided bomb JDAM INS/GPS guided munitions Raytheon AGM-65 Maverick air-to-surface missile Raytheon AGM-88 HARM air-to-surface missile
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