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In response to
"I don't think they actually lived up to the promises -- nm"
by
zeitgeist
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It was a catch 22 thing. The technology that build them was kept secret for so long, it seemed like they had a relatively short service life
Posted by
JD (aka Jason Dean)
Feb 5 '24, 15:07
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Once they were actually built, they became a product of all the development at that point of fixing the design.
Meanwhile, research continues and other designs are tested and publicly we've ended up the F-22 and F-23 where the designs included low observability / stealth characteristics as one of the design criteria as opposed to the first and foremost design consideration.
There's also been the extension of the low observability technique of rounded surfaces (B2 / B21) instead of the radar redirecting approach of the sharp facets of the F117
They worked really well initially but then once opposing forces knew they were coming and improvements to radar and how to use radars.
I think that it's kind of interesting that they kind of reflect an unfortunately reality of American society that many retirees can't afford to stop working and there's fair number of Nighthawks doing uh, something. There's a number of planes that were put back to flight conditions and flying around the desert. Nothing official but the theories include acting as stealthy aggressors for F-22 / F-23 training as well as flying test beds for various new Radar Absorbing Materials.
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