F-117 & The Gulf War Breakthrough Arrival of Stealth – How Has Stealth Evolved?

By Kris Osborn, President, Center for Military Modernization

 When stealth air attack blasted onto the scene roughly 30-years ago, few may have envisioned the kind of “broadband” stealth that is operational today. The F-117 Night Hawk blazed an amazing trail on a previously non existent path, opening the door to a paradigm-changing kind of air attack. 

With a brief study of how electronic pings and “radar return” renderings work, one can quickly discern that the F-117 seems to have too many sharp edges, protruding structures and contours likely to generate a return signal to enemy radar.  So while the F-117 may not be as stealthy as today’s B-2 and B-21, aircraft designed to elude surveillance and engagement radar and attack without an enemy even knowing they are there, the F-117 is still quite stealthy and a breakthrough accomplishment. The Night Hawk pioneered the concept of an air-campaign attack wherein secret stealthy aircraft penetrate enemy airspace, destroy enemy radar and air defenses, and open up an “air corridor” for a massive follow-on attack. 

The secretive and mysterious stealthy F-117 Nighthawk exploded onto the scene during the Gulf War in 1991, introducing the world to a previously unparalleled level of innovation and elusive, secret, yet penetrating air attack.

It was the combat arrival of stealth technology, and the angular-looking aircraft was entirely different from anything seen before in the realm of attack planes. While famous for its performance during the war against Iraqi fighting off air defenses, assessments in more recent years have questioned the true extent to which the aircraft was “stealthy.”

Stealth technology has evolved in paradigm-changing ways since the days of the Gulf War, and the F-117 Night Hawk has earned a distinguished place in the annals of air-war history. Yet, subsequent analysis of its performance and stealth properties has been the subject of much inquiry and debate.

Smithsonian Magazine covered the issue as far back as 2008 explaining that the aircraft’s allure or image of “invincibility” was shattered in 1999 when an F-117 was shot down over Serbia.