F-117 Being Mothballed, Replaced by F-22 Raptor

The F-117 Nighthawk, the first of the stealth aircraft to be openly acknowledge by the U.S. military, is going into retirement.

According to WTOP News, the stealthy black aircraft will be mothballed at Tonopah in Nevada next month. It will be replaced by the F-22 Raptor, the latest generation fighter which also uses stealth technology.

The F-117 first saw combat in the Panama invasion in 1989, and more famously, during the Persian Gulf War of 1991.

I saw an F-117 in person for the first time in 1992; I believe it was at Minot AFB in North Dakota. It's an ungainly-looking aircraft, and they're relatively slow compared to other fighters, but they've performed well in getting into enemy territory without detection and performing surgical strikes on the bad guys.

The article indicates we'll be able to put them back into service with minimal difficulty, if need be. Good to know in this dangerous world.