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Originally appeared at ZeroHedge
Defense Blog reports a pair of Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk stealth attack aircraft were spotted above Los Angeles last Friday. The F-117s are supposedly retired but were spotted flying with a Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker.
AP Freelance photographer Matt Hartman tweeted a picture of the stealth aircraft on Sunday. He said:
“So one day at @flyLAXairport I get a tip about something special… I look up ……. USAF KC-135R in-flight w/ 2 F-117 Stealth Fighter’s! Well I guess their NOT retired after all?? 02-19-21 2.”
Two F-117 Nighthawks
After 25 years in service, the Air Force retired the F-117 fleet in April 2008, but in September 2017, the service received special permission to keep 51 in Type 1000 storage, meaning the planes could swiftly return to active service.
In October, we reported two F-117s were spotted at the Miramar Naval Base in San Diego.
It appears the Pentagon is bringing some of these legacy stealth aircraft back to active duty.
Four decommissioned F-117s were secretly deployed to the Middle East in 2017 to launch surgical strikes. The reason for the deployment was simple; Russia and Syria had shut down Syrian airspace by mid-2016. The U.S.-led coalition was unwilling to lose a fifth-generation aircraft to Russia’s S-400 missile systems in Syria.
With a great power competition unfolding between the US and China – may be the Pentagon is prepping these planes for future Pacific warfare.
I bet its a CIA jet now. There is a covert civil war ongoing in the U.S.
As “covert” as yanks can possibly be, in the sense that both sides are screaming about it at the top of their lungs :)
Covert will be hot by spring or summer, 80m armed trump supporters are ready to go against biden
Nice dream,
It is not a dream that a US civil war is coming, either that or the partition of the US, but such a divided country can’t stay for long
https://media1.giphy.com/media/R98cFjunTyfpS/giphy.gif
They were taken out, becuse there was a risk for, they fell apart. It might be a lottery if onbly 8 pf 10 actually reach their target. But 8 might be better then none.
I thought they were outdated in tech.
Well they might be a little dated but most countries of the world do not have the system to spot them anyway. Going against Russia or China might be risky but they do have a good track record while the F-35 is very spotty!
Invisibility is the best as they say in Amazon Women on the Moon!
weird, anyone know why?
F-35 is turning out to be a failure.
ahahhahahah
Not funny,I too had to pay for these frgn do only good,for navy boat anchors:
I uploaded some links to give the latest updates of these,eg touch screen for dork$?
In reality they have never withdrawn them from active service, in recent years they have used them for the transport of drugs, from Afghanistan and Columbia to western internal markets, for the international drug dealers based at the Pentagram nothing is ever thrown away.
I thought they were invisible..
For all it’s worth atleast they look more stealth than f22/f35s,may as well use them,i suppose
One shot down over Yugoslavia and one damaged beyond repair.
The F-35 was supposed to have been in full production for five years now. They are nowhere near full production and the ones they have are suffering from a “lack of engines”. They have a hard time keeping enough F-18’s in the air for 2 carriers. A-10’s are worn out.
The USA operates worldwide … they have to put something in the air.
Beware of S-125.
Refer to legacy stealth aircraft when the one trillion dollar F35 program is a laughing stock. F117 were simpler, however, against adept air defenses they cannot do much.
Compared to f22s+f35s These ones are not only nicer looking but ahelluva reliable too, though maybe near as good as the good old soviet analoug s/125 radars.