Two F117's were seen being refueled by a tanker near LA. The USAF also has cleared them to be refueled by USAF tankers. Interesting development.Where do these strike aircraft fit in with the F35 ? Maybe they are OPFOR or preparation for use in the Middle east or North Korea ? 50 jets remain in mothball's or being flown.
One of the world's most reclusive aircraft is back in the air.
www.sfgate.com
From the comments section in the link below:
"One of the F-117A's that still flies is flown by civilian LM pilots that operates out of Plant 42. I know this because the photo you posted of the 'Grey Dragon' flying at from head-on, was taken by a close friend of mine who was a boom operator. He's refueled that same plane multiple times over the Southwestern skies, and he's verified that it was a civilian Skunkworks pilot on each occasion. On almost every occasion they were either headed-to or from Palmdale, but a few times, they were operating out of Tonopah during their runs.
They fly them as test beds for the development of new subsystems and components for new stealth platforms (whether or not they are for unmanned or manned platforms, that's unknown), as well as maintenance or mending of current components/subsystems of current stealth platforms, instead of flying said airframes, they use the F-117's as their baseline for these kinda of tests."
Why is the F-117 Nighthawk, America's first true "stealth" aircraft, still prowling the skies years after its retirement in 2008?
foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com
