Could the ghost fleet be ghosted?
It looks like the Air Force may finally be getting rid of the F-117. Sure, just 64 airframes of all kinds were made and at least one was lost before they were put to pasture in 2008, but it has been a little known fact that most of these early 1980s stealth birds were put in regenerative storage at the F-117’s original operational home, desolate Tonopah Test Range Air Base in south central Nevada, where they were spotted in the air as late as 2014.
Others, specifically early YF-117s, have been scrapped.
Well among the other things the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) came up with in the NDAA policy bill last week was a measure to “remove the requirement that certain F-117 aircraft be maintained in a condition that would allow recall of those aircraft to future service.”
Sure, the USAF could always keep them around forever, as the amendment, which still has to make its way through Congress and the White House just says they don’t “have” to which could mean they just get towed out to Davis-Mothan or donated to museums. Or heck, donated to the South Koreans.
Any and all of the above could make everyone happy.