Morale: Toxic To Traditions
June 8, 2017: Since World War II thousands of retired warplanes have been stripped of their weapons, engines and most electronics and donated for use as displays in museums or public spaces. This used be rather cheap, compared to retired warships. But that is changing as the first stealth aircraft (an F-117) was prepared for use as a museum display. That was because most stealth aircraft incorporate expensive, and toxic, paint and other materials to obtain their ability to defeat detection by radar. Removing these materials is necessary because of security concerns. The composition of the materials and paints still contains information you want to keep secret. So it cost several million dollars to “scrub” the F-117 so it could be safely (in terms of health and national security) displayed in a museum.
https://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htmoral/articles/20170608.aspx
