POSTED BY: ORIANA PAWLYK
The F-117 Nighthawk has been spotted over the Nevada desert occasionally in recent years, raising questions why a “retired” plane has made its way onto a flightline.
Technically categorized as “flyable storage,” the remaining single-seat, twin-engine aircraft in the Air Force inventory are tucked away at test and training ranges in Tonopah, Nevada.
But in accordance with the National Defense Authorization Act of 2017, passed Dec. 23, the Air Force will remove four F-117s every year to fully divest them — a process known as demilitarizing aircraft, a service official told Military.com on Monday.
“Flyable storage” aircraft are not considered classified, said the official, who requested anonymity“We had to keep all the F-117s in flyable storage until the fiscal ’17 NDAA gave us permission to dispose of them,” the official said. “Once we have it, [Congress] doesn’t let us to get rid of anything, but do it in phases, like keep it in backup inventory, primary aircraft assigned, or flyable storage.”
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“I can definitely say it was not an F-35,” he told a Military.com reporter accompanying him on a trip to the National Guard Association of the United States in Louisville, Ky.
The aircraft involved in the crash has not been identified. to free discuss the program. This is why aviation enthusiasts may have spotted the stealth aircraft flying in 2014 and again in 2016 and again as they were taken out for training flights.
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https://www.defensetech.org/2017/09/11/retired-still-flying-f-117-nighthawk-may-soon-fade-black/
