“The F-117 provides the National Command Authorities and the theater commanders with a highly reliable, penetrating platform that precisely delivers ordnance in the highest threat arenas,” explains Col. John Snider, Operations Group Commander of the 49th FW. The 49th FW also consists of the 8th and 9th Fighter Squadrons, the only operational combat-ready F-117 squadrons. “We have a history of hitting what we’re tasked to hit, and only what we’re tasked to hit. That makes us very useful, particularly in target areas where we are concerned with such collateral damage as hitting non-combatants or civilian structures. We can get in, attack the highest value targets, and get out. And that is our unique niche.”
When the F-117 entered service in the early 1980s, it was employed as a “lone wolf,” operating independently. “Operationally, we’ve seen the F-117 evolve from that lone wolf concept to one in which the aircraft is much more closely integrated with the rest of the force,” continues Snider. “In Desert Storm, the F-117 was used much more as a strategic attack platform to open the door by taking out critical air defense nodes so the rest of the force could enter. We are now integrating more with the conventional part of the force, and that direction comes straight from the Air Force Chief of Staff.”
The Making Of A Stealth Pilot
Turning out qualified F-117 pilots is the responsibility of the 7th Combat Training Squadron, the third F-117 flying squadron of the 49th FW. Training these pilots, a start-to-finish syllabus of academic, simulator, and flight training, takes about twelve weeks and is conducted in three phases. In the first phase, the first four weeks, student pilots take academic training with about twenty-five hours of F-117 simulator training. The next phase, the next three to four weeks, student pilots make twelve flights in the F-117 aircraft.
“Since all F-117s are single-seat aircraft, these flights are chased by an F-117 instructor pilot in a T-38,” explains Lt. Col. Rick Wright, commander of the 7th CTS. “The twelfth flight involves aerial refueling and formation flying with an instructor pilot flying in another F-117.”
The training is probably just as challenging for the instructor pilot as it is for the student pilot. Flying chase, the instructor pilot is not only flying his own T-38 but also the student pilot’s F-117 to a certain extent. “And that requires a tremendous amount of situational awareness of our instructors,” notes Wright. The cadre of F-117 pilot instructors with the 7th CTS are generally considered among the best Nighthawk drivers. Remarkably, each instructor has combat experience in Desert Storm or in Allied Force, two major deployments of the F-117. At the conclusion of this second phase, the pilot is considered qualified to fly the F-117. The third phase of F-117 training is mission qualification training in which new pilots learn to employ the offensive systems of the F-117 to become fully combat qualified in the aircraft. All of these training missions are flown at night, without a chase instructor. At the end of this twelve-week initial training program, a new pilot has racked up about twenty-five hours in the simulator and about forty hours in the F-117 and is fully qualified to be deployed to combat missions in the aircraft.
Just how good is the 49th Fighter Wing’s F-117 training program? Consider this scenario. An F-15C pilot with no prior air-to-ground experience joined the 49th FW for initial F-117 training a couple of months before Operation Allied Force. As the shooting war broke out, this pilot was still in mission qualification training. With a total of just over thirty hours in the F-117, he deployed overseas and flew about a dozen combat missions in the stealthy jet. Every one of his missions achieved a 100 percent success rate. “Of course, flying actual combat missions with real shooting going on generates a bit of anxiety,” says Capt. Mark Hoehn, the 8th FS pilot who achieved this impressive feat.
“But I felt 100 percent prepared and confident in my skills in the F-117.”
“This kind of performance validates the effectiveness of our training program,” says Wright. “We train hard. Flying against toolshed-sized targets in training makes it easier to take out the larger industrial-sized targets that we are typically tasked against in combat.”
Day-To-Day Operations
The F-117 community has always enjoyed a high esprit de corps. When the training program began a few years ago, new pilots were invited to apply to the program by pilots already in the program. As the F-117 emerged from the classified world, pilots were able to apply directly to the program. The experience requirements were high, initially requiring pilots to have 1,000 hours flying time in tactical fighters. As the F-117 program matured, those requirements dropped to 750 hours then to 500 hours, where they remain today.
The program also opened up a bit on previous pilot experience. Although most Stealth pilots come from single-seat fighter or attack jets, pilots who come from “heavy” aircraft, such as B-1 and even B-52 bombers, have also been accepted. All have done well. Capt. Thad Darger from the 8th FS explains, “We have pilots with a wide variety of experience, which has created a tremendous knowledge base within the squadrons. That knowledge base permits us to integrate our mission much more effectively with the rest of the force.
“Training to fly this aircraft is like training to fly any other jet,” continues Darger. “It’s repetition. We go out and train for one thing and one thing only: to drop bombs from a straight and level platform. The more we do it, the easier it gets. We learn to look through the forward and downward infrared, interpret what we see as opposed to what we’re looking for, and then find the target.”
The unique mission of the F-117 quickly separates it from other fighters. Adds Navy exchange pilot Lt. Greg Friedman, “Unlike an F-14 or an F-16 delivering a laser guided bomb by rolling in on a target, we may be defending ourselves against surface-to-air missiles and certainly against other reactive threats. We don’t concentrate on flying the airplane during a target attack; the airplane flies itself. We concentrate all of our attention on attacking the target, which allows us to be, quite honestly, better than anybody else at this task.”
The F-117 provides a tremendous capability over the conventional platform. “We are the best bombers in the world because we don’t have the tasks the other fighters have,” Darger adds. “We don’t have to worry about a wingman, react to outside threats, or choose methods for delivering weapons. If you give us a target, we’ll hit that target within one second of when you say we need to be there. No one will argue the fact that we’re the best.”
Improving And Maintaining The F-117
The F-117 Stealth Fighter remains the only low observable aircraft in the world able to deliver precision guided weapons. Continuous upgrades and improvements have secured that position for it. Recently, the F-117 fleet was equipped with a ring laser gyro navigation that also incorporates a global positioning system. The modification gives the F-117 aircraft position accuracy within thirty feet anywhere in the world and without ground-based navigation aids.
The F-117 fleet also recently completed testing on the EGBU-27, a two-thousand-pound air-to-surface bomb that incorporates a laser seeker and GPS all-weather guidance capabilities. Previously, the F-117 pilots acquired the target visually using forward looking infrared. Bad weather would often force missions to be aborted. According to Snider, “The EGBU-27 gives us the option of continuing the attack regardless of weather. It gives us the option of using its GPS capabilities for an accurately guided weapon or using its optical capabilities for precision delivery depending on mission requirements.”
The most recent upgrades will standardize the radar absorbing coatings on the aircraft to reduce support costs.
In October 1998, the US Air Force and Lockheed Martin entered a new partnership when Lockheed Martin was awarded an eight-year $1.8 billion contract for maintaining the F-117 fleet. The program, called Total System Performance Responsibility or TSPR, covers depot level maintenance. Lockheed Martin also provides engineering technical assistance, logistics support, spare parts administration, and subcontractor management—positions previously held by USAF.
“TSPR allowed the Air Force to reduce the size of its F-117 System Program Office from 242 people to fifty-five,” explains John Larson, F-117 program manager for Lockheed Martin. “As a result, USAF will save more than $90 million in personnel cost alone over the life of the contract.” Total savings are projected at over $170 million. In addition, program efficiencies have decreased non-mission capable aircraft due to supply from five percent the first year to the current rate of less than three percent. The goal for Air Combat Command was seven percent. During the first two years of TSPR, actual cost savings have exceeded the projections. Lockheed Martin has achieved or exceeded all key performance goals set by the Air Force.
“In all my years in the Air Force, I have never seen a better partnership,” says Col. Dick Alquist, 49th FW Logistics Group Commander. “With TSPR, Lockheed Martin has to respond within twenty-four hours to our requests for maintenance and support. They’ve been averaging less than eight hours. Probably 99.5 percent of the time, they will tell us how to perform the task right here at Holloman. This is truly a team. It is absolutely the most incredible thing I’ve ever seen in my career.”For the Lockheed Martin TSPR site manager at Holloman, TSPR is simply a matter of customer support. “My team and I are here to communicate not only with the 49th FW but also with the company so everyone knows what the Wing needs as soon as the Wing needs it,” explains Rex Romhild. “The Wing has always allowed us to enter the maintenance complex and talk to the Air Force maintainers. This freedom has given us the ability to anticipate problems and develop solutions before any problem becomes a big deal.”
Though twenty years old now, the F-117 continues to be a unique, viable weapons system with unequaled capabilities. It has evolved not just technically, but operationally as well. No other aircraft in the world challenges high threat, high value targets like the F-117. With the Lockheed Martin-USAF partnership through TSPR, new and innovative methods are in place to keep the Black Jet on the front lines for many more years to come.
Joe Oliva is an aviation photographer and journalist based in Wisconsin.
