ttack planepowered by two, nonafterburning General Electric engines. F-117As were designed for first-strike capabilities and to be able to fly into any countries airspace undetected. The primary task of the F-117A is to break through enemy airspace, destroy high value targets, and return back unharmed. They were considered to first be used in several different tasks, but weren't used until Operation Dessert Storm where they did an excellent job. As Donald Rice, Secretary of the Air Force, said, "Everyone now agrees the F-117 was a real bargain" (9).During Operation Dessert Storm the F-117As were found out to be very successful. The war began on January 16, 1991 when the F-117A fighters entered the Iraqi airspace on their way to downtown Baghdad. There were 43 of them over the skies of Iraq and not one was lost even though they went against one of the most modern air-defense systemsin the world. Operation Dessert Storm was the largest aerial bombing attack in war history. It was also the first time a stealth aircraft was used as a main weapon. On the first day of Dessert Storm the Lockheed F-117As dropped sixty-two 2,000 pound bombs on Baghdad destroying the most critical targets of the Iraqi military, including the headquarters of the Iraqi air force. "We've seen that not only does stealth work, but that it puts fewer assets at risk and saves lives" (9), as Donald Rice said. The pilots of those F-117As flew through the hardest anti-aircraft missiles any pilot has ever flown through.When you think of stealth, most people probably think of B-2 stealth bomber, but most people don't realize that it hasn't even been used in a real war situation yet. In November of 1987 the Pentagon ordered the first four B-2s to be built for $2 billion.Each B-2 cost $437.4 million to build. After the military liked the bomber, they originallyordered 133 of them, then they cut back to 75 because of the deficit-reduction bill. Then, in 1992, the House of Repre...
