Speaking of the F117 Nighthawk, everyone knows that it is the "founding father" of the modern stealth fighter, which became famous in The Desert Storm, but was accidentally shot down in the Kosovo War in 1999, and the stealth top secrets were exposed, and had to be fully retired in April 2008. In September 2021, the aircraft was officially restarted and went out of the mountain again. Everyone calls it F117, in fact, its correct number is F117A, so since there is F117A, is there F117B, F117C? And where did these B and C go?
Full-size prototype of the F117 made of wood
When the F117A was first introduced, Lockheed began to develop its improved F117B, its maximum take-off weight increased from 23.8 tons of F117A to 33.2 tons, becoming a heavy fighter without compromise, and planned to be equipped with 2 F414 turbofan engines, the maximum flight speed reached Mach 1, realizing the "Nighthawk" family's supersonic aspirations.
F117 on the production line
The F117C, a custom export model for the Royal Air Force, adopted part of the F117B's design, improved canopy to expand visibility, and upgraded avionics equipment. In 1986, 2 British pilots evaluated the F117C, but in the end did not place an order.
Ready to export to the UK F117C
However, the most important improved model in the F117 family is neither the B nor the C, but the F117N Seahawk, Lockheed's stealth carrier-based aircraft built for the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier, also known as the A/F-117X. Initially, Lockheed only intended to make a minor modification to the F117B and let it ship.
F117N Seahawk
Because the F117B itself has the innate advantage of being on the ship, its structure is very strong, and there is a full-depth keel in the middle of the fuselage, and there is no need to worry about being pulled off by the tail hook when landing like the MiG-21. Moreover, the fixed position of the nose gear is connected to the main bulkhead, which can withstand the impact force of the catapult, and the ship does not need to do too much structural reinforcement.
The construction of the F117 is very robust
However, the F117B, similar to the F117A, could only operate at night, and may have lowered some indicators in order to get on the ship, especially the large swept wing and V-tail that raised great doubts about the landing ability of the aircraft, which was eventually ruthlessly rejected by the U.S. Navy.
The U.S. Navy's vision is sharp
In 1993, the U.S. Navy launched the JAST program, which was the predecessor of the JSF program that later gave birth to the F35, and Lockheed took the F117B's latest improved F117N to bid. At this time, the F117N has changed a lot. The first is the aerodynamic layout, with the addition of a pair of flat tails, the swept angle of the wings has also been reduced from 50 degrees to 42 degrees, and it can be folded, and the wingspan has also increased by 50% to 19.5 meters. All this is to increase the aircraft's low-speed pitch control capability and adapt to the needs of take-off and landing on the aircraft carrier.
Add F117N after flat tail
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Not only that, but the F117N also expanded its magazine and built up to twice as many bombs as the F-117A. In addition, it can also mount AIM-9 or AIM-120 air-to-air missiles through the slide rail on the inside of the hatch, especially the ability to mount fighting missiles in this way, even the current F35 has not been realized, F35 mid-range bullets can be buried, but AIM-9X and AIM-132 and other fighting bullets can only be achieved by means of external plug-ins, and the stealth performance is destroyed at this time.
The bomb bay of the F117N
Speaking of this, the editor interjected, F117 is obviously an attack aircraft, why in the name of fighter, has been calling itself "F"? This problem, a senior R & D team member of the "Skunk Factory" explained in a documentary of a historical channel, military aircraft named F are easier to attract top-notch US Air Force pilots, and named A or B is not attractive, so F117 is a trick. However, the F117N, which is equipped with AIM-9 and AIM-120 air-to-air missiles, does have a strong air combat capability and deserves the "title" of a fighter.
F117N Imagine Diagram
Of course, in the end, the F117N was cancelled due to various reasons such as overweight, but today, 28 years later, if we are replaced, can we develop such a carrier-based aircraft? Xiaobian feels that first of all, in stealth performance, we can surpass F117N, the F117 family uses the first generation of stealth technology, whether it is edge shape design, or stealth paint, are outdated, we have mastered more advanced second-generation or even third-generation stealth technology.
Looking at F117 now, it is still behind the times
Secondly, F117N is not a professional stealth carrier-based aircraft, it is still too limited by the original design of F117, even if the engine is upgraded to increase the intake tract, the maximum flight speed is barely reaching Mach 1, which is fatal for the high-speed interception mission of the carrier-based aircraft, and after increasing the flat tail, it leads to the tail line of the F117N is too complicated, and the stealth performance is estimated to be greatly reduced. So we don't have to look at the gourd, why do we have to copy the F117N with a better design?
F117N perspective
In general, F117N is like chicken ribs, abandoned pity, tasteless, its prototype is a partial student, no matter how to make up the class later, it is impossible to completely solve the congenital defects, and because of this, F117N is like a flash in the pan, even a real machine has not been built on the hasty disappeared, leaving more negative teaching materials for future generations.
F117N Seahawk carrier-based aircraft