Lockheed Martin restores F-117 Nighthawk stealth jet

Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works division has finished restoring an F-117 Nighthawk stealth jet, known as Aircraft 818 and nicknamed “The Overachiever,” for permanent display at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum.

The company said the aircraft will go on exhibit at the museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center later this fall.

The move adds another F-117 to the small number of Nighthawks that have been pulled from active flying status and restored for public museum display since the U.S. Air Force retired the type in 2008. Lockheed Martin has not disclosed Aircraft 818’s specific operational history or the reasoning behind its nickname.

The F-117 was the world’s first operational stealth aircraft, built in secrecy by Skunk Works and flown for the first time in 1981. The Air Force reached initial operating capability with the jet in 1983 and kept its existence classified for years afterward. Lockheed Martin built 64 of the aircraft in total, 59 of them operational jets and five development prototypes. The Nighthawk saw its first combat use during the 1989 invasion of Panama and became widely known for its role striking targets in Baghdad during the 1991 Gulf War.

The Air Force officially retired the F-117 fleet in 2008 as the F-22 Raptor took over the stealth fighter mission. Retirement did not mean the jets stopped flying. A small number of Nighthawks have continued to operate out of the secretive Tonopah Test Range Airport in Nevada, and the service has said it plans to keep flying them for research, testing and training purposes through at least 2034. In that role, the aircraft have flown as “red air” adversaries in training exercises and as stand-ins for stealthy cruise missiles, since their well-documented radar and infrared signatures give pilots and air defense operators an unusual target to practice against. The Air Force has even certified its newer KC-46 Pegasus tanker to refuel the retired jets in flight, underscoring how deeply the aircraft remain woven into current training and testing work despite their age.

Other F-117s have followed a similar path to Aircraft 818, moving from that limited flying status into museum exhibits once they are pulled from service for good. Lockheed Martin previously restored an F-117 nicknamed “Unexpected Guest” for permanent display at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California, unveiled in 2019 under a loan arrangement with the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force.

Aircraft 818’s move to the Smithsonian follows that same pattern, placing a piece of Cold War-era stealth technology in one of the country’s most visited aviation museums.