Video: This is why the F-117 Nighthawk never retired

In 2008, the U.S. Air Force decided to officially retire the Lockheed Martin F-117 Nighthawk, the first-ever stealth bomber.

However, since then, the legendary stealth aircraft keeps popping up, especially around the airspace over the American Southwest. So, what is going on?

Introduced in the early 1980s, the F-117 Nighthawk was designed to bypass Soviet air defenses thanks to its stealth capabilities and deliver conventional or nuclear weapons. It has a range of over 1,000 miles and can reach speeds of almost 700 miles per hour. The stealth strategic bomber was ahead of its time, and saw operational action in Panama in 1989, in Iraq in 1991, in Yugoslavia in 1999, in Afghanistan in 2001, and finally in Iraq in 2003.

But as the end of the first decade of the 21st century approached, the F-117 Nighthawk was deemed obsolete, and the Air Force decided to retire the aircraft.

“In the 16 years since [its retirement], lots of people have seen the Nighthawk flying all sorts of simulated combat operations against all sorts of adversary aircraft. In fact, people have been spotting Nighthawks in the sky more in recent years than at any point since it retired. People were even getting footage of the Nighthawk operating out of Area 51,” Alex Hollings, Editor-in-Chief of Sandboxx News and host of AirPower on YouTube, said in a recent episode.

If you are looking to learn more about why the Air Force never actually retired the F-117 Nighthawk, make sure to watch our video above.