The Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk is the first combat aircraft in the world built with the sole purpose of avoiding detection by enemy radars and sensors, in other words. This concept of stealth was first discussed after the 1973 Yom Kippur War where Soviet-made SAMs had inflicted considerable casualties upon the US-made equipment of the Israelis. The result is one of the strangest aircraft to ever fly. The F-117's stealth characteristics are the result of a highly angular design, with the purpose of reflecting incoming electromagnetic energy away from the source. A mix of cold air and hot gas from the engine exhaust also give it a low heat signature. To avoid detection, an active radar is not included, but is compensated by IR sensors and an inertial navigation system. The F-117 can carry most high-precision munitions available to the USAF and its effectiveness was shown in the Gulf War where it destroyed high-value targets inside Baghdad with impunity. During the Kosovo conflict, the only incidence of an F-117 kill was recorded when one was shot down by a Serbian SAM. F-117s are to be retired by 2008 due to the introduction of more effective stealth aircraft like the F-22.

First flight of the prototype F-117 was in December 1977. The F-117A is the designation for the only major production variant so far developed. Much speculation surrounded this aircraft before it was officially announced, this led to early reports designating it the F-19 Ghostrider (a label given from plastic model kits, books, videogames and even early entries by Jane's All The World's Aircraft) until the admittance of the plane's existance in 1988.