Nighthawk set for retirement

Posted on: Feb. 7th, 2006 || Source: dailynews.com | E-mail Article | Print Article

WASHINGTON - The F-117A Nighthawk, the stealth fighter that launched Operation Iraqi Freedom, is "long in the tooth" and among the Southern California defense programs being put out to pasture, Pentagon officials said Monday as they unveiled a record $493.3 billion budget that eliminates some of the region's most prominent aircraft.

In addition to retiring the Nighthawk, the budget calls for retiring the U-2 reconnaissance aircraft, both modified by Lockheed Martin workers in Palmdale, while making room for the unmanned Global Hawk reconnaissance aircraft. That aircraft, a Northrop Grumman program, also is assembled in Palmdale.

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