# Why is the F-117 stealth aircraft classified as a fighter? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 31, 2014, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-f-117-stealth-aircraft-classified-as-a-fighter/697025 "2014-08-31T03:16:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![chacoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2014, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-f-117-stealth-aircraft-classified-as-a-fighter/697025/1 "2014-08-31T03:16:49Z")
It doesn’t have any air-to-air weapons. What’s it supposed to fight? ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2014, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-f-117-stealth-aircraft-classified-as-a-fighter/697025/2 "2014-08-31T03:32:32Z")
It’s not classified as a fighter, aside from the “F” in the designation. It’s a ground attack aircraft. According to wikipedia it has not been unusual for the US Air Force to use the F designator for attack aircraft in the past. Also: > [@](#): > > A televised documentary quoted a senior member of the F-117A development team as saying that the top-notch USAF fighter pilots required to fly the new aircraft were more easily attracted to an aircraft with an “F” designation for fighter, as opposed to a bomber (“B”) or attack (“A”) designation. > **[Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_F-117_Nighthawk)** > > The Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk is a retired American single-seat, subsonic twin-engine stealth attack aircraft developed by Lockheed's secretive Skunk Works division and operated by the United States Air Force (USAF). It was the first operational aircraft to be designed with stealth technology. > Work on what would become the F-117 commenced in the 1970s as a means of countering increasingly sophisticated Soviet surface-to-air missiles (SAMs). During 1976, the Defense Advanced Research Projects... ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2014, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-f-117-stealth-aircraft-classified-as-a-fighter/697025/3 "2014-08-31T03:32:57Z")
> [@](#): > > A televised documentary quoted a senior member of the F-117A development team as saying that the top-notch USAF fighter pilots required to fly the new aircraft were more easily attracted to an aircraft with an “F” designation for fighter, as opposed to a bomber (“B”) or attack (“A”) designation. [Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_F-117_Nighthawk) ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2014, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-f-117-stealth-aircraft-classified-as-a-fighter/697025/4 "2014-08-31T03:48:05Z")
Snap ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2014, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-f-117-stealth-aircraft-classified-as-a-fighter/697025/5 "2014-09-01T16:48:47Z")
It’s an “F” instead of an “A” because it’s small, pointy, and fast. ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2014, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-f-117-stealth-aircraft-classified-as-a-fighter/697025/6 "2014-09-02T18:01:52Z")
If you read that Wiki article an even bigger puzzle is why the designation number 117 was kept. The US military switched to the unified numbering system in the 60s (that’s why Vietnam & earlier planes ran into the 100s but in the 70s they all got reset i.e. the B-1 & B-2 and the F-14, 15, 16 etc.) The plane was expected to be given the ‘F’ designation for the reasons stated above, but F-19 not 117. A lot of theories exists, disinformation being a popular one.