Editing Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk (section)

===Early activities===
[[File:F-117A GBU-28.JPEG|thumb|An F-117 conducts a live-exercise bombing run using [[GBU-27 Paveway III|GBU-27]] laser-guided bombs.]]

During the program's early years, from 1984 to mid-1992, the F-117 fleet was based at Tonopah Test Range Airport, Nevada, where it served under the 4450th Tactical Group; [[Air Combat Command]]'s only F-117A unit.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=F-117A - Nighthawk |url=https://www.holloman.af.mil/About/Fact-Sheets/Display/Article/317344/f-117a-nighthawk/ |access-date=2024-02-26 |website=Holloman Air Force Base |language=en-US}}</ref> The unit was headquartered at Nellis Air Force Base. [[A-7 Corsair II]] aircraft were used for training. Most personnel and their families lived in Las Vegas. This required commercial air and trucking to transport personnel between Las Vegas and Tonopah each week.<ref name="First Night">{{cite journal |last1=Scott |first1=W.B. |title=The First Nighthawks |journal=Aviation Week & Space Technology |date=2023 |volume=158 |issue=25 |pages=58–60}}</ref> The 4450th was absorbed by the [[37th Fighter Wing|37th Tactical Fighter Wing]] in 1989. In 1992, the entire fleet was transferred to [[Holloman Air Force Base]], [[New Mexico]], under the command of the [[49th Fighter Wing]].<ref name=":2"/>

The F-117 reached [[initial operating capability]] status in 1983.<ref name="Nat_Museum_factsht" /><ref name=":2" /> The Nighthawk's pilots called themselves "Bandits". Each of the 558 Air Force pilots who have flown the F-117 has a Bandit number, such as "Bandit 52", that indicates the sequential order of their first flight in the F-117.<ref name="Topolsky" /> Pilots told friends and families that they flew the [[Northrop F-5]] in [[aggressor squadron]]s against Tactical Air Command.<ref name="afmag-richelson">{{cite magazine |first=Jeffrey T. |last=Richelson |url=http://www.airforcemag.com/MagazineArchive/Pages/2001/July%202001/0701crash.aspx |title=When Secrets Crash |magazine=Air Force Magazine |date=July 2001 |access-date=1 November 2019}}</ref>

The F-117 has been used several times in war. Its first mission was during the United States invasion of Panama in 1989.<ref>Crockmore 2006 pp. 382</ref><ref name= "bomber 283">Gunston and Gilchrist 1993, p. 283.</ref> During that invasion, at least two F-117s dropped bombs on Rio Hato airfield.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Healy |first=Melissa |date=24 Dec 1989 |title=1st Combat for Stealth Fighter--Panama Airfield Bombed |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-12-24-mn-2134-story.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211030164459/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-12-24-mn-2134-story.html |archive-date=30 Oct 2021 |access-date=26 Feb 2023 |work=Los Angeles Times}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=C. Wilson |first=George |date=24 Dec 1989 |title='Stealth' Plane Used in Panama |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1989/12/24/stealth-plane-used-in-panama/6e4157ad-df55-46b1-8ff5-beffb0340f9a/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220408012554/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1989/12/24/stealth-plane-used-in-panama/6e4157ad-df55-46b1-8ff5-beffb0340f9a/ |archive-date=8 Apr 2022 |access-date=26 Feb 2024 |newspaper=The Washington Post}}</ref>

The aircraft was operated in secret from Tonopah for almost a decade; after the Gulf War, all aircraft moved to Holloman in 1992, but its integration with the USAF's nonstealth "iron jets" occurred slowly. As one senior F-117 pilot later said: "Because of ongoing secrecy, others continued to see the aircraft as 'none of their business, a stand-alone system'."<ref name=":0" /> The F-117 and members of the 49th Fighter Wing were deployed to Southwest Asia on multiple occasions. On their first deployment, with the aid of aerial refueling, pilots flew nonstop from Holloman to Kuwait, around an 18.5-hour flight.<ref name= "holloman">{{cite web |url= https://www.holloman.af.mil/About/Fact-Sheets/Display/Article/317344/f-117a-nighthawk |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20211106133830/https://www.holloman.af.mil/About/Fact-Sheets/Display/Article/317344/f-117a-nighthawk/ |url-status= dead |archive-date= 6 November 2021 |title= F-117A - Nighthawk |publisher= holloman.af.mil |access-date= 21 September 2023}}</ref>