Reagan Invited Thatcher To Join The Top Secret F-117 Program

Updated Jul 3, 2020 3:44 AM EDT

Dubbed “Project Moonblower,” during the height of the F-117 Nighthawk’s secrecy in the mid 1980s, the Reagan administration, and even the Gipper himself, offered an invite to the UK Ministry of Defense to join the highly classified program.

In newly unsealed UK National Archives files obtained by The Guardian , Reagan’s offer to his good friend and Prime Minister of the UK Margaret Thatcher was casual as can be, with Reagan penning a diplomatic cable that stated in part:

“Dear Margaret, I am delighted to hear that you will be able to see Cap (Caspar Weinberger, the US defence secretary at the time) to discuss the special program I wrote you about… I look forward to receiving your reaction. Sincerely, Ron.” On the communique the word “stealth” was lightly written in pencil.

The “Iron Lady” wrote back to Reagan following the brief, stating:

“Dear Ron, I was immensely impressed by your splendid achievement: three cheers for America!

I was also very touched by the generosity of the offer of participation which Cap brought. It brings home once again who our real friends are… I am so much looking forward to seeing you in Tokyo. With warmest best wishes, yours sincerely, Margaret.”

The two enjoyed not only the “special relationship” between the US and the UK but they were also good personal friends. , Rogers/Express/Getty Images

The MoD ended up not taking up the DoD’s offer to participate directly in the program at the time. In a Ministry of Defense letter written in December of 1986 to Charles Powell, the Foreign Affairs Adviser to the Prime Minister, the decision and a description of its uneventful aftermath were made clear:

“Mr Weinberger has offered us a chance to purchase the current US aircraft but we have replied that we would not wish to actually buy hardware while the programme remains strictly black… Younger (the MoD defense secretary) raised the subject very briefly with Mr Weinberger this morning… just sufficiently to test whether Weinberger is disappointed at our reaction so far. He certainly does not seem to be.”

Nearly a decade later, when the F-117 had fully emerged from the “black” world, the UK was offered the jet once again. This time it would not be a baseline F-117A on the table but a heavily upgraded and anglicized F-117B, which itself would be based on the Navy’s F-117N/X Sea Hawk concept.

The F-117N/X (among other titles) was used as a springboard for the UK F-117B offering. , Lockheed Renderings

The type was aimed at satisfying the Royal Air Force’s Staff Target Air 425 deep-strike requirement that emerged following Desert Storm. The F-117B’s airframe would have been partially built by BAE, the jet’s avionics would feature some British components, the A model’s GE-F404 engines would be replaced with Eurojet EJ200 turbofans—the EF2000 Eurofighter’s powerplant. As found on the F-117N/X concept, new serrated non-grilled intakes would be featured as well as a revised exhaust, both of which were similar to those found on the B-2 Spirit. The wing would have less sweep and a greater span than the A model’s. Horizontal tailplanes would also be added aft of the wing. A bubble canopy would replace the A model’s sectioned one. The jet’s classically flat bottom would be recontoured in a constantly curving manner to make more room for weaponry and decrease its detectability to radars.

Combined, these features would give the F-117 more capability on multiple fronts, including better slow speed handling, shorter field performance and increased endurance. The B model in particular would have been able to carry nearly double the bomb load and would have featured double the mission radius of the A model.

Lockheed Martin bid the F-117N/X to the US Navy initially at a cost of $70 million per jet , based on a total production of 255 new airframes. If the UK jumped onboard it was claimed that this price could be decreased further, but considering the special configuration of the UK model, this may well have not ended up an accurate assessment.

The revised F-117 2.0 of sorts would have been a striking looking aircraft. , Lockheed renderings

The F-117N/X—and there are even subtypes of those designations—was part of the Navy’s mad scramble to come up with a replacement for the doomed A-12 Avenger program. In the end the F-117N/X would not be built. Instead the Navy chose to go the safest route possible and procure the Super Hornet as a one-size-fits-all strike-fighter solution.

Without the Navy onboard there was no chance the UK was going to pursue the type on its own. Instead it reinvested in the Tornado fleet and focused on fielding the EF2000 in the coming decade. Yet even after the decision not to buy the F-117B was made, the UK’s interest in acquiring its own stealthy combat aircraft quietly continued through the late 1990s and 2000s, most notably in the form of the BAE Replica and now the flying Taranis UCAV.

In 1999 during Operation Allied Force the F-117’s reputation for invincibility was shattered when a Serbian SAM crew shot down a Nighthawk with an SA-3 “Goa.” The circumstances for the shootdown were complicated, but at least to the public, the F-117 was proven “touchable” for the first time. In the end the type would not see another sub-model built, and the fleet of roughly 60 F-117s were retired under curious circumstances in 2008 , although a handful are still plowing the skies over the Nellis Range Complex.

In many ways, a second F-117 variant in new configuration would have given Lockheed the opportunity to get the jet right. The A models were so experimental for their time, as was their underlying technology, that the ability to tweak the jet’s design and its subsystems could have resulted in an incredible combat machine, and built on the F-117A’s amazing legacy . On the other hand, it is unclear how long a facelift of a first generation stealth aircraft would remain viable. Operating the F-117 has never been a cheap affair, regardless of its sticker price.

The Tornado GR4 and Europfighter Typhoon make up the backbone of RAF’s combat punch today. , Crown Copyright

The Super Hornet and the Tornado have suited the wars of the last 20 years well, so in the long run the decision not to procure the F-117N/X/B seems to have been an acceptable one. And both the US Navy and the UK MoD will be getting their stealth aircraft finally in the form of the F-35B and F-35C, some 20 years after the F-117 2.0 was pitched for sale, and nearly 30 years after the Reagan administration invited the Royal Air Force entry into the then hyper-elite stealth combat aircraft secret society.

It’s yet another colorful and intriguing facet of a program that still fascinates the mind over forty years after the competition to build the first flying stealth aircraft officially begun.

Contact the author Tyler@thedrive.com

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更新于美国东部时间2020年7月3日凌晨3:44

在 20 世纪 80 年代中期 F-117 夜鹰战斗机高度保密期间，这项被称为“月球吹拂计划”的项目，甚至连里根总统本人都曾邀请英国国防部加入这项高度机密的计划。

《卫报》获得的英国国家档案馆最新解封的文件显示，里根向他的好友、英国首相玛格丽特·撒切尔提出的提议非常随意。里根在一份外交电报中写道：

“亲爱的玛格丽特，我很高兴得知您将有机会与卡普（当时的美国国防部长卡斯帕·温伯格）会面，讨论我之前写信给您提到的那个特别项目……期待您的回复。此致，罗恩。” 公函上，“隐形”一词是用铅笔轻轻写下的。

这位“铁娘子”在收到简报后给里根回信，信中写道：

“亲爱的罗恩，你取得的辉煌成就令我印象深刻：为美国欢呼三声！”

卡普慷慨地邀请我参加，我深受感动。这再次让我明白谁才是我们真正的朋友……我非常期待在东京见到你。致以最诚挚的问候，你真诚的，玛格丽特。

两人不仅享受着美英之间的“特殊关系”，而且私下也是很好的朋友。（图片来源：Rogers/Express/Getty Images）

当时，国防部最终没有接受国防部直接参与该项目的提议。在1986年12月国防部致首相外交事务顾问查尔斯·鲍威尔的一封信中，明确阐述了这一决定以及随后平静无波的情况：

“温伯格先生曾提出让我们购买现有的美国飞机，但我们回复说，在项目仍处于严格保密状态的情况下，我们不愿实际购买任何硬件……国防部国防大臣扬格今天上午与温伯格先生简要地谈及了此事……目的只是为了试探温伯格先生是否对我们目前的反应感到失望。他显然并不失望。”

近十年后，当F-117战机彻底走出“黑市”时，英国再次被推荐购买这款战机。这一次摆在桌面上的不再是基础型的F-117A，而是经过大幅升级和英式化的F-117B，而F-117B本身又是基于海军的F-117N/X“海鹰”概念机。

F-117N/X（以及其他名称）被用作英国F-117B项目的跳板。（洛克希德渲染图）

该机型旨在满足英国皇家空军在“沙漠风暴”行动后提出的“目标空中425”（Staff Target Air 425）纵深打击需求。F-117B的机身部分由BAE系统公司制造，其航电系统将采用部分英国部件，A型机的GE-F404发动机将被Eurojet公司的EJ200涡扇发动机取代——后者正是EF2000“台风”战斗机的动力装置。与F-117N/X概念机一样，该机将采用新型锯齿状无格栅进气口和改进型排气系统，这两项设计均与B-2“幽灵”轰炸机类似。机翼后掠角更小，翼展更大。机翼后方还将加装水平尾翼。气泡式座舱盖将取代A型机的分段式座舱盖。该机经典的扁平底部将被重新设计成连续弯曲的形状，以便为武器腾出更多空间并降低雷达探测概率。

这些特性结合起来，将使F-117在多个方面拥有更强的能力，包括更好的低速操控性、更短的起降距离和更长的续航时间。特别是B型，其载弹量几乎是A型的两倍，作战半径也是A型的两倍。

洛克希德·马丁公司最初向美国海军投标F-117N/X战斗机，单价为7000万美元，总产量为255架。据称，如果英国加入该项目，价格还可以进一步降低，但考虑到英国机型的特殊配置，这种估价很可能并不准确。

改进后的F-117 2.0应该会是一款外观引人注目的飞机。（洛克希德公司效果图）

F-117N/X——甚至还有该型号的子型号——是美国海军为取代命运多舛的A-12“复仇者”攻击机项目而仓促研发的产物。最终，F-117N/X未能建成。海军转而选择了最稳妥的方案，采购了“超级大黄蜂”战斗机作为一款通用型攻击战斗机。

如果没有海军的支持，英国根本不可能独自研发这种机型。相反，它将资金重新投入到“旋风”战斗机机队，并专注于在未来十年内部署EF2000。然而，即便在决定不购买F-117B之后，英国对自主研发隐形战斗机的兴趣在20世纪90年代末和21世纪初依然悄然延续，最显著的例子就是BAE Replica和如今的“塔拉尼斯”无人作战飞机。

1999年“盟军行动”期间，F-117战机的“无敌”声誉被打破。塞尔维亚防空导弹小组用SA-3“果阿”导弹击落了一架F-117“夜鹰”战机。击落事件的来龙去脉错综复杂，但至少在公众眼中，F-117战机首次被证明并非不可战胜。最终，该机型没有衍生出新的子型号，约60架F-117战机于2008年在颇为蹊跷的情况下退役，不过仍有少数几架在内利斯靶场上空翱翔。

从很多方面来看，如果洛克希德·马丁公司推出第二款全新配置的F-117改进型，就能有机会将这款战机打磨得更加完美。F-117A型在当时及其底层技术都极具实验性，因此，如果能够对战机的设计及其子系统进行微调，或许就能打造出一款性能卓越的战斗机，并延续F-117A的辉煌战绩。另一方面，目前尚不清楚对第一代隐形战机进行升级改造的可行性究竟能持续多久。无论F-117的标价如何，其运营成本从来都不低。

“旋风”GR4和“台风”战斗机构成了当今英国皇家空军作战力量的中坚力量。（英国皇家版权所有）

超级大黄蜂和旋风战斗机在过去20年的战争中表现出色，因此从长远来看，当初不采购F-117N/X/B的决定似乎是可以接受的。美国海军和英国国防部最终都将获得F-35B和F-35C隐形战机，这距离F-117 2.0的销售计划提出已过去了20年，距离里根政府邀请英国皇家空军加入当时高度精英化的隐形战斗机秘密社群也已过去了近30年。

这是该项目的另一个丰富多彩且引人入胜的方面，该项目在建造第一架隐形飞行器的竞赛正式开始四十多年后，仍然令人着迷。

联系作者：Tyler@thedrive.com

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