Seinr said :"First off, JDAMs are guided munitions that use GPS, thus they can be loaded into any aircraft that can carry them - thus making something like the lowly A10 a precesion striker. Beyond that, the B-2 has carried out plenty of surgical strikes, especially during the first and second iraq war.

I remember 1 F117 was shot down in kosov, but beyond that IDK

The next gen aircraft, such as the F-35 are stealthy as well as multirole - meaning they can do many of the F117's current jobs, and in most cases better. And yeah, there are tons of black project, especially pilotless aircraft.

BTW, the F117 never had much in the way of manuverability, it had to use fly by wire just to get off the ground."

I might be biased but, one of the programs that uses the software I create works on the turrets that control the precision bombing in the F117. 4 of these guys in this group are from the original team that built the F117. I asked them about the differences in the F117 to B2 and other 'known' aircraft and it was basically what I have been saying.

The F117's internal controlled bombing with the turrets are far better at strategic bombing that the GPS guided bombs. Example, all of the greenish vids you might remember from the Iraq wars are from F117's. B2's don't have the capability to guide the bomb in like that. They basically fly in unnoticed drop bombs on target area and fly out.

The F-22 and F-35 have limited stealth that is no where near as good as the F117's or B2's. But, where they lack that tech they gain in agility and raw speed.

From these guys who have the highest security clearances allowed, there are no 'known' aircraft that can technically replace the purpose of the F117. Now, that being said. It was designed in the 70's and in the last 40 years or so there have been leaps in technology. I know that by October of 2008 when the last F117 is put in the giant hanger for permanent storage we will see it's replacement. I am betting on full stealth. I mean it will be on the runway in broad daylight and fade out. Granted, we might not actually see in in 2008 as the US DOD might argue that we don't *need* to show it. But, I would bet we will.

The important question is... what percentage of the CELL's awesome power are you utilizing in your software?

The real thing is how the F117 cant handle the power of the cell, thus a whole new plane has to be designed around that processor - hence the F117 replacement

 Yeah if you could see the specs of the systems in the F117 you would freaking die.

...better not show it then - I wanna live!

Quick question: How does the Eurofighter line up to the JDF in your opinion? 

 pfft, Saab Gripen FTW

Just give the US a major war to fight to where the F117 is needed, and it'll make another showing REAL quick. The issue with the F117 is the fact the payload, speed, and manuverability is so weak, it's nearly useless unless you need just 2, 500lb JDAMs on a target. The F22/F35 suite of fighters might not be AS stealthy, but they are certainly needed, as the Ruskies and Chinese have very formidable fighters in the Su-30MMK and Su-37. IMO, they're better than US-made fighters in the agility and horsepower department, so stealth is the order of the day. Manuverability isn't needed when you can pop out of a cloud and fight them. I believe with the various Red Flag games we've done with the F22 and F35s, not a single US fighter has lost using those aircraft vs. last gen non-stealth fighters, regardless of maker (F16, 18, 14, Su-30, 37, Mig 31, 33, ect). Even if the abilities of the F117 are better in the dumb bomb catagory with the advanced abilities of targeting, JDAMs are much cheaper. The targeting mechanism is cheaper, allowing for any bomber to gain huge advantages in their bombing runs. We're always going to need massive carpet bombers, and if each bomb becomes better, we're put in a much better position. Now, as for the F117 getting shot down in Kosovo: the reason it was shot down wasn't because of a lack of stealth, or Nanking radar systems that the serbians had. It was simply due to humint. They had people on the ground radioing the serbs when the F117's launched, and they were able to track them via math, and when the F117 was estimated to be overhead, launched up a huge bevy of flack and missles, eventually downing the plane. Again, give us another war, and the F117, or a new iteneration will come out. BTW, any other stealth fighter (22 and 35) have internal bays for everything they use, but they do have the advantage of having external loading pods incase they need a larger load for less stealthy needs (when air superiority has been achieved).

But they use the F117 so that Steven Seagall can climb onto a passenger plane in that crappy movie from the late 90's! On a serious note, god I used to follow fighter jets and their development and technologies so closely, but now i really couldn't give an arse. IMO the best fighter jet in the world was the F15, ultimate aircraft :)

Chunk, there is no way that a computer controlled airplane can use dumb-bombs more accurately than a GPS controlled bomb.  A small garmin handheld GPS will get you within 3 feet of your actual position.  I highly doubt that even a very good plane could beat that....other wise cool post yo

Maybe, but they could not send it down someone's chimney to destroy the bunker from the inside out. Which the F-117 has done.