The Night Stealths First Flew Into Battle -- Today's F-117S Have Technology That Gulf War Models Lacked

WASHINGTON - The flak was above him, below him and in front of him. Shell bursts glowed red, and streams of yellow tracers arched through the night sky like water from a fire hose.

As the small, black F-117A Stealth fighter, nicknamed "Christine," hurtled through the storm of antiaircraft fire over Baghdad, it was buffeted by explosions. The smell of cordite seeped into the cockpit.

Nobody, thought the pilot, Air Force Maj. Paul Dolson, is going to get through this. Nobody.

On the Walkman he had brought along to calm his nerves, the Doors' song, "This Is the End," was about to play.

It was 3 a.m. on Jan. 17, 1991, and Dolson and "Christine" were preparing to drop the Persian Gulf War's first bomb.

Now, with Stealth fighters again poised to go in harm's way over Iraq, the torch has been passed to new generations of Stealth pilots and fighters that may be facing a new generation of sophisticated air defenses.

The F-117 is better today than the model that flew in the Gulf War. In an interview at the Pentagon last week, Air Force Stealth pilot and specialist Maj. John Moring said the jet now has a highly automated navigation system it lacked before.

"You can take off, energize the autopilot, and the airplane will climb, descend, turn, speed up, slow down," he said. "You can type in, `I want to be over Baghdad at midnight,' and the airplane will get you there exactly at midnight."

He said that allows the pilot to pay more attention to locating his target with his onboard radars and hitting it with his laser-guided bombs.

But five years after the Gulf War, there have been some doubts about whether the Stealth fighter maintains its technological edge over air defense radars.

A Czech electronics firm has designed a new radar, dubbed "Tamara," that it says can detect stealthy aircraft. The firm has sold copies of the system to an unnamed former Soviet republic, but the United States reportedly fought hard to block a similar sale to Iran. It is not known how well the system works.

Dolson, 39, now a targeting instructor assigned to U.S. Atlantic Command in Norfolk, Va., recalled his first night over Baghdad in the mysterious, bat-winged aircraft that pilots call simply: "the black jet."

The night the Gulf War opened, Dolson and his wingman, Maj. Jerry Leatherman, drew the main Baghdad assignment. Dolson said they were the only two fighters to fly over the heavily defended city center.

He said there were eight Stealth fighters in the first wave. His target was Baghdad's International Communications Center.

"It was a fairly weighty responsibility," he said. Furthermore, no one was sure that Stealth technology really worked in war.

The sky over Baghdad resembled a tremendous Fourth of July fireworks display, Dolson recalled, and he realized he would have to fly right into it. "Wow," he thought, "this is for all the marbles."

He said he tried to concentrate. He dropped his bomb, saw it go to the target, but pulled out before he saw it explode. Then he got away as fast he could. As he did, he glanced back over his shoulder.

"I could still see all that going on," he said. "I thought, `My God, I can't believe I made it through that.' I thought I was going to be alone on the (refueling) tanker going home because nobody else would get through that."

But he was not alone. All eight Stealth fighters got home that night. None was lost throughout the war.

------------------- The Stealth fighter -------------------

Details about the F-117A stealth fighter-bomber ordered to the Persian Gulf: -- Length: 65 feet, 11 inches. -- Wingspan: 43 feet, 4 inches. -- Speed: Subsonic. -- Weight: 52,500 pounds. -- Range: Unlimited with air refueling. -- Armament: Internal weapons carriage. -- Engines: Two General Electric F-404 engines. -- Crew: One. -- Date deployed: 1982. -- Builder: Lockheed Martin Corp. -- Capability: Low radar signature enables fighter to penetrate into well-defended airspace largely undetected.

While not invisible to enemy radar, it shows up so fleetingly that enemy cannot lock missiles onto the aircraft.

Usually armed with laser-guided bombs.

Boomerang shape, angled surfaces and radar-absorbing materials create the stealth effect.

Source: Department of Defense