How can F-117 Nighthawks get shot down?

[greenmachine_6]

I notice that my nighthawks get shot down by radar instalations a lot. How is this possible? Aren't they stealth? Help?

[Pyrophosphate]

"Stealth" doesn't mean "can't get shot down". In the game and real life, all "stealth" does is reduce the radar signature, not remove it completely. Removing it isn't possible (or practical) with current technology. You do have to be very careful with your Nighthawks.

What you do about that is either sweep the joint with a SEAD aircraft (I can't think of the name of one off hand) before your nighthawk comes through, or go after them on the ground. Honestly, if you're regularly losing Nighthawks to ground-based AA, you must be flying headlong into a pretty thick AA net. Use more recon, and make sure you know the area you're going to be bombing, AND the path your aircraft take to get there. Especially with a Nighthawk, it's worth your time to micromanage and make sure it doesn't fly somewhere stupid.

[greenmachine_6]

Thanks, will do.

[doubleqHY?]

Use the Raven F-111 to knock out the AA.

[Rococo Era]

Another thing to note, once your nighthawk fires its paveway missile, its stealth drops to 0. combine that with 0 ecm ability and slow speed and you have an easy target.

[Person012345]

As rococo said, the nighthawk's trick is to approach unseen, drop it's bomb from far away, turn around and hopefully stay out of AA range. once it drops it's bomb it has bad ECM and will die easily. If you have a raven or something, put that just ahead of it. This way the raven draws fire with it's excellent ECM and can be evac'd. Although it's not a good idea to yolo into the middle of an anti-air nest with air units. That goes without saying.

[moo]

Oprindeligt skrevet af Rococo Era:

Another thing to note, once your nighthawk fires its paveway missile, its stealth drops to 0.

interesting...

[Rococo Era]

the nighthawk has been nerfed to hell since release. I really only use it to CV or arty snipe these days.

[Sticky Hooves]

Use Nighthwak on checked and secured positions ti kill CVs, arty and masses of units. Check with SEAD planes (Raven, Prowler, that stuff), try to exploit windows in enemy fighter patrols, select suitable targets (try not to bomb blindly) and F117 will become a deadly harrass-machine.

[Traffic Conez]

Oprindeligt skrevet af Rococo Era:

the nighthawk has been nerfed to hell since release. I really only use it to CV or arty snipe these days.

Yep, probably because people whined how there Spetnaz where insta-killed in forests....Nighthawks are basically glorified Yak 38's.

[Chestus]

and all so out of every 10 manpad aaa that fire on you1-3 are likelly to hit

[Londonsmee]

The more you fly it over enemy terrority the more chance it has of being spotted and that means death. Fly over friendly then drop and your have more chance of getting out of there. Its an art but can be fun once you figure it out. The laser targeting means once it has lock on it doesnt miss.

[Hardy [7thMD]]

Oprindeligt skrevet af Rococo Era:

the nighthawk has been nerfed to hell since release. I really only use it to CV or arty snipe these days.

i got rid of mine in favor of a Hornet

[Legatus Hamster]

I find Nighthawks to be very useful at bombing either at the very edge of the enemy line or deep behind enemy lines (fly around map edge)

Once a nighthawk gets spotted in flight it's pretty much dead. If a night hawk gets spotted after bombing it depends on how much AA is nearby: You need two missiles to hit it to kill it and due to ECM most missiles will hit. Thus, is two or more AA are in range of your nighthawk it will probably die.

They're quite strange in that way: Nighthawks are extremely brittle and fragile, yet they're usually the plane I buy first and the one which lasts to the end of the match. Anyway, if you want an ordinary bomber you're probably better off with a tram or strike eagle or something, those are cheaper/deadlier and more survivable when taking fire. The nighthawk's shtick is avoiding fire and interception

[Legatus Hamster]

Oprindeligt skrevet af K. Hardy TF187:

Oprindeligt skrevet af Rococo Era:

the nighthawk has been nerfed to hell since release. I really only use it to CV or arty snipe these days.

i got rid of mine in favor of a Hornet

Hornet won't fire at anything which hasn't been spotted though. If you know where a CV is but can't spot it (for example you had spotted it but the recon unit got killed) you can bomb it but the hornet would be useless. They're great planes though. My US deck is an air-heavy deck and I use a hornet, fighting falcon, nighthawk and raven. They all have their own role and used properly can utterly demolish an enemy.

[Zapp Brannigan]

I will second Hamster. The Nighthawk is almost impossible to shoot down if you use it to nibble at the edges of the front line. Don't think that because it is stealth that you can fly it deep into enemy territory. It almost always will get seen (on the way out if nothing else), and if it is seen in the middle of the enemy it is dead.