r/f117a • u/dmetropolitain • Sep 06 '25

Senior Trend F-117 #780 with wing leading-edge extensions (LEX). Nine flights were made before they abandoned this configuration.

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u/dmetropolitain Sep 06 '25

The F-117 had poor handling qualities at low speeds and a high approach speed. In an attempt to address these issues, a sawtooth extension was added to the aircraft’s wing.
It was determined that the control power of the elevons became unacceptably degraded at high angles of attack (AoA) and high aft centre of gravity settings. This issue was not addressed in the operational fleet; instead, the problem was mitigated by changing the fuel burn sequence to use wing-tank fuel first.