The F-117 was more an early excercise in stealth. We needed to know how to make stealth before we could make it go fast. The Nighthawk utilized geometric shapes and every surface on the plane, even the cockpit window edges, were slanted so radar waves bounce are deflected. It had radar absorbing materials and filter and cooled exhuast to reduce its heat signiture. The F/A-22 Raptor is a more advanced version that uses more from the F-117 than many people think. The Raptor's overall body shape is a diamond like the F-117 and is coated in an advanced version of the radar absorbing paint used on the Nighthawk. The Raptors thrust vectoring system allows it to more rapidly change direction by giving the aircraft a 4th way to alter its direction beyond the normal aelerons, flaps and tail fins. It also has the highest thrust engines of any fighter at 10,600lbs a piece. This gives it a very high thrust to weight ratio.The F-22 can go supersonic without the use of afterburners for this reason.Originally Posted by clutch-monkey