Purpose

The HAVE Blue project was top secret, and stealth technology "did not officially exist" to the general public. The entire project was to remain in complete secrecy, and no information about it was allowed to be shared outside of the members in the development team in hopes of keeping the technology secret from the Soviet Union and other enemies. On November 1st, 1975, Lockheed was awarded a US 1.5 million dollar contract by DARPA to develop an aircraft that used the low radar cross section design, and would be called the Experimental Survival Test bed, or XST. Skunk Works got started right away on the project using the flat panel design as the concept behind the development. With the entire project developed under complete secrecy, the general public does not know exactly when the Nighthawk was first put into active service.

Origins

Crickmore tells us that the "HAVE Blue" project was born in the mid 1970's when the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or more commonly referred to as  DARPA, started to seek a manufacture for a new fighter aircraft that employed stealth technology. Lockheed wasn't even on DARPA's radar, because Lockheed was entering a period of financial turmoil due to their failed attempts at re-entering the commercial aviation market with their L-1011 Tri-Star.

Skunk Works, a division of Lockheed that specializes in advanced projects, was given permission by the US Central Intelligence Agency to talk with DARPA on the topic of stealth development, because of their upcoming A-12 and D-21 aircraft that would benefit greatly from the technology. Lockheed could be involved in the project but with no government financial aid.

What is Stealth?

In order to carry out a military attack against an enemy, you must have an element of surprise in your strike to be successful. If the enemy doesn't know they are going to be attacked, how would they be prepared? Radar is a technology that uses radio waves to pick up a moving object such as aircraft, weather, or ships at sea. Paul Crickmore of Nighthawk F-117 Stealth Fighter tells us that it was apparent in the early 70's North American Treaty Organization (NATO) aircraft were becoming more susceptible to the expanding Soviet air defense systems at the height of the Cold War. They needed an aircraft that could demonstrate "stealth" characteristics, or an aircraft with a design that makes radar detection difficult. Thus the top secret "HAVE Blue" project, Paul says, which became the first stealth fighter known as the F-117 Nighthawk, was born out of Lockheed's "Skunk Works" division at the Tonopah Test Range.