Thousands of men and women in the U.S. government and aerospace industry worked in deep secrecy to create the world’s first family of very low observable, highly survivable military aircraft. Early stealth development began in the mid-1970s with the Have Blue experimental aircraft, which grew from classified studies of how to reduce radar detection and led to flight tests in 1977 and 1978 that demonstrated a stealth aircraft could evade and penetrate enemy defenses. That breakthrough was immediately applied to the F-117A, the first stealth aircraft developed, produced, and used in combat by the United States Air Force, which first flew in 1981, became operational in 1983, and proved its effectiveness in Panama and during Operation Desert Storm. Northrop’s Tacit Blue, first flown in 1982, paired very low observability with a low probability of intercept radar for survivable battlefield surveillance and completed 135 test missions, with technologies later incorporated into the B-2. The early period concluded in 1993 with delivery of the first B-2 Stealth Bomber to the Air Force after a vast, tightly guarded effort that integrated government, Northrop, major subcontractors, and thousands of participants to produce a long-range penetrating bomber. Across this crucial eighteen-year period, these four complex programs changed combat aircraft design and tactics around the world and advanced the science, technology, manufacturing, maintenance, and operational capabilities that continue to benefit the United States Air Force.