Lockheed-Martin’s F-117A Nighthawk, long a symbol of American power in the late and post-Cold War eras, and highly synonymous with secrecy, will retire for good on Monday at a 10 AM ceremony at Holloman Air Force Base. The oddly-shaped black aircraft has a ubiquitous presence in B-roll footage for news networks reporting on government or military activities, space aliens, UFO sightings, science education, crop circles, etc. It also has achieved some notoriety in its own right, having served in the invasion of Panama, both wars in Iraq and at least one having been lost in military combat to Serb forces during NATO operations in Kosovo.

Although its low-observable technology is still quite effective, the F-117A is high-maintenance and has been supplanted by newer aircraft such as the F-22 Raptor. UAVs and other projects are also changing the paradigm of air superiority to emphasize automation and continuous operation, while increasingly taking pilots out of the equation. As unmanned aircraft become more capable in the next decade, it’s possible that we could in fact see a growing trend towards retiring otherwise young operational aircraft.