Chapter 1, A Promising Start Summary and Analysis

The chapter opens with a dialogue in August 1979 in the Nevada desert. The Lockheed Skunk Words has built the world's first 'pure' stealth fighter; it is supposed to evade even the best radar. The main character - then chief Ben Rich - is hoping that the test flight will be a success. The plane was tested under very high security, so even many at the test grounds don't know how the plane works; they do not know that the very shape of the plane is supposed reflect the radar beams. The radar operator does not pick up the plane. The test is a success.

The chapter then transitions to the beginning of the project of acquiring the bid to build a stealth fighter and the process of constructing it. The project began in January, 1975. Rich...