In 1981, the U.S. Air Force's F-117 Nighthawk stealth aircraft made its first flight, pioneering radar-evading technology through angular design and special coatings. It became operational in the 1980s. Stealth aircraft revolutionized modern warfare and inspired poetry and fiction exploring invisibility, technological secrecy, and the ethics of invisible power projection.

Stealth aircraft technology, emerging in the late 20th century, became a powerful metaphor in poetry for the unseen and the hidden aspects of warfare. Poets such as John Ashbery and Adrienne Rich utilized this imagery to explore themes of invisibility and the complexities of modern conflict.