Super Bowl Flyover Aircraft Pulled for ‘Operational Assignments’

Santa Clara, California — The roar that fans expected to hear from a pair of F-22 Raptors sweeping over Levi’s Stadium on Sunday will never materialize. Department of the Air Force sports outreach program manager Katie Spencer confirmed that the two stealth fighters—once slated to headline the Super Bowl LX flyover—have been diverted to classified “operational assignments,” leaving planners to re-tool the aerial salute with only hours to spare.

The eleventh-hour change strips the pre-game show of what many analysts consider the world’s premier air-superiority platform, a jet that has become synonymous with American air dominance. Spencer declined to detail the mission that claimed the F-22s, but noted the aircraft recently figured prominently in Operation Midnight Hammer, a June B-2 Spirit-led strike package against Iranian nuclear sites.

With the Raptors grounded, the revised formation will feature Air Force B-1 Lancer bombers, F-15C Eagles, Navy F/A-18 Super Hornets, and carrier-variant F-35C Lightning fighters. The B-1, nicknamed “the Bone,” will spearhead the flypast. “We wanted a unique display of air power,” Spencer told Military Times. “Our bombers are beloved by everybody, and they really replicate what it means to be time over target at a certain point. So it was a no-brainer to have bombers in this formation.”

Beyond spectacle, the flyover doubles as a zero-cost training evolution. Aircrews log time-over-target practice while maintainers rehearse rapid-turn recovery procedures—skills directly transferable to combat operations like Midnight Hammer. “These flyovers serve as time-over-target training for our crews,” Spencer explained. “They serve as recovery efforts with our maintainers. And so the reason that we are so proficient at operations like Midnight Hammer and other things that you’ll see is because we can replicate those real world scenarios with this type of flying.”

Sunday’s game pits the New England Patriots—seeking a record seventh Lombardi Trophy—against the slight favorite Seattle Seahawks. Kickoff is set for 6:30 p.m. ET, with nearly 70,000 spectators inside the stadium and a global television audience in the millions. While Puerto Rican superstar Bad Bunny prepares to make halftime history, the skies above will still deliver what Spencer promises will be a visceral reminder of American military might. “Fans are really going to see something special,” she said. “And they’re going to hear something special. They’re going to feel the sound of freedom in the pits of their soul when this formation flies over.”