F-117a Operations

In the current issue of AFM, there is the article wriiten by Wg Cdr ‘Moose’ Poole MA which describes operations over Iraq.
The article contains a picture which shows an F-117A followed by a number of f-15s waiting to depart for a sortie over Iraq.this may be nothing but on the side of the f-117a there appears to be the radar reflector. I thought that these together with the external lighting were removed during times of war, the refectors are used to increase the RCS so the aircraft is visible during peace time and training sorties.

I remember seeing on Video an Interview with a F-117a Pilot at RAF Mildenhall Air fete who said they were reflectors that just bolt onto the airframe.

Surely by fitting these reflectors defeat the purpose of having stealth.

Any thoughts?