In fact, that's exactly the analogy I used a few months back to try to express how this is different from other airplanes. It's basically the game changer that submarines were to naval surface warfare. Why? Because submarines were almost undetectable and therefore always had first strike. They could always get the first blow in.
What happened afterwards was sometimes more of an even fight, especially with technology later on. But even to this day, submarines remain the most dangerous threat in the ocean because of their stealthiness. They're hard to detect, almost impossible in certain conditions, and they always have first-strike option.
That's what stealth does; it's that same equivalent to submarine warfare. By and large, you will always have that first option of not being detected and therefore being able to take first action, which is usually a determinant to winning.