Stealth technology refers to many techniques used to hide aircraft, ships and other ground vehicles from radar, infrared and other detection systems. This can be done to avoid detection or as a countermeasure.
After World War II, the secretive United States Military initiative, the stealth program was initiated. The goal was to develop an effective means of saving aircraft from enemy radar spotting and bombing.
Although stealth technologies are classified information, there is some basic information.
Low observability
Stealth designs employ a variety if surface materials and coatings that reflect radio wave reflections, delaying their reflection to an adversary's radar. Some designs feature smooth, rounded shapes. Hidden engines and other devices can be used to reduce reflectivity.
Radar can make aircraft invisible
It is essential to ensure that aircraft stealth can be achieved by keeping all parts as cool and comfortable as possible. This includes avoiding hot materials like engine exhaust gas and wing surfaces emitting infrared radiation. This radiation is used to target aircraft by heat-seeking missiles or other weapons. It should be kept as low as possible.
Planar shape
Planar design is the most important stealth technology in aircraft. It's a simple technique that engineers use to make an aircraft invisible from radar. This reduces its size and radar cross-section.
You can achieve this by designing the aircraft's body with a large surface area to volume ratio, and a small physical cross-section. This helps to reduce radar reflections to a minimum and to improve the aerodynamic efficiency of the aircraft.
Another stealth technology is radar absorbing materials (RAMs). These materials can also be made from many different polymers such as glass-fiber composites and multiwalled carbon nanotubes.
Radar-absorbing material can either be applied directly to an aircraft's surface or embedded in a structure. The latter is much more common and has many advantages.
RAM can absorb radio energy without creating it. As such, it is typically a thin layer which extends across the entire surface. Although it is invisible to radar, it is difficult to detect.
An effective RAM material can absorb a large amount of RF energy, so it can greatly reduce the reflected signal from a target. This lowers the chances of a target being identified by radar systems with limited frequency and bandwidth.
Plasma stealth
Plasma stealth, a new type of stealth technology, is now available. This technology has the advantage of a very narrow beamwidth. Instead of traditional antennas, this technology uses a series parallel tubes that are filled with gas and then energized.
This type of antenna can send a wide range of signals, but it is only effective when the aircraft is flying at subsonic speeds. However, it's too expensive to install large amounts of plasma stealth antennas on military aircraft.