A Technical Paper Presentation
On
STEALTH TECHNOLOGY
A SEMINAR ABSTRACT SUBMITTED BY
NAME : V.SATYA KISHORE
REGD NO: 10A21D5713
ABSTRACT
Stealth technology has as its fundamental principle the prevention of detection by
the enemy, and applies not only to aircraft as is commonly assumed, but also increasingly
to naval vessels and to armored vehicles, although in the latter cases, it is emerging
technology upon which comment must be reserved. Stealth technology, therefore, does
not simply mean the evasion by aircraft of radar through the reduction of radar signature.
It also encompasses the reduction of an aircraft's visibility in other spectra, most notably
acoustic, visual, and infra-red. Consequently the popular term ‘stealth technology’
would perhaps be better referred to as ‘low-observable technology’.
Stealth technology provides its users with a number of strategic advantages. As
well as allowing the penetration of heavily defended airspace, it enables single aircraft to
carry out attacks in a manner impossible for conventional aircraft, which require a large
number of support aircraft to conduct similar missions, including escort, defense
suppression, and electronic warfare types. A conventional aircraft ‘package’ may employ
up to 40 aircraft, while a stealth aircraft can conduct the mission by itself. This naturally
requires the use of precision-guided weapons to ensure that the single aircraft has a high
probability of success.
Stealth is not without its drawbacks. The cost of the technology is enormous, and
it is hard to predict that its eventual employment in marine and land operations will ever
be obtained at a price comparable to conventional technology. Nonetheless, precisely
because of its elevated cost it does emphasize the economic power of the contry as well
as its immense advantage in science and technology over the rest of the world.
SUPERVISOR M TECH CO-ORDINATOR HOD(ECE)
Topics to be discussed:
Introduction
What is the need of "STEALTH TECHNOLOGY”
Anatomy of RADAR TECHNOLOGY
History of Stealth Technology
RADAR Stealth
Absorption
Deflection
Counter Stealth
Anti Stealth Technology
Methods of Anti Stealth Technology
Airborne method
Satellite Based Method
Surface Based Method
Advantages
Conclusion
INTRODUCTION
WHAT IS STEALTH? In simple terms, stealth technology allows an aircraft to be partially invisible to
Radar or any other means of detection. This doesn't allow the aircraft to be fully invisible
on radar. Stealth technology cannot make the aircraft invisible to enemy or friendly radar.
All it can do is to reduce the detection range or an aircraft. This is similar to the
camouflage tactics used by soldiers in jungle warfare. Unless the soldier comes near you,
you can't see him. Though this gives a clear and safe striking distance for the aircraft,
there is still a threat from radar systems, which can detect stealth aircraft.
Radar is something that is in use all around us, although it is normally invisible.
Air traffic control uses radar to track planes both on the ground and in the air, and also to
guide planes in for smooth landings. Police use radar to detect the speed of passing
motorists. NASA uses radar to map the Earth and other planets, to track satellites and
space debris and to help with things like docking and maneuvering. The military uses it to
detect the enemy and to guide weapons.
ANATOMY OF RADAR TECHNOLOGY:
Meteorologists use radar to track storms, hurricanes and tornadoes. You even see
a form of radar at many grocery stores when the doors open automatically! Obviously,
radar is an extremely useful technology. When people use radar, they are usually trying to
accomplish one of three things:
(a) Detect the presence of an object at a distance - Usually the "something" is
moving, like an airplane, but radar can also be used to detect stationary objects buried
underground. In some cases, radar can identify an object as well; for example, it can
identify the type of aircraft it has detected.
(b) Detect the speed of an object - This is the reason why police use radar.
(c) Map something - The space shuttle and orbiting satellites use something
called Synthetic Aperture Radar to create detailed topographic maps of
the surface of
All three of these activities can be accomplished using two things you may be
familiar with from everyday life: echo and Doppler shift. These two concepts are easy to
understand in the realm of sound because your ears hear echo and Doppler shift every
day. Radar makes use of the same techniques using radio waves.
What is the need of "STEALTH TECHNOLOGY”
Air operations have provided many advantages in warfare, resulting
in the extensive use of aircraft to dominate the battlefield. The mission
benefits of aircraft include flexibility, mobility and speed, and have given users rapid,
massive, effective and surprise attack opportunities on remote territories.
However if an aircraft does not employ tactics and technologies that improve
its survivability it will be vulnerable to counter attack. In general,
survivability, which improves with these tactics and technologies,
“depends on a complex mix of design features, performance, mission
planning and tactics.”
Stealth aircraft are specifically designed with the aforementioned features
and performance qualities to increase survivability, which means accomplishing the
mission objectives and returning home safely. Thus, stealth capability has a very high
importance in the battlefield. Further, stealth aircraft are able to accomplish
and survive missions where other assets cannot. Their operational flexibility
provides users the ability to penetrate even the most well defended zones with
relatively little risk.
In warfare, detection of enemy forces is vital for counter attack and defenders are
made aware of an attacker’s air operations by means of several types
of detectors, especially radars. For instance, in air operations, defenders have
more time to deploy interceptors and other ground forces after early
detection by radars. Defensive forces attempt to defeat an opponent’s
attacks by using counter weapon systems.
Further, defenders may have sufficient time to take precautions in the targeted
zone to reduce or eliminate the effectiveness of a campaign. On the other hand, low
observable technology enhances air superiority and the freedom to attack surface targets
by means of reducing an aircraft’s radar detection range and its infrared, visual
and acoustic signatures to degrade the chance and range of detection .
Thus, ideal stealth technology assets enable its users to operate freely and conduct
missions securely, even in the most risky enemy zone.
Though it is not possible to become completely stealthy, either
delaying the detection or lessening an opponent’s ability to track target course after
detection provides a major advantage to low observable users.
Development of stealth technology for aircraft began before World War I.
Because RADAR had not been invented, visibility was the sole concern, and the goal was
to create aircraft that were hard to see. In 1912, German designers produced a largely
transparent
History of Stealth Technology:
monoplane; its wings and fuselage were covered by a transparent material
derived from cellulose, the basis of movie film, rather than the opaque canvas standard in
that era. Interior struts and other parts were painted with light colors to further reduce
visibility. The plane was effectively invisible from the ground when flow at 900 ft (274
m) or higher, and faintly visible at lower altitudes. Several transparent German aircraft
saw combat during World War I, and Soviet aircraft designers attempted the design of
transparent aircraft in the 1930s.
With the invention of RADAR during World War II, stealth became both more needful
and more feasible: more needful because RADAR was highly effective at detecting
aircraft, and would soon be adapted to guiding antiaircraft missiles and gunnery at them,
yet more feasible because to be RADAR-stealthy an aircraft did need to be not be
completely transparent to radio waves; it could absorb or deflect them.
During World War II, Germany coated the snorkels of its submarines with
RADAR-absorbent paint to make them less visible to RADAR’s carried by Allied
antisubmarine aircraft. In 1945 the U.S. developed a RADAR-absorbent paint containing
iron. It was capable of making an airplane less RADAR-reflective, but was heavy;
several coats of the material, known as MX-410, could make an aircraft unwieldy or even
too heavy to fly. However, stealth development continued throughout the postwar years.
In the mid 1960s, the U.S. built a high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft, the Lockheed SR-
71 Blackbird, which was extremely RADAR-stealthy for its day. The SR-71 included a
number of stealth features, including special RADAR-absorbing structures along the
edges of wings and tailfins, a cross-sectional design featuring few vertical surfaces that
could reflect RADAR directly back toward a transmitter, and a coating termed "iron ball"
that could be electronically manipulated to produce a variable, confusing RADAR
reflection. The SR-71, flying at approximately 100,000 feet, was routinely able to
penetrate Soviet airspace without being reliably tracked on RADAR.
The Russian 1R13 radar system is very much capable of detecting the F-117
"Night Hawk" stealth fighter. There are also some other radar systems made in other
countries, which are capable of detecting the F-117. During the Gulf war the Iraqis were
able to detect the F-117 but failed to eliminate its threat because of lack of coordination.
The most unforgettable incident involving the detection and elimination of a stealth
aircraft was during the NATO air-war over Yugoslavia. This was done by a Russian built
"not so advanced" SAM (possibly the SA-3 or SA-6). The SAM system presumably used
optical detection for target acquisition in the case.
Radar Principles:
RADAR INVISIBILITY: DESIGNING A "STEALTH” AIRCRAFT:
Radar is an electromagnetic system for the detection and location of
reflecting objects such as aircraft, ships, spacecraft, vehicles, people, and
the natural environment. The word RADAR came from using the capitalized letters of the
phrase Radio Detection and Ranging. The wide spread military use of it during WWII
changed the progress of the war. It later became an indispensable navigation and traffic
control system for civilian purposes.
Radar uses the principle of sending a radar wave, which is a form of
electromagnetic radiation, in a desired direction with a transmitter, and then collecting the
reflected signals from a target with a receiver. Once reflected signals are received, the
range to a target can be calculated by evaluating the interval of the radar signal’s travel;
the half time of total interval gives the distance of the target while the radar signal
propagates from the transmitter and returns to the receiver after reflection from the target.
This study is not intended to discuss complex radar principles, however, the
fundamental mathematical model of the radar equation can be useful in understanding the
important relationship between the main variables; radar cross section of the target,
frequency and effective radiated power of the radar, distance between the transmitter,
target and receiver. The radar equation is expressed as
where Pr (watts) is the attained power by the radar receiver, Pt (watts) is the transmitted
power from the radar emitter, Gt and Gr (unit less) are the gains of the transmitter and the
receiver that generates the multiplier for the effective power, σ (square meters) is radar
cross section (RCS) and λ (meters) is the wavelength. Wavelength can be calculated by
using the formula:
where c equals to, 3x108 (meters per seconds), because the signal radiates at the speed of
light, and f is the radiated signal’s frequency (Hertz). As the detection range is very
important for a low observable aircraft, the statement for the range acquired from
Equation below should be analyzed.
As seen in above Equation, detection distance varies by the quarter root of RCS.
Because the only factor which can be changed by a low observable aircraft designer is
RCS, it becomes crucial. However, the fact that reduction in the RCS decreases only by
the fourth root of the distance, requires designers to be very careful, because only
dramatically large changes in RCS give favorable results. If a given radar has a detection
range of 100 miles against a target with a RCS of 10 m2, its approximate detection range
to different RCS values calculated with basic radar equation are shown in Table. This
results again show that, only enormous reductions in the RCS can make significant
changes in the detection range
A target is detected by the radar only when the radar’s receiver gets adequate
Importance of Radar Cross Section (RCS) and RCS Reduction Methods:
energy back from the target, furthermore, this energy must be above the electronic noise
or signal to noise threshold to be detected. There are many variables in the transmission
scattering reflection sequence which determine the maximum detection range. These are
transmitter effective outgoing energy, beam width, RCS of the target, total energy back
from the target, antenna aperture (or size) and the receiver’s processing capability .
Among these variables, RCS is the main concern of this study. A radar beam is
shaped in 3 dimensions like a cone, so as the range increases, the area seen by this cone
increases. However, with this increased range, the reflected target energy and detected
receiver energy reduce. So, even in the best of circumstances, only a small portion of the
original energy can be used by the radar to process.
Increasing the radar transmitter power or deploying bigger antennas with more
gain helps to obtain a longer detection range. However, these approaches have
limitations, such as increased cost and an increase in noise back to the system. Most of
the cost for an increase in energy is wasted on empty space. Furthermore, larger antennas
and larger energy generating units are unmanageable, especially for mobile systems.
Nevertheless, with a good understanding of basic electromagnetic principles and radar
phenomena, sophisticated radar designs that have better detection performance and
greater precision are being developed
Up to this point, only the radar designer’s concerns are mentioned. For the stealth
designer, the only variable to decrease the detection range is RCS. This is why RCS is the
key term for low observables where reduction in reflected RF signal signature is
intended. Any attempt to make an asset RF low observable focuses on RCS. If a target’s
RCS can be decreased to a level low enough for its echo return to be below the detection
threshold of the radar, then the target is not detected. In this context, RCS reduction is a
countermeasure which has developed against radars and, conversely, new radar
techniques with more sophisticated designs are produced to detect targets with low RCS
Radar cross section is the size of a target as seen by the radar. In more scientific words,
RCS is a measure of the power that is returned or scattered in a given direction,
normalized with respect to power density of the incident field. The normalization is made
to remove the effect of the range, and so the signature is not dependent on the distance
between the target and the receiver. The RCS helps to measure objects against a common
reference point, which is very useful in the low observable technology world in
determining the performance of design goals. In this context, RCS can also be described
as the size of a reflective sphere that would return the same amount of energy back. The
projected area of the sphere, or the area of a disk of the same diameter, is the RCS
number itself. However, one important thing that should be understood is that this area is
not the geometrical cross section of the body.
Considering the first two factors, which are under control of the stealth designer,
there are four main principles to reduce the RCS of an airplane. The principles are
designing the shape, using special materials (RAM) on the surfaces, active cancellation
and passive cancellation. In addition, a fifth consideration is plasma technology, which is
also sometimes included as an active cancellation type.
RADAR Stealth
RADAR is the use of reflected electromagnetic waves in the microwave part of
the spectrum to detect targets or map landscapes. RADAR first illuminates the target, that
is, transmits a radio pulse in its direction. If any of this energy is reflected by the target,
some of it may be collected by a receiving antenna. By comparing the delay times for
various echoes, information about the geometry of the target can be derived and, if
necessary, formed into an image. RADAR stealth or invisibility requires that a craft
absorb incident RADAR pulses, actively cancel them by emitting inverse waveforms,
deflect them away from receiving antennas, or all of the above. Absorption and
:
deflection, treated below, are the most important prerequisites of RADAR stealth.
Metallic surfaces reflect RADAR; therefore, stealth aircraft parts must either be
coated with RADAR-absorbing materials or made out of them to begin with. The latter is
preferable because an aircraft whose parts are intrinsically RADAR-absorbing derives
Absorption:
aerodynamic as well as stealth function from them, whereas a RADAR-absorbent coating
is, aerodynamically speaking, dead weight. The F-117 stealth aircraft is built mostly out
of a RADAR-absorbent material termed Fibaloy, which consists of glass fibers embedded
in plastic, and of carbon fibers, which are used mostly for hot spots like leading wing-
edges and panels covering the jet engines. Thanks to the use of such materials, the
airframe of the F-117 (i.e., the plane minus its electronic gear, weapons, and engines) is
only about 10% metal. Both the B-2 stealth bomber and the F-117 reflect about as much
RADAR as a hummingbird
Many RADAR-absorbent plastics, carbon-based materials, ceramics, and blends of these
materials have been developed for use on stealth aircraft. Combining such materials with
RADAR-absorbing surface geometry enhances stealth. For example, wing surfaces can
be built on a metallic substrate that is shaped like a field of pyramids with the spaces
between the pyramids filled by a RADAR-absorbent material. RADAR waves striking
the surface zigzag inward between the pyramid walls, which increases absorption by
lengthening signal path through the absorbent material. Another example of structural
absorption is the placement of metal screens over the intake vents of jet engines. These
screens—used, for example, on the F-117 stealth fighter—absorb RADAR waves exactly
like the metal screens embedded in the doors of microwave ovens. It is important to
prevent RADAR waves from entering jet intakes, which can act as resonant cavities
(echo chambers) and so produce bright RADAR reflections.
The inherently high cost of RADAR-absorbent, airframe-worthy materials makes stealth
aircraft expensive; each B-2 bomber costs approximately $2.2 billion, while each F-117
fighter costs approximately $45 million; the U.S. fields 21 B-2s and 54 F-117s. The
Russian Academy of Sciences, however, according to a 1999 report by Jane's Defense
Weekly, claims to have developed a low-budget RADAR-stealth technique, namely the
cloaking of aircraft in ionized gas (plasma). Plasma absorbs radio waves, so it is
theoretically possible to diminish the RADAR reflectivity of an otherwise non-stealthy
aircraft by a factor of 100 or more by generating plasma at the nose and leading edges of
an aircraft and allowing it flow backward over the fuselage and wings. The Russian
system is supposedly lightweight (>220 lb [100 kg]) and retrofit table to existing aircraft,
making it the stealth capability available at least cost to virtually any air force.
A disadvantage of the plasma technique that it would probably make the aircraft
glow in the visible part of the spectrum.
Most Radar are monotonic, that is, for reception they use either the same antenna
as for sending or a separate receiving antenna collocated with the sending antenna;
deflection therefore means reflecting RADAR pulses in any direction other than the one
they came from. This in turn requires that stealth aircraft lack flat, vertical surfaces that
could act as simple RADAR mirrors. RADAR can also be strongly reflected wherever
three
Deflection:
planar surfaces meet at a corner. Planes such as the B-52 bomber, which have many
flat, vertical surfaces and RADAR-reflecting corners, are notorious for their RADAR-
reflecting abilities; stealth aircraft, in contrast, tend to be highly angled and streamlined,
presenting no flat surfaces at all to an observer that is not directly above or below them.
The B-2 bomber, for example, is shaped like a boomerang.
A design dilemma for stealth aircraft is that they need not only to be invisible to RADAR
but to use RADAR; inertial guidance, the Global Positioning System, and laser RADAR
can all help aircraft navigate stealthily, but an aircraft needs conventional RADAR to
track incoming missiles and hostile aircraft. Yet the transmission of RADAR pulses by a
stealth aircraft wishing to avoid RADAR detection is self-contradictory. Furthermore,
RADAR and radio antennas are inherently RADAR-reflecting.
A Stealthy Air Craft
An aircraft cannot be made truly invisible. For example, no matter how cool the
exhaust vents of an aircraft are kept, the same amount of heat is always liberated by
burning a given amount of fuel, and this heat must be left behind the aircraft as a trail of
warm air. Infrared-detecting devices might be devised that could image this heat trail as it
formed, tracking a stealth aircraft.
Counter-stealth:
Furthermore, every jet aircraft leaves swirls of air—vortices—in its wake. Doppler radar,
which can image wind velocities, might pinpoint such disturbances if it could be made
sufficiently high-resolution.
Other anti-stealth techniques could include the detection of aircraft-caused disturbances
in the Earth's magnetic field (magnetic anomaly detection), networks of low frequency
radio links to detect stealth aircraft by interruptions in transmission, the use of specially
shaped RADAR pulses that resist absorption, and netted RADAR. Netted RADAR is the
use of more than one receiver, and possibly more than one transmitter, in a network.
Since stealth aircraft rely partly on deflecting RADAR pulses, receivers located off the
line of pulse transmission might be able to detected deflected echoes. By illuminating a
target area using multiple transmitters and linking multiple receivers into a coordinated
network, it should be possible to greatly increase one's chances of detecting a stealthy
target. No single receiver may record a strong or steady echo from any single transmitter,
but the network as a whole might collect enough information to track a stealth target.
Modern military stealth technology is based on the principle that stealthy craft
remain invisible to detecting radar and infrared sensors, especially at long ranges. Such
technology can be entirely nullified by the detecting radar and/or infrared sensors
searching, not for the stealthy craft itself, but for the background behind the stealthy craft.
The stealth craft will then show up in the form of a black or blank silhouette in front of
the background. This is much like the way one can pinpoint with extreme accuracy the
location of the moon during a solar eclipse, and track its movement with great precision,
even though during a solar eclipse one cannot observe the moon itself. (N.B.: The
remainder of this document describes the detailed methods one might use to detect
ANTI-STEALTH TECHNOLOGY:
the background behind stealth craft. Thus it is not necessary to read the entire document
in order to grasp the principle of Anti-Stealth Technology, though one may of course do
so to dispel all skepticism as to its practicability.)
Military stealth technology, such as is used, for example, in the B-2 bomber, the F-
117fighter-bomber and the F-22 fighter, and as is intended for the future Comanche
helicopter, and the next-generation tank which is intended to replace the current M1A2
Abrams tank — is based on the principle that the stealthy craft remains invisible to
detecting radar and infrared sensors, especially at long ranges. With respect to radar, this
is accomplished, in basic principle, by the stealthy craft absorbing almost all the radar
waves emanated by detecting radar sources, and/or reflecting or deflecting the detecting
radar in direction(s) other than towards the detecting sensors. With respect to infrared, the
objective of stealth is achieved, in basic principle, by the stealthy craft minimizing heat
from its engines and other heat-emitting spots. As a result of applying the above
principles, detecting sensors searching for a stealthy craft cannot detect any radar or
infrared signal emanating from the craft, except perhaps at very close distances, when it
may already be too late to do anything about it from a military viewpoint. The craft,
therefore, cannot be observed by radar or infrared sensors.
Basic Principles of Modern Stealth Technology:
One way to accomplish the above is for the detecting forces to fly a high-flying aircraft
furnished with SLAR (Side-Looking Airborne Radar) and/or FLIR (Front-Looking
Infra-Red) equipment to map out the terrain below and to one side, or to the front. If a
stealth craft were operating anywhere above the terrain being mapped, a small patch of
terrain, which the stealth craft would perforce eclipse, would not be observed on the
detecting aircraft’s output screen. That particular spot would appear black or blank, and
more or less in the shape of a silhouette of the stealth craft: thereby pinpointing the
stealth craft’s position within the field of vision of the detecting aircraft. The initial
detection of a distant stealth craft might be slow, since until the craft were detected,
1. Airborne Method
the equipment would have to scan the entire terrain over which the craft might be located.
However, once that location were pinpointed, the craft could be tracked much more
swiftly and accurately by zooming in on that location and some of its surrounding area,
and scanning only that relatively small part of the field of vision. This would enable the
searching equipment to generate much more detailed images of the silhouette of the craft
in question, perhaps even identifying the craft by that silhouette. If, in addition, the SLAR
or FLIR equipment were furnished with rangefinder capability (as many such are), the
exact position of the stealth craft in three dimensions could also be determined. This
would not greatly matter, of course, if the stealth craft were a land vehicle (like a tank);
but in the case of aircraft such data could provide very valuable information from a
military point of view. And with modern computers this position could be calculated very
swiftly indeed: almost instantaneously.
The same method may be used looking down on the battlefield from satellites equipped
with radar sensors. Although satellites would be relatively far away from the battlefield a
couple of hundred miles away, or even more — they would be able to remain out of
range of most hostile weapons, and thus would not run much risk of being shot down, as
might aircraft. Also, satellites would be able to cover a much larger area of the battlefield,
thus being in a position to locate and track virtually all hostile stealth craft.
2. Satellite-Based Method
Yet another way of detecting a stealth aircraft would be for surface-based radar
installations to scan the sky at high apertures and with high sensitivity, such as is done
with radio telescopes. (Since such installations would be surface-based, even if they had
to be substantially large and/or heavy to adequately accomplish this task, their size and
weight would not be a serious deterrent to their accomplishing it.) As is well known to
radio astronomers, even in daytime or in bad weather, radio signals from the stars would
reach the radar installations uninterrupted. Since the radio map of the stars is by now very
well known, it may be assumed that if any star is not observed on the detecting screen or
output device, that particular star must be eclipsed by some craft flying above the
installation somewhere along the line of sight between the installation and that particular
star. And with very sensitive radio-astronomical equipment, virtually every part of the
sky is observed to be covered with stars! Therefore at almost every instant in time, the
3. Surface-Based Method
stealth aircraft would be eclipsing one or another known star. Even if less sensitive
detecting equipment were used, so that the time it took to record the stellar images was
greater than the time it took for an aircraft to entirely eclipse a particular star, that star
would still show up on the detecting screen somewhat fainter than it would otherwise if it
had not been eclipsed by the aircraft for a part of the time it took for the radio waves from
it to be gathered. Thus by calibrating the detecting equipment to search for those stars
whose radio images appear to be fainter than usual (as determined by standard radio maps
of the sky), the position of the eclipsing aircraft could be determined swiftly, even with
equipment of less than stellar performance. Indeed the limit of sensitivity of the
equipment as a whole would be determined, not by the sensitivity of the radio signal
gathering device, but by the sensitivity of the equipment which detects the difference in
intensity of the actual signals from particular stars compared to their intensity as
indicated by the standard radio map of those same stars. And as with the airborne
method, although the initial detection of a distant stealth aircraft might be slow, once its
location were pinpointed, the aircraft could be tracked much more swiftly and accurately
by zooming in on that location and some of surrounding area. If more than one detecting
installation were used, by a process of triangulation the exact location in three dimensions
of all aircraft — friendly as well as hostile — within the fields of vision of the relevant
installations could be determined with great accuracy. And as mentioned earlier, with
Modern computers such a determination could be arrived at almost instantaneously.
With the passage of time, the specific stars being eclipsed by any particular aircraft
would change in a manner consistent with the aircraft’s trajectory. Thus by accurately
observing the time intervals between sequentially-eclipsed stars, coupled with an exact
knowledge of the radio-astronomical map, the aircraft’s trajectory could easily and
quickly — almost instantly — be calculated, especially if powerful computers were
utilized to calculate it. If, in addition, the locations of all the friendly aircraft within the
field of vision of the installation are also known, it may be assumed that hostile aircraft
must be eclipsing those stars not showing up on the screen which cannot be accounted for
by friendly aircraft. Thus by a process of elimination, the location of all hostile aircraft,
and not just hostile stealth aircraft, could be determined. This would be an advantage of
the surface-based method as opposed to the airborne method described earlier. And, of
course, with modern computers all the above calculations could be performed extremely
rapidly: almost instantaneously.
One further advantage of the surface-based method, as opposed to the airborne
method described earlier, is that the detecting installation(s) need not emit any radio
signals themselves. Thus it would be impossible for hostile aircraft to home in on their
radio emissions in order to destroy the installations, which add to their safety factor:
especially if from a visual point of view these installations were also carefully
camouflaged.
Further Advantages of the Surface-Based Method:
Another advantage of the surface-based installations would be that they could also be
equipped with powerful surface-to-air missiles (SAMs), which could be much larger and
possess much greater range and destructive power than air-based missiles for the
destruction of hostile stealth aircraft. And since these particular SAMs need not
themselves emit any radar signals either, but could
merely fly along a narrow beam (say, a laser beam) emanating from the installation
which has detected the stealth aircraft, the latter would get no warning that one or more
SAMs have been launched against it, and thus would not have a chance to take evasive
action.
Both technology and skills goes hand in hand so that those who possess better technology
and skills will definitely win the war or detect the missiles or aircrafts. You might think
that this technology was related to our department only but it is a core technology related
to several disciplines of technology.
Conclusion:
Unlikely such new kinds of stealth technology can be developed in so short a time.