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Chinese Researchers Reveal Active Stealthy Material (popsci.com)
hackingbear writes: Even after billions and billions of dollars spent on the stealthy skin used on F-22, F-35 and B-2, the material has weaknesses, and one of those is ultra-high-frequency (UHF) radar, which can pick up traces of the plane that other radar misses. Chinese researchers came to the rescue and created a material just 5/16 of an inch thick that can safeguard stealth planes against UHF detection. The material tunes itself to a range of detection frequencies, protecting against a large swath of radar scans. What's even more amazing? They published this seemingly top secret invention wide open in the Journal of Applied Physics .
If this thing works, how did anyone notice it?
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Are they publishing it because (1) they have something better, (2) they have figured out a way to beat it and hope we will use it, or (3) they were simply incompetent?
It's only amazing if it works. A huge distraction for material scientists and aircraft engineers if it's bogus.
Got 20 year old formula for UHF stuff. Now, if only it can tune in channels 14 to 83 without all the static, and a goofy looking antenna.
Admiral Akbar
Andy Warhol got it right / Everybody gets the limelight
Andy Warhol got it wrong / Fifteen minutes is too long.
but pilot can't see target either.
https://www.qualcomm.com/products/mirasol
For those familiar with Salisbury Screen based Radar Absorbent Materials: this was the first thing that came to my mind when I saw the Qualcomm technology...
I think some Chinese researchers just got executed.
As with almost any tuned system, it works very well and damping a particular frequency, but very poorly off resonance. The article describes a "broad-band" anti-reflective material, which is misconstrued in the summary. In fact they made a material which can be tuned over a relatively large frequency band ("0.7-1.9GHz) by adjusting a bias voltage. In reality, at any given time the bandwidth is only ~0.2GHz. Moreover, their structure only absorbs one polarization of radiation, and was tested only at normal incidence.
Stealth is great and all, but we should also have a modern fighter plane that says, hell with stealth, I'll be fast, maneuverable, and mean.
We seem to be putting all our eggs into the stealth basket. If somebody defeats stealth, then fast may be the next best alternative.
Table-ized A.I.
Although it was hard to see from where we stood, I think that the exhaust structure had been removed. Compared to some of the pictures I have seen, I also think that they removed features like the bomb bay doors.
Even so, it was a fantastic experience to see one up close. If you ever git the chance to visit the museum, take it. There is a long waiting list, you can't just go there and get in. Planning is required.
Why is Snark Required?
Maybe they know the US already discovered it in secret, and they are thumbing their nose at us, or trying to coax us to abandon it by implying they can study it in detail.
Table-ized A.I.
Translation: 5/16 Inch = 8mm
Why they disclose it? Because it is no longer a problem for them. They already have a radar or radar equivalent that detects planes wrapped in this stuff. If they can fool the others to use this material and believe to be invisible while they are not then Chineese can have much more fun compared to simply being invisible.
Vajk
Yes, China CLAIMED that their UHF radar could detect western stealth. However, just because they claim such a thing, does not make it so.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
The real next item is drone. We need to do a fast stealthy drone. And the reason for the drone is simply small size, combined with maneuvering capabilities.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
> What's even more amazing? They published this seemingly top secret invention wide open in the Journal of Applied Physics .
This is science done right. You should try one in a while.
IMHO China is mostly equal to the US: two states paranoid about defense -- actually I think China ends up being much less aggressive than the US.
As it turns out, if you care enough about defense you look (and become) aggressive, much like a weak guy ends up being a bodybuilding champion if s/he trains enough.
The Chinese, apparently, don't want that working against them and are both informing they have such a resource and, by making it known, stating they don't intend to surprise anyone. Pretty smart move if this is really what happened...
first, UHF does not detect American stealth. China just claims it in hopes that fools will buy their radar.
China is giving up nothing. They have a compound that will absorb UHF, but all others are reflected. IOW, it is worthless.
So, why not publish it?
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
Maybe they have means of detecting it?
It's a trap..... Of course they want us to install this new material as they have a means of detecting it. They can get this material to light up on a new super secret radar like a Christmas tree.
That Americans invented it and the Chinese just stole it.
The claims that current stealth aircraft are very vulnerable to UHF radar systems in the first place is flawed.
UHF only works well very close up. At range it can at best tell you that "something is in that general direction" -- nowhere near enough data to launch a missile. The radar resolution cell (the "box" in the sky where the radar knows the aircraft is) ends up being VERY large. This also makes it especially susceptible to the affects of jamming, chaff, decoys, etc.
As a result UHF radar only offers a very minor advantage against stealth aircraft. Most of the advantage of stealth is retained. Russia and China like to make claims that UHF is a stealth killer, but that would be like the US claiming our current ANti-ballistic missile systems nullify Russia's arsenal. It is a huge exaggeration.
They stole this information from a western military contractor of course
China alone can't maintain air superiority against the USA.
Not today but there is no reason to believe that will have to remain the case forever. However any likely direct military conflict between the US and China would take place on or close to Chinese territory where China has advantages besides their fighters that even the US military would struggle to deal with.
But after releasing it to the public, every half-civilized country will be able to make their own stealth fighters. And who has more airplanes: the USA, or the rest of the world? With the cat out of the box, USA will be facing competent opposition in any major conflict involving aerial forces, which will slow down their advance of power, giving China a chance in the race..
You think building a competent stealth fighter is merely a matter of pasting a bit of (allegedly) radar absorbing material on a jet? There's a WEE bit more to it than that. Frankly this argument is nonsense and requires far more technical competence and economic strength than much of the world possesses. Nobody is going to be competing with the US in a straight up fight any time soon and most of them couldn't even if we gave them F22s to fight us with.
China, not being nearly as expansionist as the USA has far less to lose...
China less expansionist? HAHAHAHAHA... China is exerting power all over the place these days and is pretty rapidly building up their military. They are working towards an aircraft carrier and have been for some time. They are claiming large segments of the South China Sea, exerting soft power all over Africa, etc. The only reason China isn't projecting military power more is because they haven't developed the capability yet. But they will. China is no different than any other major world power. They can and will be
Yes, drones will do the job. And stealth is not that important - drones can be mass-produced. They are small and hard to hit, so it doesn't matter that missiles are faster. Missiles are cheaper than planes, but not cheaper than drones. And without the pilot, the drone can take much more beating too.
Send a hundred thousand drones - many can be cheaper decoys with the same radar signature as the armed kind. See them waste all the missiles in their stockpile, bomb whatever you need to bomb, get 90% of the drones back intact. Next time, 99% comes back.
I've applied this new technology to my 1975 Toyota pickup. Here's a photo of me standing next to it:
http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/Inter...
You are welcome on my lawn.
Radars have been wideband (wider than the absorption peak of this new material) for at least 30 years, and probably longer. Pulse compression with multi-hundred MHz bandwidth is a standard thing, and has been for a very long time. The SPY-1 on Aegis cruisers is a good example.. It's L-band (where this material seems to be designed) and the bandwidth is very wide. (hundreds of MHz). And the frequency on modern radars is agile. The air traffic radars at 5GHz that have the interference problem with WiFi are another example.
We've come a long way since the old magnetron based systems.
The other problem is that this material shows good absorption for normal incidence. As soon as the signal comes in from an angle, it doesn't work as well, because it's relying on the wavelength and the classic 1/4 wavelength thick absorber (but not actually 1/4 wavelength, just simulating it). If the signal comes in from 45 degrees, now you need an absorber that's 1.4 times thicker.
Kind of a neat idea, but it's not going to change stealth airplanes.
2)Bluff. This category includes things like nuclear weapons. No (sane) person wants to use these. Most Americans currently alive, wish it had not been necessary to use them in WWII. Instead, we want the otherside to know we have it and are willing to use it. Which is half the reason why we did in fact use them in WWII - to demonstrate we had them and they worked.
Clearly, China has zero interest in using stealth planes to attack other people. But they want to make sure the rest of the world knows "Hey, we have these planes and they might be above your head, watching you RIGHT NOW. So respect us."
excitingthingstodo.blogspot.com
with their cyber hacking on other countries.
...two aerospace companies in U.S. defense industry have had this technology for at least 6 years - whether they plan to use or it not she didn't know.
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Chinese stealth armor (Fallout 3)
If anything of that nature, I'd suspect it would relate to the helicopter lost during the Bin Laden raid, which was supposedly sold to the Chinese.
With all the cheap drones with super high end cameras and AI, a stealth bomber could be found by the US military with just simple optics. Just literally find a flying black object that's like 25 feet long.
There's a documentary about it. No other flights in the air, clear sky, only the F117 was flying, and they changed the frequency so they could see the F117. They were able to manually track the F117 that way and were able to launch the missile.
Like the imperialist aggression in Tibet, the South China Sea, and the Sea of Japan?
APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
When the whole world is invisible to the radar, the only one showing up in the radar is the king..