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I’ve heard it said that stealth is a lie. That radar technology from World War 2 era is able to detect stealth aircraft. The Russians just built up more of tha

I’ve heard it said that stealth is a lie. That radar technology from World War 2 era is able to detect stealth aircraft. The Russians just built up more of that kind of radar band to detect current stealth planes. This is how the F-117 got shot down in Yugoslavia. It was supposed to have the radar cross section of a small bird. Can anyone provide insight to this?

redis_mlc 6y ago
> This is how the F-117 got shot down in Yugoslavia. It was supposed to have the radar cross section of a small bird. The US got complacent and was flying the same route at the same time daily. I think in this case the pilot also did a maneuver and the angle reflected radar. So it was incompetence.
jabl 6y ago
> I’ve heard it said that stealth is a lie. The pop culture version of stealth providing perfect invisibility was always a lie. But it does provide decreased detection range. If your radar detects a traditional plane at 300 nm but a stealth plane at 30 nm, you're effectively blind as a bat. > That radar technology from World War 2 era is able to detect stealth aircraft. The Russians just built up more of that kind of radar band to detect current stealth planes. > This is how the F-117 got shot down in Yugoslavia. It was supposed to have the radar cross section of a small bird. Stealth technology apparently isn't that good for old school low frequency radars, so yes, there's a grain of truth there. But such radars provide poor resolution (which is why modern radars tend to use higher frequencies) so they are not that useful for targeting. That F-117 case was AFAIU a combination of poor operational planning (flying the same routes over and over again), as well as a 'lucky' shot. There's of course a lot of research into 'stealth-defeating' technologies. IR guided missiles, multistatic radar etc.

redis_mlc 6y ago

> This is how the F-117 got shot down in Yugoslavia. It was supposed to have the radar cross section of a small bird. The US got complacent and was flying the same route at the same time daily. I think in this case the pilot also did a maneuver and the angle reflected radar. So it was incompetence.

jabl 6y ago

> I’ve heard it said that stealth is a lie. The pop culture version of stealth providing perfect invisibility was always a lie. But it does provide decreased detection range. If your radar detects a traditional plane at 300 nm but a stealth plane at 30 nm, you're effectively blind as a bat. > That radar technology from World War 2 era is able to detect stealth aircraft. The Russians just built up more of that kind of radar band to detect current stealth planes. > This is how the F-117 got shot down in Yugoslavia. It was supposed to have the radar cross section of a small bird. Stealth technology apparently isn't that good for old school low frequency radars, so yes, there's a grain of truth there. But such radars provide poor resolution (which is why modern radars tend to use higher frequencies) so they are not that useful for targeting. That F-117 case was AFAIU a combination of poor operational planning (flying the same routes over and over again), as well as a 'lucky' shot. There's of course a lot of research into 'stealth-defeating' technologies. IR guided missiles, multistatic radar etc.