Donald Trump isn’t the only guy who has trouble with stealth technology and wavelengths
There has been much laughter over the fact that Donald Trump has repeatedly given the impression that he thinks that stealth technology works at the wavelength of visible light, so stealthy aircraft are invisible.
He isn’t the only one who is saying silly things based on ignoring wavelength. The technology used by the F117, F22, and F35 does not hide planes from world war II era radar. The old radar used long wavelength waves. They are reflected by “stealth” fighters and fighter bombers (I don’t know how the 20 surviving B2s do). This is an intractable problem related to wavelength and the size of things the plane really needs in order to manover like fins and stuff.
The general (generals’) line is that this is not big deal, because WWII era radar does not give a location precise enough to guide a missile to hit an airplane. In other words, the planes are fine unless missiles are equiped with 2 sensors — radar at a distance and infrared or visible light for final targetting.
In other words, stealth technology is silly.
Recall I don’t know what I am typing about.
“Donald Trump has repeatedly given the impression that he thinks . . .”
Objection. Assumes facts not in evidence.
that he thinks?
There remains a big ‘job’ for suppressing enemy air defenses, even with all those trillion $ stealth investments!
Perhaps they’re confusing it with Klingon or Romulan cloaking devices, which according to Treklore and some few theorists today is ‘bending light around an object (paraphrased)’ rendering it not invisible ‘not readily apparent’
Not defending them, snark …
I always thought stealth technology was about cutting the radar profile so it was easier to confuse sensors with electronic jamming technologies. A plane with classical sharp edges has a bright, distinctive radar profile that makes targeting easy. A stealth plane has a fuzzier profile without as many bright, distinctive markings. There’s less of a signal to noise ratio.
If the radar is less accurate and effective, that makes it harder for a missile to get in up close. There are ways to get around this, but infrared has less range and its own signal to noise problems.
Stealth technology is far from worthless. I remember watching a movie from the Korean War era and a fighter jet flew in low to save the hero and heroine. (Don’t ask.) My girlfriend who knows this stuff told me that would never happen nowadays for fear of shoulder mount anti-aircraft missile technology. Warfare is a constant game. Biologists call it the Red Queen hypothesis. One has to keep running just to stay still. That doesn’t mean we don’t need an immune system or vaccinations.