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The F-117 has a radar cross-section (RCS) of about 0.001 m 2 (0.0108 sq ft). [68] Among the penalties for stealth are subsonic speeds to prevent frame heating, heat on the engine inlet and outlet prevent certain thrusting maneuvers, a very low wing aspect ratio, and a high sweep angle (50°) are needed to deflect incoming radar waves to the sides.
Early stealth aircraft were designed with a focus on minimal radar cross section (RCS) rather than aerodynamic performance. Highly stealthy aircraft like the F-117 Nighthawk are aerodynamically unstable in all three axes and require constant flight corrections from a fly-by-wire (FBW) flight system to maintain controlled flight. [20]
The theory played a critical role in the design of American stealth-aircraft F-117 and B-2. [19] [20] [21] Equations outlined in the paper quantified how a plane's shape would affect its detectability by radar, termed radar cross-section (RCS). [22]
The United States' National Radar Cross-section Facility (commonly abbreviated as RATSCAT) is located at Holloman AFB, New Mexico. The Lockheed Have Blue and Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk have been tested at this site.
In those situations, it is useful to use a related quantity called the normalized radar cross-section (NRCS), also known as differential scattering coefficient or radar backscatter coefficient, denoted σ 0 or σ 0 ("sigma nought"), which is the average radar cross-section of a set of objects per unit area:
A stealth engineer at Lockheed, Denys Overholser, read Ufimtsev’s publication and realized that he had developed the mathematical theory and tools necessary for finite element analysis of radar reflection. [3] This discovery played a key role in the design of the first true stealth aircraft, the Lockheed F-117.
Richard C. Scherrer (1919–2018) [1] was an aircraft designer notable for pioneering work on revolutionary aircraft designs with extremely low radar cross sections that led to the Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk and Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit.
The Have Blue was the first fixed-wing aircraft whose external shape was defined by radar engineering rather than by aerospace engineering. The aircraft's faceted shape was designed to deflect electromagnetic waves in directions other than that of the originating radar emitter, greatly reducing its radar cross-section.