The Su-27 is a highly maneuverable air superiority aircraft. About 600 machines of all modifications were built.
The F-16 "Fighting Falcon" is a light multirole fighter. 4500 cars built.
The F-117A "Nighthawk" is a subsonic tactical strike aircraft made using stealth technology. 59 combat vehicles and 5 YF-117 prototypes built.
Question: how did an aircraft built in such an insignificant amount become one of the most striking symbols of aviation at the end of the 20th century? "Stealth" sounds like a sentence. 59 tactical bombers turned into a terrible scarecrow, the most terrible threat, eclipsing all other military means of NATO countries.
What is this? The result of the unusual appearance of the aircraft, coupled with aggressive PR? Or, indeed, the revolutionary technical solutions used in the Lockheed F-117 made it possible to create an aircraft with unique combat qualities?
Stealth Technology
This is the name of a set of methods for reducing the visibility of combat vehicles in the radar, infrared and other areas of the detection spectrum by means of specially designed geometric shapes, radar-absorbing materials and coatings, which significantly reduces the detection range and thereby increases the survivability of the combat vehicle.
Everything new is well-forgotten old. Even 70 years ago, the Germans were very upset by the British high-speed bomber DeHavilland Mosquito. High speed was only half the problem. During interception attempts, it suddenly turned out that the all-wood Mosquito was practically invisible on radar - the tree was transparent to radio waves.
A similar property in more possessed the German "wunderwaffe" Go.229, a jet fighter-bomber created under the 1000/1000/1000 program. A solid wood miracle without vertical keels, similar to a stingray fish, logically was generally invisible to the British radars of those years. The appearance of the Go.229 is very reminiscent of the modern American "stealth" bomber B-2 "Spirit", which gives some reason to believe that the American designers kindly took advantage of the ideas of their colleagues from the Third Reich.
On the other hand, the Horten brothers, when creating their Go.229, hardly attached any sacred meaning to the design, they only thought the “flying wing” scheme was promising. Under the terms of the military order, Go.229 was supposed to deliver one ton of bombs to a range of 1000 km at a speed of 1000 km/h. And stealth was the tenth thing. In addition, attention was paid to reducing radar visibility when creating the Avro Vulkan strategic bomber (UK, 1952) and the SR-71 Black Bird supersonic strategic reconnaissance aircraft (USA, 1964).
The first studies in this area showed that flat shapes with tapering sides have a lower RCS (“effective scattering area” is a key parameter of aircraft visibility). In order to reduce radar visibility, the vertical tail was tilted relative to the plane of the aircraft so as not to create a right angle with the fuselage, which is an ideal reflector. For the Blackbird, multilayer ferromagnetic coatings were specially developed to absorb radar radiation.
In a word, by the time work began on the secret project "Senior Trend" - the creation of an inconspicuous attack aircraft - the engineers already had good developments in the field of reducing the EPR of aircraft.
"Night Hawk"
When developing the "invisible" for the first time in history, the goal was to reduce all, without exception, the unmasking factors of the aircraft:
- the ability to reflect radar exposure;
- emit electromagnetic waves yourself;
- make a sound;
- leave smoky and contrail traces;
— to be imperceptible in the infrared range.
Of course, there was no radar station on the F-11A7 - in conditions of secrecy, it was impossible to use such a device. During the flight in Stealth mode, all onboard radio communication systems, the "friend or foe" transponder and radio altimeter must be turned off, and the sighting and navigation system must operate in passive mode. The only exception is the laser illumination of the target, it turns on after the release of an adjustable bomb.
The lack of modern avionics, combined with problematic aerodynamics, as well as longitudinal static and directional instability, meant a great risk when piloting the "stealth".
To reduce design time and eliminate many technical problems, designers used a number of proven elements of existing aircraft on the F-117A. So, the stealth engines were taken from the F / A-18 carrier-based fighter-bomber, some elements of the control system were taken from the F-16. The aircraft also used a number of components from the epic SR-71 and the T-33 training aircraft.
As a result, such an innovative machine was designed faster and cheaper than a conventional strike aircraft. Lockheed is proud of this fact, alluding to the use of cutting-edge CAD (computer-aided design systems) at the time. Although there is a different opinion here - just because of secrecy, the program for creating "invisibility" avoided the stage of a long and often meaningless discussion in Congress and other bastions of American democracy.
Now it’s worth making a few comments about the Stealth technology itself, implemented specifically on the Nighthawk aircraft (it’s no secret that there are different ways to reduce the radar visibility of an aircraft; the same PAK FA implements completely different principles - the parallelism of the edges and the “flattened” shape of the fuselage ). In the case of the F-117A, it was the apotheosis of stealth technology - everything was subordinated exclusively to stealth, regardless of the aerobatic qualities of the machine. 30 years after the creation of the aircraft, many interesting details have become known.
In theory, stealth technology works as follows: Numerous facets implemented in the aircraft architecture scatter radar radiation in the opposite direction from the radar antenna. From which side you do not try to establish radar contact with the aircraft - this “distorted mirror” will reflect the radio beams in the other direction. In addition, the outer surfaces of the F-117 are inclined at an angle of more than 30° from the vertical, as Usually, the irradiation of an aircraft by ground-based radars occurs at gentle angles.
If you irradiate the F-117 from different angles and then look at the reflection pattern, it turns out that the strongest "flare" is given by the sharp edges of the F-117 hull and places of discontinuity in the skin. Designers have ensured that their reflections are concentrated in several narrow sectors, and not distributed relatively evenly, as in the case of conventional aircraft. As a result, when irradiated by the F-117 radar, the reflected radiation is difficult to distinguish from background noise, and the “dangerous sectors” are so narrow that the radar cannot extract sufficient information from them.
All contours of the articulation of the canopy and the fuselage, the doors of the landing gear niches and the armament compartment have sawtooth edges, with the sides of the teeth oriented in the direction of the desired sector. The glazing of the pilot's cockpit canopy is coated with an electrically conductive coating designed to prevent irradiation of the in-cabin equipment and pilot's equipment - a microphone, a helmet, night vision goggles. For example, the reflection from the pilot's helmet can be much larger than from the entire aircraft.
The air intakes of the F-117 are covered with special gratings with cell sizes close to half the wavelength of radars operating in the centimeter range. The electrical resistivity of the gratings is optimized to absorb radio waves, and it increases with the depth of the grating to prevent a jump in resistance (which increases reflection) at the interface with air.
All external surfaces and internal metal elements of the aircraft are painted with ferromagnetic paint. Its black color not only camouflages the F-117 in the night sky, but also aids in heat dissipation. As a result, the RCS of "stealth" when irradiated from frontal and tail angles is reduced to 0.1-0.01 m 2, which is about 100-200 times less than that of a conventional aircraft of similar dimensions.
Considering that the most massive air defense systems of the Warsaw Pact countries (S-75, S-125, S-200, "Circle", "Cube"), which were in service at that time, could fire at targets with an EPR of at least 1 m 2, then the chances of Nighthawk to penetrate enemy airspace with impunity looked very impressive. Hence the first production plans: release in addition to 5 pre-production aircraft another 100 production aircraft.
Lockheed designers have taken a number of measures to reduce the thermal radiation of their offspring. The area of the air intakes was made larger than required for the normal operation of the engines, and the excess cold air was directed to mix with hot exhaust gases in order to reduce their temperature. Very narrow nozzles form an almost flat shape of the exhaust jet, which contributes to its rapid cooling.
Wobblin' Goblin
"The lame dwarf" and not otherwise. This is what the pilots themselves call the F-117A as a joke. Optimizing the shape of the glider according to the criterion of reducing visibility worsened the aerodynamics of the car so much that there was no question of any “aerobatics” or supersonic.
When the company's lead aerodynamicist, Dick Cantrell, was first shown the desired configuration for the future F-117A, he had a nervous breakdown. Having come to his senses and realizing that he was dealing with an unusual aircraft, in the creation of which the first violin was played not by specialists of his profile, but by some electricians, he set the only possible task for his subordinates - to make sure that this "piano" was in able to fly somehow.
An angular fuselage, sharp leading edges of surfaces, a wing profile formed by straight segments - all this is poorly suited for subsonic flight. Despite the rather high thrust-to-weight ratio, the Nighthawk is a limitedly maneuverable vehicle with low speed, relatively short range and poor takeoff and landing characteristics.
Its aerodynamic quality during landing approach was only about 4, which corresponds to the level spaceship"Space Shuttle". On the other hand, on high speed The F-117A is able to confidently maneuver with a sixfold overload. Aerodynamicist Dick Kentrell still got his way.
On October 26, 1983, the first “invisible” unit, the tactical group 4450 (4450th TG) at Tonopah airbase, reached operational readiness. According to the recollections of the pilots, this meant the following - at night, the attack aircraft somehow reached a given area, detected a point target and had to “put” a precision laser-guided bomb into it. No other combat use was foreseen for the F-117A.
Due to the increase in the number of F-117А on October 5, 1989, the group was reorganized into the 37th tactical fighter wing (37th TFW), consisting of two combat and one training squadron + reserve vehicles. According to the schedule, each squadron included 18 Nighthawks, but only 5-6 of them could start a combat mission at any given time, the rest were in heavy forms of maintenance.
Almost all this time around the "stealth" did not weaken the strict regime of secrecy. Although Tonopah was one of the Air Force's most heavily guarded bases, additional, truly draconian measures were taken there to cover up the truth about the F-117A. At the same time, American regime officials often practiced very ingenious solutions. So, in order to scare away the idle "aviation enthusiasts" from among the base personnel, on the F-117A and service equipment applied special stencils such as “radiation”, “carefully! high voltage" and other "horror stories". On a plane with that appearance, they didn't look mindless at all.
It was not until 1988 that the Pentagon decided to issue an official press release about the "stealth aircraft" by providing the public with a retouched photograph of the F-117A. In April 1990, the first public demonstration of the aircraft took place.. Of course, the sight of the F-117A amazed the global aviation community. It became perhaps the most daring challenge to traditional concepts of aerodynamics in the entire history of human flight.
The Americans assigned the responsible role of a convincing example of the technological superiority of the United States over the rest of the world to the “one hundred and seventeenth”, and they did not spare money to prove this statement. "Nighthawk" got a permanent residence on the covers of magazines, became a cool Hollywood hero and a star of world air shows.
Combat use
As for the first real combat use of the F-117A, it happened during the overthrow of the regime of General Noriega in Panama. There is still a dispute whether or not the F-117A hit the territory of the Panamanian military base with a guided bomb. The Panamanian guards, awakened by a nearby explosion, fled through the jungle in their underpants. Naturally, there was no resistance to the "stealth" and the plane returned without loss.
Much more serious was the massive use of "stealth" in the war in the Persian Gulf in the winter of 1991.. The Gulf War was the largest military clash since World War II, with 35 states involved to varying degrees (Iraq and 34 countries of the anti-Iraq coalition - the multinational force, MNF). More than 1.5 million people took part in the conflict on both sides, there were more than 10.5 thousand tanks, 12.5 thousand guns and mortars, more than 3 thousand combat aircraft and about 200 warships.
The following types of air defense systems were in service with Iraqi air defense:
S-75 "Dvina" (SA-2 Guideline) 20-30 batteries (100-130 launchers);
S-125 "Neva" (SA-3 Goa) - 140 launchers;
"Square" (SA-6 Gainful) - 25 batteries (100 launchers);
"Wasp" (SA-8 Gecko) - about 50 complexes;
"Strela-1" (SA-9 Gaskin) - about 400 complexes;
"Strela-10" (SA-13 Gopher) - about 200 complexes;
"Roland-2" - 13 self-propelled and 100 stationary complexes;
HAWK - several complexes were captured in Kuwait, but were not used.
Early warning radars made it possible to detect targets at an altitude of 150 meters in most cases outside the airspace of Iraq (and Kuwait), and targets at altitudes of more than 6 km are detected far inland in Saudi Arabia (on average - 150-300 km).
A developed network of observation posts connected by permanent communication lines with information collection centers made it possible to detect low-altitude targets, such as cruise missiles, quite effectively.
Midnight from January 16 to January 17, 1991 became the finest hour of the F-117A, when the first group of 10 Nighthawks of 415 Squadron, each carrying two 907-kg GBU-27 guided bombs, took off to strike the first blows of a new war. At 03:00 local time, stealths, not detected by the air defense system, attacked two command posts of the air defense sectors, the Air Force headquarters in Baghdad, the joint control and tracking center in Al Taji, the government residence and the 112-meter Baghdad radio tower.
F-117A always worked autonomously, without the involvement of electronic warfare aircraft, since jamming could attract the attention of the enemy. In general, stealth operations were planned so that the nearest Allied aircraft was at least 100 miles away from them.
A serious threat to the "stealth" was anti-aircraft artillery and short-range air defense systems with optical detection and aiming systems, which Iraq had quite a few (MANPADS Strela-2 (SA-7 Grail), "Strela-3" (SA-14 Gremlin), "Igla-1" (SA-16 Gimlet), as well as anti-aircraft guns (ZU-23-2, ZSU-23-4 "Shilka", S-60, ZSU-57-2). Pilots were forbidden to descend below 6300 m, to avoid entering the affected areas of these weapons.
In general, during the war, the F-117A completed 1271 sorties lasting 7000 hours and dropped 2087 GBU-10 and GBU-27 laser-guided bombs with a total mass of about 2000 tons. Stealth strike aircraft hit 40% of priority ground targets, while, according to the Pentagon, none of the 42 "stealth" was lost. This is especially strange, given that we are dealing with a subsonic low-maneuverability machine without any constructive protection.
In particular, the commander of the Air Force of the multinational forces in the Persian Gulf, Lieutenant General C. Horner, cites as an example two raids against heavily defended Iraqi nuclear installations in Al-Tuwait, south of Baghdad. The first raid was carried out on the afternoon of January 18, involving 32 F-16Cs armed with conventional unguided bombs, escorted by 16 F-15C fighters, four EF-111 jammers, eight F-4G anti-radar and 15 KS-135 tankers.
This large aviation group failed to complete the task. The second raid was made at night by eight F-117As escorted by two tankers. This time, the Americans destroyed three of the four Iraqi nuclear reactors. Subsequently, the F-117A occasionally appeared in Iraqi airspace during Operation Desert Fox (1998) and the invasion of Iraq (2003).
Hunting for "stealth"
I remember well that day, March 27, 1999. Channel ORT, evening program "Time". Live report from Yugoslavia, people dancing on the wreckage of an American plane. The old woman recalls that it was in this place that the Messerschmitt once crashed. The next frame, the NATO representative is mumbling something, then the frames with the wreckage of the black plane went again ...
Yugoslav air defense did the impossible - in the area of \u200b\u200bthe village of Budanovtsy (a suburb of Belgrade) a "stealth" was shot down. The stealth aircraft was destroyed by the S-125 air defense system of the 3rd battery of the 250th air defense brigade, commanded by the Hungarian Zoltan Dani. There is also a version that the F-117A was shot down from a cannon by a MiG-29 fighter, which established direct visual contact with it.
According to the American version, the "one hundred and seventeenth" changed the flight mode, at that moment a pressure surge formed in front of the air intake grilles, unmasking the aircraft. The invulnerable plane was shot down in front of the whole world. Battery commander Zoltan Dani, on the contrary, claims that he guided the missile using a French thermal imager.
As for the stealth pilot, Lieutenant Colonel Dale Zelko managed to eject and hid on the outskirts of Belgrade all night until his radio beacon spotted the EC-130. A few hours later, HH-53 Pave Low search and rescue helicopters arrived and evacuated the pilot. In total, during the NATO aggression against Yugoslavia, "stealth" made 850 sorties.
The wreckage of the downed F-117A "Night hawk" (serial number 82-0806) is carefully preserved at the Aviation Museum in Belgrade, along with the wreckage of the F-16 aircraft. These losses were officially recognized by the United States. As for the "invisibles", the Serbs say they shot down at least three F-117As, but two were able to make it to NATO air bases, where they were decommissioned upon arrival. Therefore, they have no debris.
The statement raises some doubts - the damaged F-117A could not fly far. Even the serviceable "one hundred and seventeenth" flew very badly - the pilot was unable to control this "flying iron" without the help of electronic stability systems. The plane doesn't even have a backup mechanical system control - anyway, if the electronics fail, a person is unable to cope with the F-117A. Therefore, any malfunction for "stealth" is fatal, the plane cannot fly on one engine or with damaged planes.
By the way, in addition to the downed F-117A, according to official data, over 30 years of operation, six “invisible” aircraft were lost over the territory of the United States during training flights. Most often, "stealth" fought because of the loss of orientation of the pilots. For example, on the night of June 11, 1986, an F-117A (tail number 792) crashed into a mountain, killing the pilot. Another tragicomic incident occurred on September 14, 1997, when an F-117A broke apart in the air during an air show in Maryland.
April 22, 2008 F-117A "Nighthawk" took to the air for the last time. As time has shown, the very idea of a highly specialized aircraft in the design of which any one quality “stands out” (in this case, a small EPR) to the detriment of others, turned out to be unpromising.
After the disappearance of the USSR, in the new conditions, the requirements of efficiency, ease of operation and multifunctionality of aviation systems began to come out on top. And in all these parameters, the F-117A Nighthawk was significantly inferior to the F-15E Strike Eagle strike aircraft. Now it is on the basis of the F-15E that the inconspicuous F-15SE Silent Eagle aircraft is being created.
Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk American tactical bomber developed by Lockheed Martin in the late 1970s. The first serial aircraft based on the use of stealth technologies.
History of the F-117
The ability to create a combat aircraft that would be invisible to enemy radars has been a dream of the military since the advent of air defense radars. Even during the Second World War, German aircraft designers tried to make their cars invisible, and this work continued after the war as part of various research programs. In the 1960s, as part of a project to create a high-speed reconnaissance aircraft, some techniques were actively used, however, due to the enormous power of the engines and the speeds that literally heated the hull, the aircraft did not become invisible. However, the potential was noticeable.
In 1977, the Pentagon formed an experimental committee "XCom", whose task was to bring stealth technology to the level of practical applicability. It was then, based on the developments in SR-71, as well as the test results for the secret XST program, that the committee authorized the Senior Prom programs (the ACM stealth cruise missile grew out of it), ATB (which became a bomber), and, finally, Senior Trend, which resulted in the F-117.
Since most of the work on the Senior Trend was carried out in the Skunk Works laboratories, the development contract went to the owner of the laboratories, Lockheed Martin. The requirements of the secrecy regime were ultra-high, evidence of this is the name of the aircraft - the F-117 fell out of the general line of aircraft:, and so on. According to an unspoken rule, in the US Air Force, secret aircraft received three-digit numbers.
F-117 design
The design of the aircraft is based on stealth technology. The plane itself was built aerodynamic scheme"flying wing" with a V-shaped plumage. Completely uncharacteristic for subsonic aircraft, a large swept wing (67.5 °) with a sharp leading edge, a wing profile outlined by straight lines, a faceted fuselage formed by flat trapezoidal and triangular panels are located in such a way relative to each other to reflect electromagnetic waves away from the radar enemy. Flat air intakes located above the wing on both sides of the fuselage have longitudinal baffles made of radio-absorbing materials. Part of the cold air flow is separated at the inlet to the air intakes and, bypassing the engines, enters flat nozzles shielded by the wing, the lower panels of which are covered with heat-absorbing ceramic tiles, which significantly reduces the infrared visibility of the aircraft. The aircraft has no external suspension, all weapons are placed inside the fuselage.
The aircraft design widely used polymer composite materials and radar-absorbing materials and coatings, only 10% of the structure is made of metals. tens of times less than the EPR of conventional aircraft of similar sizes.
Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk - the first stealth. Skyships channel video
It is worth noting that for the high stealth performance had to pay low flight performance. The plane is very difficult to control - a complex system has been developed automatic control just to keep him stable in the air. Naturally, in the event of visual detection by enemy fighters, the F-117 was doomed - its maneuverability is barely higher than that of the Shuttle. In addition, the shape of the aircraft completely excluded the possibility of overcoming sound barrier. Nevertheless, when criticizing the machine, it should be borne in mind that the F-117 is a tactical bomber, not a fighter, and maneuvering combat in targeting was not provided for such an aircraft at all.
Weapons compartment - two-section, with a system of retractable beam holders. Typical weapons are two GBU-10 or GBU-27 guided aerial bombs. It is possible to install AGM-88 HARM, AGM-65 "Maverick" missiles, B-61 or B-83 atomic bombs (two each), GBU-15 bombs or BLU-9 container. It is possible to install rail guides for AIM-9 "Sidewinder" on the beam.
Production
All production aircraft were produced in modification "A". 64 units produced, the last serial copy was delivered to the US Air Force in 1990.
F-117 operation
The fact of the existence of the F-117 aircraft was first officially recognized on November 10, 1988, when the Pentagon issued a press release describing the history of the aircraft and released one retouched photograph. The first public display of two F-117s took place on April 21, 1990. At the air show in Le Bourget, the aircraft was first presented only in 1991 after Operation Desert Storm.
Accidents and disasters
In the entire history of the operation of the F-117 aircraft, according to official figures, 7 aircraft were lost, including one F-117 was shot down during the fighting.
Combat use
- US invasion of Panama (1989)
- Gulf War (1991)
- Operation Desert Fox (1998)
- NATO war against Yugoslavia (1999)
- Iraqi War (2003)
Decommissioning
The US Air Force planned to use the F-117 until 2018, but the increase in program costs and the obsolescence of the bomber in front of the new fighter forced the F-117 to be abandoned in favor of the F-22.
In March 2016, Japan plans to complete testing of a new generation aircraft, Advanced Technology Demonstrator X, created using stealth technologies. The Land of the Rising Sun will be the fourth in the world to be armed with stealth aircraft.
Previously, only Russia, China and the United States could boast of having combat aircraft systems created using visibility reduction technologies. The presence of "stealth" technologies is one of the mandatory parameters of the fifth generation aircraft.
The essence of stealth technology is to reduce visibility in the radar and infrared ranges. The effect is achieved due to a special coating, a specific shape of the aircraft body, as well as the materials from which its construction is made.
Radar waves emitted, for example, by the transmitter of an anti-aircraft missile system, are reflected from the outer surface of the aircraft and received by the radar station - this is radar visibility.
It is characterized by the effective scattering area (ESR). This is a formal parameter, which is measured in units of area and is a quantitative measure of the property of an object to reflect an electromagnetic wave. The smaller this area, the more difficult it is to detect an aircraft and hit it with a missile (at least its detection range decreases).
For old bombers, the RCS can reach 100 square meters, for an ordinary modern fighter it is from 3 to 12 square meters. m, and for "invisible" aircraft - about 0.3-0.4 sq. m.
The RCS of complex objects cannot be accurately calculated using formulas; it is measured experimentally with special devices at test sites or in anechoic chambers. Its value strongly depends on the direction from which the aircraft is irradiated, and for the same flying machine it is represented by a range - as a rule, the best values in terms of the scattering area are recorded when the aircraft is irradiated in the forward hemisphere. Thus, there can be no exact EPR indicators, and the experimental values for existing fifth-generation aircraft are classified.
Western analytical resources, as a rule, underestimate EPR data for their "stealth" aircraft.
THE MOST FAMOUS MODERN "INVISIBLE" PLANES IN THE WORLD:
B-2: American "spirit"
F-22: American Raptor
F-35: American "lightning"
T-50: Russian invisible J-20: Chinese "mighty dragon"
X-2: Japanese "soul"
B-2: American "spirit"
The heavy stealth strategic bomber B-2A Spirit is the most expensive aircraft in the US Air Force fleet. As of 1998, the cost of one B-2 was $1.16 billion. The cost of the entire program was estimated at almost $45 billion.
The first public flight of the B-2 took place in 1989. A total of 21 aircraft were built: almost all of them are named after American states.
B-2 has an unusual appearance and is sometimes compared to an alien ship. At one time, this gave rise to many rumors that the aircraft was built using technologies obtained from the study of UFO wreckage in the so-called Area 51.
The aircraft is capable of taking on board 16 atomic bombs, or eight laser-guided 907 kg guided bombs, or 80 227 kg caliber bombs and deliver them from Whiteman Air Force Base (Missouri) to almost anywhere in the world - the range of the “ghost” is 11 thousand km. km.
Spirit is maximally automated, the crew consists of two pilots. The bomber has a solid margin of safety and is able to make a safe landing with a side wind of 40 m/s. According to foreign publications, the RCS of the bomber is estimated in the range from 0.0014 to 0.1 square meters. m. According to other sources, the bomber has a more modest performance - from 0.05 to 0.5 square meters. m in frontal projection.
The main disadvantage of the B-2 Spirit is the cost of its maintenance. Aircraft can only be placed in a special hangar with an artificial microclimate - otherwise ultraviolet radiation damage the radio absorbing coating of the aircraft.
The B-2 is invisible to legacy radars, but modern anti-aircraft missile systems Russian production capable of detecting and effectively hitting it. According to unconfirmed reports, one B-2 was shot down or received serious combat damage from the use of anti-aircraft missile system(SAM) during the NATO military operation in Yugoslavia.
F-117: American "lame goblin"
The Lockheed F-117 Night Hawk is an American single-seat subsonic tactical stealth strike aircraft manufactured by Lockheed Martin. It was designed for covert penetration through the enemy's air defense system and attacks on strategically important ground targets.
The first flight was made on June 18, 1981. 64 units produced, the last serial copy was delivered to the US Air Force in 1990. More than $6 billion was spent on the creation and production of the F-117. In 2008, aircraft of this type were completely withdrawn from service, both for financial reasons and due to the adoption of the F-22 Raptor.
The RCS of the aircraft, according to foreign publications, ranged from 0.01 to 0.0025 sq. m depending on the angle.
The reduction in visibility for the F-117 was mainly achieved due to the specific angular shape of the hull, built according to the concept of "reflector planes", composite and radar-absorbing materials and a special coating were also used. As a result, the bomber looked extremely futuristic and because of this, the popularity in games and cinema of the F-117 can compete with Hollywood stars of the first magnitude.
However, having achieved a significant reduction in visibility, the designers had to violate all possible laws of aerodynamics, and the aircraft received disgusting flight characteristics. American pilots nicknamed him for this "lame goblin" (Wobblin' Goblin).
As a result, out of 64 F-117A stealth aircraft built, six aircraft were lost from flight accidents - almost 10% of the total. Only the most experienced pilots were put on the F-117, but still they crashed regularly.
The aircraft participated in five wars: the US invasion of Panama (1989), the Persian Gulf War (1991), Operation Desert Fox (1998), the NATO war against Yugoslavia (1999), the Iraq war (2003).
At least one aircraft was lost in combat missions in Yugoslavia - an invisible car was shot down by the Yugoslav air defense forces with the help of an outdated Soviet S-125 Neva air defense system.
F-22: American Raptor
The first and so far the only fifth-generation aircraft put into service is the American F-22A Raptor.
Aircraft production began in 2001. At the moment, several F-22s are taking part in the operation of the coalition forces in Iraq to strike at militants of the Islamic State terrorist organization banned in Russia.
To date, the Raptor is considered the most expensive fighter in the world. According to open sources, taking into account development costs and other factors, the cost of each of the aircraft ordered by the US Air Force exceeds $300 million.
Nevertheless, the F-22A has something to brag about: this is the ability to fly at supersonic without turning on the afterburner, powerful on-board radio-electronic equipment (avionics) and, again, low visibility. However, in terms of maneuverability, the aircraft is inferior to many Russian fighters, even the fourth generation.
The thrust vector of the F-22 changes only in one plane (up and down), while on the most modern Russian combat aircraft the thrust vector can change in all planes, independently of each other on the right and left engines.
There is no exact data on the RCS of the fighter: the spread of figures given by various sources is from 0.3 to 0.0001 sq. m. According to domestic experts, the RCS of the F-22A is from 0.5 to 0.1 square meters. m. At the same time, the Irbis radar station of the Su-35S fighter is capable of detecting the Raptor at a distance of at least 95 km.
With its exorbitant cost, the Raptor has a number of operational problems. In particular, the anti-radar coating of the fighter was easily washed off by rain, and although over time this drawback was leveled, the price of the aircraft increased even more.
Another serious drawback of the F-22 is the oxygen supply system for the pilot. In 2010, due to suffocation, pilot Jeffrey Haney lost control of the fighter and crashed.
Since 2011, all F-22As were forbidden to rise above 7.6 thousand meters. It was believed that at such an altitude, the pilot, when the first signs of suffocation occur, would be able to descend to 5.4 thousand meters in order to remove the mask and breathe air in the cockpit. The reason turned out to be a design flaw - carbon dioxide from the engines got into the respiratory system of the pilots. They tried to solve the problem with the help of additional carbon filters. But the disadvantage has not been completely eliminated so far.
F-35: American "lightning"
The F-35 Lightning II ("Lightning") was conceived as a universal aircraft for the US armed forces, as well as NATO allies, capable of replacing the F-16 fighter, A-10 attack aircraft, attack aircraft vertical takeoff and landing McDonnell Douglas AV-8B Harrier II and carrier-based fighter-bomber McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet.
Enormous money was spent on the development of this fifth-generation fighter-bomber (costs exceeded $56 billion, and the cost of one aircraft was $108 million), but it was not possible to bring the design to perfection.
Analysts note that the enemy radar suppression systems installed on the F-35 cannot fulfill their task in full. As a consequence, this may require the development of a separate aircraft designed to suppress enemy radar to ensure the stealth of these fighters. Experts, thus, cast doubt on the expediency of the multibillion-dollar Pentagon spending on the creation of the F-35 aircraft.
Some American media also note that the F-35 largely does not meet the requirements for fifth-generation aircraft: the Lightning has low thrust-to-weight ratio, survivability and maneuverability, cannot fly at supersonic speeds without afterburner,
In addition, the fighter is easily detected by radars operating at microwave frequencies, and its EPR turned out to be greater than what was stated in the specifications. Nevertheless, foreign publications, according to the existing tradition, estimate the effective scattering area of the F-35 aircraft, depending on the angle, at 0.001 square meters. m. According to many experts, including Western experts, in terms of EPR, the F-35 is much worse than the F-22.
T-50: Russian stealth
Russian specialists have applied certain elements of stealth technology on such aircraft as the Su-34 fighter-bomber, the MiG-35 light front-line fighter and the Su-35S heavy fighter. However, the PAK FA T-50 heavy multipurpose fighter and the PAK DA long-range strategic bomber will become full-fledged stealth aircraft.
The T-50 (Perspective Aviation Complex of Frontal Aviation, PAK FA) is the Russian answer to the American F-22 fifth-generation fighter. The aircraft is the quintessence of all the most modern that is in domestic aviation. Little is known about its characteristics, and most of it is still kept secret.
It is known that for the first time in PAK FA a whole range of the latest polymeric carbon plastics was used. They are two times lighter than aluminum of comparable strength and titanium, four to five times lighter than steel. New materials make up 70% of the material fighter's coverage, as a result, it was possible to drastically reduce the structural weight of the aircraft - it weighs four times less than an aircraft assembled from conventional materials.
Zvezda TV channel/YouTube
The Sukhoi design bureau declares an “unprecedentedly low level of radar, optical and infrared visibility” of the machine, ”although the RCS of the fighter is estimated by domestic experts rather restrainedly - in the region of 0.3-0.4 square meters. m. At the same time, some Western analysts are more optimistic about our aircraft: for the T-50 they call the RCS three times less - 0.1 sq. m. The true data of the effective scattering area for the PAK FA are classified.
The T-50 has a high intellectualization of the board. Radar fighter with a new active phased array antenna (AFAR) Research Institute. Tikhomirova can detect targets at a distance of more than 400 kilometers, simultaneously track up to 60 targets and fire up to 16. The minimum RCS of tracked targets is 0.01 square meters. m.
PAK FA: Combat Wings of the Future The PAK FA engines are separated from the longitudinal axis of the aircraft, this solution made it possible to increase the "shoulder" of thrust during maneuvering and make a spacious weapon bay capable of accommodating heavy weapons that are inaccessible due to the size of the F-35 Lightning II. The PAK FA is distinguished by excellent maneuverability and controllability in vertical and horizontal planes both at supersonic and low speeds.
Currently, the T-50 is equipped with the engines of the first stage, with which it is able to maintain supersonic speed in non-afterburner mode. After receiving a regular engine of the second stage, the performance characteristics of the fighter will increase significantly.
The aircraft made its first flight on January 29, 2010. Serial deliveries of the PAK FA to the troops are expected to begin in 2017; in total, the military should receive 55 fifth-generation fighters by 2020.
J-20: Chinese "mighty dragon"
Chengdu J-20 is a Chinese fighter of the fourth (according to Chinese nomenclature) or fifth generation (according to Western). In 2011 he made the first test flight. It is expected that the fighter will go into operation in 2017-2019.
According to a number of media reports, the J-20 is equipped with Russian AL-31FN engines, and the Chinese military has massively purchased decommissioned engines of these brands.
Most of performance characteristics development remains a secret. The J-20 has a large number of similar and completely copied elements from the Russian MiG 1.44 technology demonstrator aircraft and the American F-22 and F-35 fifth generation fighters.
The aircraft is made according to the canard scheme: a pair of ventral fins and closely spaced engines (similar to the MiG 1.44), a canopy and a nose are identical to the same elements on the F-22. The location of the air intakes has a design similar to the F-35. The vertical tail is all-moving and has a geometry similar to the tail of the F-35 fighter.
X-2: Japanese "soul"
Mitsubishi ATD-X Shinshin is a prototype of the fifth generation Japanese fighter with stealth technology. The aircraft was designed at the Technical Design Institute of the Ministry of Defense of Japan, and built by the corporation that produced the famous Zero fighters during World War II. The fighter received the poetic name Shinshin - "Soul".
The ATD-X is close in size to the Swedish Saab Gripen multi-role fighter, and in shape to the American F-22 Raptor. The dimensions and angle of inclination of the vertical tail, the shape of the influx and air intakes are identical to those of the fifth-generation American fighter. The cost of the aircraft can reach about $324 million.
The first public demonstration of the new Japanese fighter took place at the end of January 2016. Flight tests of the aircraft were supposed to be carried out in 2015, but the development company Mitsubishi Heavy Industries was unable to meet the delivery deadlines set by the Ministry of Defense.
In addition, Japanese specialists need to refine the engine of a fighter with a controlled thrust vector, in particular, to test the possibility of restarting it in the event of a possible stop during the flight.
The Ministry of Defense of Japan notes that the aircraft was built solely for the development of technologies, including ATD-X - "stealth". However, it may become the base on which a replacement for the Japanese F-2 fighter-bomber, developed by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Lockheed Martin for the Japan Air Self-Defense Force, will be created.
In this case, the ATD-X will have to install three times more powerful engines, and in the body of the aircraft to allocate enough space for ammunition.
According to preliminary plans, development work on the creation of the new F-3 will begin in 2016-2017, and the first prototype of the fighter will take to the air in 2024-2025.
It has long been known that survivability in battle can be ensured not only by good protection, but also by camouflage. For a long time, too little attention was paid to camouflage in aviation. In fact, all of it was reduced only to a special camouflage color: the upper surfaces of the aircraft are painted in "camouflage", and the lower ones - in blue, the color of the sky
Discovery of physicist Peter Ufimtsev
About thirty years ago, while leafing through a popular science and technology magazine, American intelligence officials came across an article by the Russian physicist Pyotr Ufimtsev, which stated that aircrafts"wing" type, made of certain materials, in a special way faceted and painted, are practically invisible to radars.
Stealth is an American stealth aircraft invented by a Russian scientist. "Dead end" branch of aviation.
Construction and testing of the aircraft
The article was very interested in American military experts, and in the United States they decided to build and test such an aircraft.
There were opportunities for this. Then in the Pentagon - the US Department of Defense - a program was being developed to create a new generation of aircraft - a high-altitude reconnaissance and high-altitude interceptor, which were planned to be inaccessible to enemy detection and destruction means. So in the mid-1970s, the US Air Force received a first-class reconnaissance aircraft SR-71, which distinguished by an unusual aerodynamic shape and special coloring, made according to Ufimtsev's "recipes" and reducing the radar visibility of the aircraft.
Inspired by success, the Americans moved on and began to develop new types of stealth aircraft based on the ideas of the Russian physicist. The project was called "stealth" (from English word"stealth" - secretly, furtively).
Creating a stealth plane
Attempts to create a "complete invisible aircraft" were unsuccessful for a long time. Only twenty years ago, the United States showed the world a miracle military equipment, similar to a bat or an alien ship. Two modifications of "stealth" were made: the F-117 fighter-bomber and the B-2 heavy strategic bomber, which were used in the war against Iraq. A little later, the F-22 stealth fighter entered service. Outwardly, the F-117 looks like a flying wing with a span of 13.2 m. But apart from a specially selected shape, its entire design is designed with maximum possible application radio absorbing materials.
They reduce the level of reflected signals, which, moreover, are not reflected back, as from ordinary surfaces, but up and down in narrow sectors. With the help of special exhaust nozzles and the supply of ambient air, the intensity of the infrared radiation of the engine jet stream is also significantly reduced, that is, the enemy's "thermal" sensors will also not detect this aircraft.
The "invisible" even has a special communication system - a laser, which is almost impossible to find direction. True, the F-117, to put it mildly, does not shine with its flight performance. You can’t do modern aerobatics on it - this is the price for “invisibility”.
stealth technology
The entire stealth technology was designed for the enemy to use centimeter-range radars, for which American stealth aircraft really become inconspicuous. However, in Russia, and the air defense forces of other countries today have meter-range radars, for which "stealth" is this or a regular aircraft.
The news of the invisibility of "stealth" for only one type of locator caused a real scandal in the US government. After all, billions were spent on the development of stealth aircraft, but it turned out that the effectiveness of new aircraft in combat can be inferior even to old machines. invisible.
Ufimtsev did the same for many years in the USSR. And not only him.
Stealth aircraft were built and tested in at least two Soviet design bureaus different types. The conclusion of the authoritative commissions was as follows:
1) the stealth aircraft, made according to the ideas of Ufimtsev, due to its shape, has low speed and maneuverability - in fact, it is a hang glider, poorly adapted to combat maneuver and not capable of aerobatics;
2) the aircraft can be detected visually and by special high-frequency radars; in addition, when the bomb bays are opened and in some flight modes, it is visible by conventional radars and, after the “serif”, can be easily shot down;
3) the cost of the aircraft is prohibitive.
Conclusion: the construction of such aircraft is impractical
; moreover, this type of aircraft is a "dead end branch of the development of military aviation."
Therefore, in the early 1980s, work on the Ufimtsevo "stealth" in the USSR was discontinued. The offended designer left for the USA, where he implemented his “meaningless”, as time proved, ideas at the expense of the Americans.
Implementation of designer ideas in the USA
The modern development of combat aviation has taken a different path: a new generation of aircraft is being developed, distinguished by ultra-high speed, flight altitude, maneuverability and invisibility (due to these properties) for enemy air defense systems.
« Stealth technology brought us back to that fundamental principle of warfare, which is called surprise,” said John Welch, deputy commander of the Air Force, shortly after the end of Operation Desert Storm. - "If you can achieve the effect of surprise, you will get a big advantage."
The advantage referred to was convincingly demonstrated during the six weeks of continuous night bombing of Baghdad. stealth aircraft F-117A from Lockheed. These "black ghosts" flew freely right into the heart of one of the most heavily guarded airspaces in the world and, after dropping their deadly cargo, returned unscathed.
WHAT IS STEALTH TECHNOLOGY?
The technology that has made such significant progress has not appeared overnight. In the navy, the same camouflage techniques have been applied to strategic and multipurpose submarines for more than 30 years. Ground troops also have long been using similar technologies to reduce infrared radiation from tanks and other equipment.
The essence of stealth technology is to reduce the visibility of equipment in the radar and infrared radiation spectrum. Usually, equipment reflects radio waves that fall on it, which are captured by the radar - this is radar visibility. It is characterized by the effective scattering area (ESR) - the ability of an object to scatter an electromagnetic wave. For example, the EPR of a B-52 bomber is 100, a heavy bomber is 13-20, a conventional fighter is 3-12, and a stealth aircraft made using stealth technology is only 0.3-0.4 sq.m. Stealth technology is based on two methods: firstly, the maximum absorption of radio emission by the surface of the aircraft body, and secondly, the reflection of radio waves in such a direction that they no longer return to the radar. For this, special coatings are used and specific shape aircraft body.
In aviation, attempts to develop something similar to the F-117A stealth aircraft have been made for a long time. Back in 1962, the Lockheed company was hard at work on the creation of an inconspicuous A-12 aircraft. Another aircraft of that time, the SR-71 "Blackbird" implemented in itself stealth technology in the form of special coatings and structural materials.
In the early 70s, progress in the field of computer technology and. programming gave impetus to the development of the aircraft industry. Software The name "ECHO" allowed Lockheed to model various designs aircraft bodies on the computer and get their intended appearance on the radar screen without building a real apparatus. As a result, in 1975 she built a full-scale model of the prototype of the F-117A stealth aircraft - "Have Blue". At the same time, Northrop presented its development, but after testing both models with a real radar, the Lockheed version won. In the winter of 1977, an experimental flight "Have Blue" took place, after which the US Air Force command immediately ordered 24 F-117A fighters, the first of which was built in June 1981, and in 1983 the aircraft was put into service.
Convinced by the example of the F-117A fighter of the technical feasibility and feasibility of the stealth aircraft concept, the US Air Force command instructed Northrop to develop a new strategic bomber with the widespread use of stealth technology. Design work on its creation began in 1979, and the official ceremony of presenting the new aircraft, which received the designation B-2 Spirit, to specialists and members of the press took place in November 1988.
STEALTH PLANE FEATURES
After a brief introduction to the history of stealth aircraft, let's look at the basic principles of stealth technology that were used to create them.
1. A special ferromagnetic coating of the aircraft body is used to absorb radar radiation. The electromagnetic radiation falling on such a coating causes the microscopic particles of the magnetic material included in its composition to change their orientation with a high frequency, for which the radiation energy is spent. Also, in the aircraft itself, everything possible is made of radio-absorbing composites such as carbon fiber.
2. Rounded surfaces in the shape of the body are almost never used. Instead, it consists of many planes that reflect radar radiation not in the opposite direction, but in different directions. For the same purpose, the sweep of the wings is increased.
3. Conventional turbojet engines are designed so that the radar can "see" a compressor with a large area of reflection, which reflects radiation well. By new technology a special diffuser is installed in front of the compressor, the sharp top of which reflects the radiation into the engine housing and thus extinguishes it.
4. Engine flat shape creates a jet torch with a wide angle of divergence of hot gases, which dissipates the flow of heat and reduces the degree of visibility in the infrared range.
5. Both engines of the stealth aircraft are equipped with noise reduction shrouds, as well as a forced cooling system that reduces infrared emissions. Part of the cold air entering through the air intakes is fed directly into the exhaust zone and, mixing with hot jet gases, cools them.
6. Even parts of the stealth aircraft that should be roughly vertical, such as the pilot's seat, are corrugated to dissipate radar energy.
7. The V-shaped tail of the aircraft (also called the "butterfly") replaces the two horizontal and one vertical planes of the traditional tail, which also reduces visibility.
"Stealth technology" extends to other types of aviation military equipment. For example, in 1990, the US Air Force strategic aviation received the General Dynamics AGM-129A ACM air-to-surface cruise missile with a low level of unmasking features. It was developed using stealth technology and is designed to arm the B-52N, B-1B and B-2 bombers. The ACM cruise missile is close in size to the Boeing AGM-86B ALCM cruise missile.
"STEALTH-TECHNOLOGY": "FOR" AND "AGAINST"
Stealth technology has long been ambiguously perceived by many military experts. One of the disadvantages of using this technology is the high price of "stealth aircraft". The B-2 bomber is the most expensive aircraft in aviation history at $1.157 billion per unit. In addition, although American stealth aircraft are called "invisibles" in the press, this is an exaggeration. They can, in principle, be detected by modern radar equipment. A radar with a powerful emitter will still detect an "invisible aircraft", albeit from a shorter distance. For example, the S-300 complex could "see" the F-117A from a distance of 50-60 km. In addition, short-range air defense systems equipped with television-optical sighting equipment can generally capture a target through a visual channel in which the “stealth aircraft” is as perfectly visible as any other material object.
At the same time, an excessive interest in radar stealth leads to a decrease in the aircraft's flight qualities: it loses a lot in speed, maneuverability and flight safety. The fact is that an aircraft with such geometry and aerodynamics as the F-117A cannot stay in the air by itself and every second adjustment of its flight is required using the controls. This function is taken over by the computer. At least one F-117A "stealth aircraft" was lost due to misconfiguration of the flight control system.
A significant advantage of stealth technology, however, is that homing missiles and other automated anti-aircraft weapons cannot lock onto such aircraft as a target with sufficient accuracy and tend to miss.
The combat career of the "stealth aircraft" F-117A also turned out to be not entirely unambiguous. On the one hand, this aircraft quite successfully participated in five wars: the US invasion of Panama (1989), (1998), the NATO war against Yugoslavia (1999), the Iraqi war (2003). At the same time, only one aircraft was lost in sorties (in Yugoslavia). On the other hand, during the operation of the 64 F-117A "stealth aircraft" built, six were lost due to flight accidents - almost 10% of the total, which, of course, is a lot. Only the most experienced pilots were put on the F-117A, but all the same, “stealth aircraft” crashed regularly. But the F-117A was withdrawn from service in 2008 not even because of this, but because of the banal lack of money for their maintenance. The released funds were used to purchase new F-22 multi-role fighters.
Nevertheless, stealth technology continues to be used in the American aircraft industry. The American fifth-generation Lockheed/Boeing F-22 Raptor and Lockheed-Martin F-35 Lightning II fighters are subtle, although their appearance is not as exotic as that of the F-117A. These planes are also extremely expensive, and even a country like the United States cannot afford to build them in large series. A total of 184 F-22 Raptor aircraft were built, after which their production was discontinued.
For a long time, Russian specialists considered stealth technology with skepticism, although certain methods of reducing the visibility of aircraft were, of course, introduced. However, stealth technologies occupy an important place in the latest aviation developments. New Russian aircraft: the Su-34 fighter-bomber, the MiG-35 light front-line fighter and the Su-35S heavy fighter have reduced visibility. Promising Russian aircraft: the heavy multirole fighter PAK FA and the long-range strategic bomber PAK DA are being developed as “stealth aircraft”.
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