The Su-27 is a highly maneuverable air superiority aircraft. About 600 machines of all modifications were built.
F-16 "Fighting Falcon" is a light multifunctional 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 was even more possessed by the German "wunderwaffe" Go.229, a jet fighter-bomber created under the 1000/1000/1000 program. An all-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 seemed to have a promising “flying wing” scheme. 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" - 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 strike aircraft - the engineers already had good developments in the field of reducing the EPR of aircraft.

"Night Hawk"

When developing the "invisibility" for the first time, the goal was to reduce all, without exception, the unmasking factors of the aircraft: the ability to reflect radar radiation, to emit electromagnetic waves, make a sound, leave smoke and contrail trails, and be visible 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 the "stealth" mode, all on-board radio communication systems, the "friend or foe" transponder and the radio altimeter must be turned off, and the sighting and navigation system must operate in the passive mode. The only exception is the laser illumination of the target, it turns on after the release of the corrected aerial 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 remarks about the Stealth technology itself, implemented specifically on the Nighthawk aircraft (it’s no secret that reducing the radar visibility of an aircraft can be achieved in different ways; the same PAK FA implements completely different principles - parallel edges and a “flattened” shape 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 like this: the numerous facets implemented in the architecture of the aircraft scatter the radar radiation in the direction opposite to 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 exposure of an aircraft to 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 sharp edges of the F-117 hull and the places where the skin is discontinuous give the strongest “flare”. 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.

An electrically conductive coating is applied to the glazing of the cockpit canopy, 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 m2, 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 m2, then Nighthawk's chances of penetrating 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 the 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. Any other combat use for the F-117A was not provided.
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 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, special stencils such as “radiation”, “careful! 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 "one hundred and seventeenth" the responsible role of a convincing example of the technological superiority of the United States over the rest of the world, and they did not spare money to prove this assertion. "Nighthawk" got a permanent residence on the covers of magazines, became a cool hero of Hollywood 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, involving 35 states (Iraq and 34 countries of the anti-Iraq coalition - multinational force, MNF) to varying degrees. 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.

The midnight of 16/17 January 1991 was the high point of the F-117A when the first formation of 10 415 Squadron Nighthawks, each carrying two 907kg GBU-27 guided bombs, took off to launch the first strikes. in 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 posed by anti-aircraft artillery and short-range air defense systems with optical detection and aiming systems, of 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 1,271 sorties lasting 7,000 hours and dropped 2,087 GBU-10 and GBU-27 laser-guided bombs with a total mass of about 2,000 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 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 Iraq's four nuclear reactors.
In the future, the F-117A occasionally appeared in the airspace of Iraq, during Operation Desert Fox (1998) and the invasion of Iraq (2003).

Hunting for "stealth"

"Sorry, we didn't know the plane was invisible"

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. HH-53 Pave Low search and rescue helicopters arrived a few hours later 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.
Also on display is the engine from the A-10 Thunderbolt II attack aircraft, which was torn off by a MANPADS shot, the plane itself made an emergency landing at Skopje Airport (the incident was officially recognized by the NATO command). Local residents found a strange detail and gave it to the military.
Of the other interesting things - the wreckage of the Tomahawk missile and the light drone RQ-1 "Predator" (the Serbs claim that they shot down, the Americans that it landed due to engine failure).

Wreckage of a downed F-16C

Wreckage of an RQ-1 Predator at the Aviation Museum in Belgrade

Actually, all the wreckage that is in the museum was officially recognized by the United States, including the loss of two combat aircraft - the F-117A stealth aircraft and the F-16 fighter. The NATO command denies other numerous air victories declared by Serbia.
As for the "invisibles", the Serbs say they shot down at least three F-117As, but two were able to make it to NATO airbases, 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 help electronic systems increase sustainability. The plane does not even have a backup mechanical control system - 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 stealth 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.

To make an aircraft invisible to the enemy is an old dream of the army officials of any country. Work in this direction has been going on for many years, and its results are always classified and are a state secret. But some projects still become public. IT.TUT.BY chose six of the most famous stealth aircraft.

"Lame Goblin" Lockheed F-117 Night Hawk

Therefore, when the documentation was shown to aerodynamic specialist Dick Cantrell, he could not pick up censorship words to express his opinion, but only issued: "I don" t care what in hell it looks like, I "ll get that ugly son-of -a-bitch to fly!".

Dick looked into the water, the Lockheed F-117 Night Hawk flew so badly and was so difficult to control that artificial intelligence constantly helped the pilot in control. Only very trained pilots who had flown at least 1000 hours were allowed to fly the Nighthawk, which is about three to five years at the controls for a fighter pilot. But even despite such measures, seven aircraft were lost due to pilot or computer errors.

The pilots themselves for "outstanding" flight characteristics The Lockheed F-117 Night Hawk was aptly nicknamed the "lame goblin" (Wobblin' Goblin).

The F-117s managed to correct the shattered reputation during the Persian Gulf War, when they went unnoticed through the Iraqi air defense orders and destroyed the 100-meter command tower and the control center for tactical missiles and interceptors located in Baghdad. Although there is an opinion that this happened due to the fact that the air defense systems supplied to Iraq by France were disabled using special tabs.

However, when all systems worked, the "lame goblin" had a hard time. An illustrative case in Yugoslavia, when the F-117 was shot down with the help of an outdated Soviet anti-aircraft missile system(SAM) S-125 "Neva". The complex was equipped with a system of television-optical sighting and target tracking "Karat", thanks to which it was possible to shoot without using a radar.

After all, Night Hawk is invisible to radar, not to the human eye. The downing of a superplane, as the Americans imagined the F-117, was a shock to the public, so they buried the legend of an invulnerable stealth aircraft. At first, the Americans denied the very fact of the destruction of the "lame goblin", and then demanded that the wreckage of the aircraft be returned and that the incident not be made public. The Serbs disagreed and placed the pieces of stealth in a museum.

F-22A Raptor, a fighter that is dangerous for its own pilots

Since 2011, all US F-22A Raptors have been banned from flying above 7,600 meters due to problems with the oxygen supply. It is believed that at such a height, the pilot, when the first signs of suffocation occur, will be able to descend to 5.4 thousand meters in order to remove the mask and breathe air in the cockpit. Due to suffocation, pilot Jeffrey Haney lost control of the fighter and crashed in 2010.

F-22A Raptor pilots joke that the US Army's switch to drones is because drones don't need to breathe oxygen. In a real battle with enemy aircraft, the Raptor was not seen, but it took part in a training one with the French Rafales. The result is 4:1 in favor of the French.

This is probably why the Americans decided to use the latest and ultra-expensive F-22A Raptor against the Islamists in Syria, who had neither their own air defense system nor fighters, so beware American aircraft there was nothing.

F-35 Lightning II: "Lightning", which is afraid of ... lightning

The design of the F-35B largely repeats the Yak-141, the drawings of which were handed over to the Americans on the orders of Boris Yeltsin. Soviet experience was taken into account, new technologies were added to it, but a good aircraft still did not work out.

The result of multibillion-dollar spending is not yet impressive, although the declared RCS of the aircraft, depending on the angle, can be up to 0.005 m², in fact, everything is much worse. According to Air Force Magazine, the F-35 Lightning II does not meet the requirements for fifth-generation aircraft in many ways. "Lightning" is distinguished by low thrust-to-weight ratio, survivability and maneuverability, cannot fly at supersonic speed without afterburner, and its EPR during tests turned out to be even lower than stated in the specifications.

Northrop B-2 Spirit real UFO

The B-2 Spirit is an excellent tool for "establishing democracy" where the US needs it. The aircraft is capable of taking on board 16 B-61 atomic bombs, or 8 guided 907 kg GBU-27 Paveway II laser-guided bombs, or 80 227 kg bombs and deliver them from Whiteman Air Force Base (Missouri) to almost anywhere in the world - range flight "ghost" 11 thousand km.

PAK FA, as always, "unparalleled in the world"

Po-2

And it was also the first stealth aircraft, to which you can add the prefix "stealth": Po-2 was plywood-percale, which made it invisible to radar-equipped Bf 110 G-4 night fighters.

It is not surprising that the Germans equated "Russ plywood" with combat fighters and for each downed car they gave a monetary reward, or even an iron cross. By the way, it was not easy to bring down the celestial slug. High-speed German cars simply slipped past the slow U-2, in addition, the pilots of the "maize" could cut tight circles around a tree or a tall building, and in this case it was very difficult, almost impossible, for the "Messer" to shoot down a Soviet aircraft.

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, leafing through the popular scientific and technical journal, US intelligence officials stumbled upon an article by 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 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 was developed with the maximum possible use of radar 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.

The latest best military aircraft of the Air Force of Russia and the world photos, pictures, videos about the value of a fighter aircraft as a combat weapon capable of providing "air supremacy" was recognized by the military circles of all states by the spring of 1916. This required the creation of a special combat aircraft that surpasses all others in terms of speed, maneuverability, altitude and the use of offensive small arms. In November 1915, Nieuport II Webe biplanes arrived at the front. This is the first aircraft built in France, which was intended for air combat.

The most modern domestic military aircraft in Russia and the world owe their appearance to the popularization and development of aviation in Russia, which was facilitated by the flights of Russian pilots M. Efimov, N. Popov, G. Alekhnovich, A. Shiukov, B. Rossiysky, S. Utochkin. The first domestic machines of designers J. Gakkel, I. Sikorsky, D. Grigorovich, V. Slesarev, I. Steglau began to appear. In 1913, the heavy aircraft "Russian Knight" made its first flight. But one cannot fail to recall the first aircraft creator in the world - Captain 1st Rank Alexander Fedorovich Mozhaisky.

Soviet military aircraft of the USSR of the Great Patriotic War sought to hit the enemy troops, his communications and other objects in the rear with air strikes, which led to the creation of bomber aircraft capable of carrying a large bomb load over considerable distances. The variety of combat missions to bombard enemy forces in the tactical and operational depth of the fronts led to the understanding of the fact that their performance should be commensurate with the tactical and technical capabilities of a particular aircraft. Therefore, the design teams had to resolve the issue of specialization of bomber aircraft, which led to the emergence of several classes of these machines.

Types and classification, the latest models of military aircraft in Russia and the world. It was obvious that it would take time to create a specialized fighter aircraft, so the first step in this direction was to try to equip existing aircraft with small arms offensive weapons. Mobile machine-gun mounts, which began to equip the aircraft, required excessive efforts from the pilots, since the control of the machine in a maneuverable battle and the simultaneous firing of an unstable weapon reduced the effectiveness of firing. The use of a two-seat aircraft as a fighter, where one of the crew members played the role of a gunner, also created certain problems, because an increase in the weight and drag of the machine led to a decrease in its flight qualities.

What are the planes. In our years, aviation has made a big qualitative leap, expressed in a significant increase in flight speed. This was facilitated by progress in the field of aerodynamics, the creation of new more powerful engines, structural materials, and electronic equipment. computerization of calculation methods, etc. supersonic speeds became the main modes of fighter flight. However, the race for speed also had its negative sides - the takeoff and landing characteristics and the maneuverability of aircraft deteriorated sharply. During these years, the level of aircraft construction reached such a level that it was possible to start creating aircraft with a variable sweep wing.

In order to further increase the flight speeds of jet fighters exceeding the speed of sound, Russian combat aircraft required an increase in their power-to-weight ratio, an increase in the specific characteristics of turbojet engines, and also an improvement in the aerodynamic shape of the aircraft. For this purpose, engines with an axial compressor were developed, which had smaller frontal dimensions, higher efficiency and better weight characteristics. For a significant increase in thrust, and hence the flight speed, afterburners were introduced into the engine design. The improvement of the aerodynamic forms of aircraft consisted in the use of wings and empennage with large sweep angles (in the transition to thin delta wings), as well as supersonic air intakes.

Russia has long been vying with the United States for priority in building a twenty-first century fighter that combines the characteristics of a supersonic super-agile combat vehicle with stealth technology. An aircraft with such qualities should not be detected by radars and infrared surveillance equipment. The construction of such a fighter of the future is not only able to dramatically increase the efficiency of the national air force, but also provide a weighty argument in the competitive struggle on the world arms market.

Until quite recently, the leading design bureaus and aircraft manufacturers could not combine such technologically contradictory characteristics in one combat aircraft. Moreover, Russia was predominantly in the role of catching up. Combining all these qualities, the aircraft built using the Stealth technology should become a major trump card in solving various geopolitical problems.

For example, the MiG-29 was developed as an adequate response to the creation of the American F-18 fighter, and the Su-27 was a kind of counterbalance to the F-15. And although all these models at one time became a real breakthrough and a major achievement in the field of aircraft construction, modern doctrines require the development of a fundamentally new fighter that combines excellent flight characteristics with stealth technology. The aircraft, the construction of which is based on such a concept, should not only be inaccessible to radar, but also have the qualities of a multi-purpose supersonic and super-maneuverable combat vehicle.

The American stealth aircraft F-117 could not bring its designers closer to the desired goal. This machine had very modest flight characteristics and could not take part in serious air battles. The United States Air Force spent huge budgetary funds on the development of a truly effective and invisible winged predator. However, they were able to get closer to the implementation of this task only in the fall of 1997, when tests of the F-22 Raptor fighter began.

But this time, American aircraft manufacturers could not count on unconditional superiority. Since the Sukhoi Design Bureau began flight tests of the S-37 Berkut machine only two weeks later than its competitors. According to authoritative estimates by military experts, the Russian fighter is significantly superior to the Raptor, mainly due to the unique reverse-swept wing. All this brought the competition between engineering and technology to a new round of confrontation.

After the ambitiously named "Desert Storm" operation to take over the Iraqis, US military officials tirelessly praised their Lockheed F-117A aircraft. These "black ghosts", who carried out several devastating raids on Baghdad, could not even be seen by the Iraqi air defenses on their monitors. radar stations. This Stealth aircraft, whose photo shows the ideal geometry of the machine, was the embodiment of thirty years of efforts by American engineers to develop this technology.

Back in 1962, Lockheed made attempts to create an A-12 stealth aircraft. At first, these attempts did not bring the desired result. You can also recall the Stealth aircraft, the famous SR-71 aerial reconnaissance aircraft of that time, which received its nickname "Black Bird" due to the corresponding color of a special coating that absorbed radio waves. In the early 1970s, with the rapid development of computer technology and programming, it became possible to simulate flight on a computer. So the car was designed, which had minimal radio visibility. Already in 1975, Lockheed designers created the first prototype of a stealth aircraft. In the winter of 1977, the new generation F-117A combat vehicle took off for the first time, and six years later it was adopted by the US Air Force.

Encouraged by this success, the Pentagon instructed the Northrop company to develop a new strategic bomber using the same technology, invulnerable to enemy air defenses. The work, which lasted nine years, ended with the construction of the machine, which received the code designation B-2. When creating all their “invisibles”, the Americans did not use the technologies of aliens, which was a lot of fables, but the theoretical developments of our compatriots.

To absorb radio radiation, they used a special ferromagnetic coating on the case. In addition, the Americans resorted to many additional tricks. For example, in the car itself, almost all elements were made of non-reflective composite materials, such as All engines were equipped with noise-reducing shrouds and forced cooling systems that reduce the intensity of infrared emissions. And a lot of other things were used in the American "invisibles".

But here a reasonable question arises about the effectiveness of all these tricks. And then it turns out that huge funds (many billions of dollars!) Wasted in vain. First of all, these machines turned out to be so capricious in operation that it was possible to prepare them for flight only at base airfields. In addition, it turned out along the way that as soon as the Stealth gets wet, it begins to clearly appear on the radar screens, like the invisible man from the famous novel by HG Wells. Perhaps for this reason, during the hostilities in Yugoslavia, the F-117А was shot down in one of the very first sorties.

But finally finished off the research of American scientists and aircraft manufacturers in this area, an invention made in Russia, where it was developed in principle new technology creating radio invisibility. Near the aircraft, special plasma clouds are generated that absorb electromagnetic waves so intensely that the visibility of the machine on the screens of radar stations is reduced by more than a hundred times.