Stealth Fighter jets are the F1 version of racing cars. They are so special and advanced you need to be very special to be able to fly one. Its years of study to become a qualified engineer before even starting flight training. Add to this the years of training to be proficient in propeller then jet aircraft before even getting into a jet fighter. The people that fly these incredibly capable and secret aircraft are simply the best available, the top 1% of pilots.
Jet Fighter Radar Cross Section (RCS) Explained.
Stealth jet fighter aircraft have some incredible capabilities beyond previous generations. RCS (Radar Cross Section) which is the measure of how easily a radar can see an aircraft has always been considered. Small aircraft like the Mig-21 were always difficult to find because of their size. The RCS is a calculation of its reflective qualities just like shining a torch in a dark room. If the aircraft or object is a matt black its going to be incredibly hard to see where a white object would be very easy to see.
Stealth is a combination of coatings on aircraft that absorb radar energy where it cannot be reflected away such as engine intakes. The second part is to deflect the radar energy away from the transmitting aircraft not unlike a mirror foes with a beam of light. In the case of radar energy, if it does not return to the transmitting aircraft it is invisible to that aircraft.
A B-52 has an RCS measured in meters, yes it’s very easily seen but a B-2 bomber which is considerable in size has a RCS measured in centimeters. The F-23 and F-35s RCS is classified, but it’s Said to be I’m millimeters! It’s going to be incredibly hard for an older jet to find it and shoot at it especially beyond visual range or BVR.
Infra Red Search Track (IRST) Why its Dangerous.
Infra Red (IR) signatures are also incredibly important with modern fighter jets, especially stealth jets with aircraft able to use IRST (Infra Red Search Track) systems to search the skies to find them when radar may not pick them up. IRST are essentially very powerful Infra Red cameras that can lock and be used to fire weapons over long distances and is installed on jet fighters in the fuselage or in pods attached to the aircraft. These IRST systems can see an incredibly long way so the designers of modern 5th generation Jet fighters must take these systems into account.
Infra Red (IR) is not talked about a lot as radars and stealth are the prime focus of civilians. It has to be noted that IRST is a very capable system and this is not lost on designers. Modern jet fighter aircraft like the F-35 & F-22 as well as all other modern 5th generation fighters in service or in development do a lot of work to limit the heat signature of their aircraft.
All fighter jets emit IR from any point that gets hot in flight from the obvious engines but leading edges of wings and tails also get hot on the edges through air friction in flight. This is why air to air missiles of current generations can be fired from head on. They no longer need to see that hugely hot engine bloom to get a lock. The smallest heat signature against the mostly very cold sky is enough for them to lock and kill it!
Stealth & Sensor Fusion? What are they?
Jet Fighter Stealth
Where the latest fifth (5th) generation stealth jet fighter aircraft set themselves apart is the sensor fusion capability now available. This is starting to find its way into the latest F-15 and F-16 models it appears with normal instruments being thrown away in favor of single wide screen displays. These displays and systems offered the entire battle space picture together in one place. The pilot can look at one display and see everything’s relative distance and bearing from the aircraft. This allows more informed tactical decisions to be made, assets used to the fullest and limit dangerous situations from occurring. When its to dangerous for the F-18s then the F-22 or F-35 heads in to neutralize the threat to air assets.
Jet Fighter Sensor Fusion.
So What is Sensor Fusion? Sensor fusion is bringing together all the current information from the Stealth Jet fighters own AESA (Actively Electronically Scanned Array), its own radar plus IRST system, other air assets including AWACS (Airborne Warning & Control System), ground and sea assets all sharing the information on the latest link-16 data link system. This in itself is not Sensor Fusion!
It’s what makes it possible for Data Fusion is how the aircraft computers process and display the information to the pilot. The use of sensor fusion has only become possible with the increase in computer power that is now available and is changing the whole militaries thinking and giving the pilot unprecedented situational awareness like never before.
The Stealth Jet fighter of today sees all friendly as well as enemy aircraft plus all ground threats that are active, ships and missiles in the air. It does this in one simple display where the pilot has a gods eye view of the battlespace. This makes planning and exaction of plans incredibly effective like in no time in the past.
How Computer Power has Advanced Jet Fighter Design.
Todays computers are so incredibly powerful that I could not comprehend how far they would progress when I first got a 7.5 MHz computer in the 1980s. Today we have 8,16 and more CPU’s (Central Processor Units) running at 5Ghz and beyond as standard. There are GPUs that nearly double in performance every 4-5 years. RAM in computers computers started at 8 megabytes (MB and is now in the Gigabytes. My own PC having 32 Gigabytes and that’s just normal these days.
The advancements mean engineers can design complex shapes, calculate radar cross section and aircraft performance on thousands or more points in seconds. Test and refine a complete aircraft design in months and have the highly complex shapes required to be stealthy and have low infra red visibility sent to essentially 3D printers and create large sections of aircraft in one piece making them super light, super strong and cheaper to produce!
This is why its rumored the USA at least has already designed and is flying a new aircraft! Computer power rules the world!
Jet Fighter Fourth Gen Limitations.
The computers in Sensor Fusion combine all known ground and air targets as well as friendly assets and display them on a single screen. Seems simple doesn’t it! Older 4th generation aircraft even with data links, it was not possible on F-18s or back on F-16 fighters to see more than one at a time. Air to air or air to ground. The treat display was separate as well and there was often no integrated map!
It also merges threat information from the RWR (Radar Warning Receiver). This was always a separate display but now the pilot sees surface to air threats, threat range rings as well as aircraft and ground assets noting their missile ranges if necessary.
What does a fifth gen jet fighter see in one display that was either on separate displays or not possible to see in a chosen mode such as Air-to Air?
- RADAR PICTURE – Air to Air & Air to Ground COMBINED!
- Radar Warning Receiver – RWR Now All Threats are Visible
- Moving Map Combining all of the above on it.
Synthetic Aperture Radar.
Synthetic Aperture Radar is another improvement with the Air to ground radar able to take a picture and display it to the pilot in flight many miles away from the chosen target. This is up to date real time information ready to use to target and deploy weapons.
Also displayed is terrain and the ability to produce a radar picture in super high resolution of an area like a ground instillation or air base at photo quality from miles away. This gives the opportunity to target specific structures or location with weapons from on-board or to be attacked by drone wingman or other 4th generation assets.
UNKNOWN Data Sources?
With space and satellites abundant it may even be possible for real time images and information to be transmitted to the aircraft and displayed while in flight. The ability to update pilots in real time to a targets current position or state of readiness could be a real game changer as well. There is likely a lot of things that is possible with these new jets so your creative mind could think of other options I am sure.
Have any ideas of other technologies that may be implemented? Please comment below. Love to hear your thoughts.
Helmet Vision.
The F-35s helmet gives the pilot all of this in his visor, so no matter where they look they know the picture around them. The pilot can literally look through the aircraft in a 360 degree sphere with cameras and sensors around the aircraft structure. As previously mentioned the display information can be displayed in one form or another for the pilot no matter where the pilots eyes are looking using the helmet. Eye tracking is also another technology that is appearing in VR headsets to rack eyes and focus the best picture where the viewer is looking. Its likely also implemented in these $500,000 USD helmets. Quite an investment for each and every pilot that flies the F-35.
Sensor Fusion – Force Multiplier.
The force multiplication of this technology is hard to fathom! The stealth fighters ability to not only attack targets in extremely dangerous airspace covered by the latest surface to air missiles, but coordinate and help to assign targets with other 4th gen assets and kill aircraft keeping its own weapons for critical targets. New drones are already being trialed to fly as loyal wingman in Australia with BAe Systems recently demonstrating the new technology. Its going to take time to develop and determine the best use of these new drones but drones are with us daily so this should be no surprise.
Sending stealthy drones into extremely high treat areas has to be a better alternative to flying a human in there considering their life, time to replace them and cost.
Sixth Gen Fighters.
Looking at the whole picture the negatives of stealth is the current expense if making a stealth fighter. The technology is fast improving with research into 6th generation fighters with possibly some already flying in secret has been driven again by today’s computer power. Its certainly rumored as I mentioned earlier that its certainly possible. What could it be capable is a real question.
Energy weapons are becoming a thing now and even the F-22 has been seen in a mirrored finish possibly for this reason. Integrated laser systems are certainly being talked about with a recent company GE (General Electric) I believe demonstrating a small portable unit to counter hypersonic weapons being trialed. This is a huge step in technology being able to bring this laser small enough and powerful enough to install on a fighter chin pylon like a lantern pod. New aircraft could easily have them installed like a gun system.
F-117 was Ground Breaking Jet Fighter.
The F117 Jet Fighter was created computers from the 80s and could only produce radar calculations for flat surfaces hence its design. Since then computers have become so powerful they can calculate millions of points on an aircraft skin for radar returns and design possibly with AI help, to make rounded more aerodynamic fighters that we see today.
The F-117 was incredible in Desert Storm being the first aircraft over Bagdad and remained undetected ad not even shot at till the bombs exploded and gunners were alerted. It did a great job in the Yugoslav conflict and yes it was just unlucky to get shot down. Lots of speculation on this and it was more a very active missile commander and possibly to many common ingress/return routes.
Author.
Brendon McAliece (Aka Gunnie) is a a military veteran with 23 years working on Jet Fighters, their weapons systems and ejection seat/module systems as well as munitions and R&D. Involved with flight simulation since the 1980s he has flown all the major flight simulators over the years.
He is an Australian expat who has lived in Malaysia, UK, Saudi Arabia and more recently Thailand. He is a multi lingual blogger who loves to share his life experiences here on LetsFlyVFR.com and DreamingGuitar.com, his lifestyle and Travel experiences Blog.
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