Re: Stealth Landings?
But any airframe, however stealthy, ceases to be stealthy when you hang a collection of bombs and missiles off the underside of it
x 7,
Not quite. As I said above, stealth depends on the angle of the plane compared to the radar.
For example if you're flying at low altitude to get under the SAM radars, then no radar can see the underside of the plane. So you can strap as much ordnace to it as you like. The only radars that are going to see you are above you - either on hilltops or on other planes.
Also, the plane is far bigger than the stuff hanging off it. So it's going to give the largest radar return - so the more you can do to mitigate that, the better.
Plus if the plane is front-on to the radar, and only has a few air-to-air missiles strapped to the wings, then they're really not adding that much to the radar cross-section.
As I said, stealth is about mitigation - it's not magic.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
