Invisible aircraft and STELS technology. Technology "Stealth", its features and application in airplanes plane invisible name

Su-27 is a highly adapted aircraft to conquer superiority in the air. About 600 cars of all modifications are built.
F-16 "Fighting Falcon" - a light multifunctional fighter. Built 4500 cars.
F-117A "NIGHTHAWK" - a subsonic tactical impact aircraft, performed using the "Stealth" technology. 59 built-up machines and 5 prototypes YF-117 were constructed.

Question: How was the plane built in so insignificant quantities, could become one of the brightest symbols of aviation of the end of the twentieth century? "Stealth" sounds like a sentence. 59 tactical bombers turned into a terrible scarecrow, the most terrible threat, overshadowed by all other military funds of NATO countries.

What is it? The result of an unusual appearance of the aircraft with an aggressive PR? Or, indeed, the revolutionary technical solutions applied in Lockheed F-117 allowed to create an aircraft with unique combat qualities?

STEALTH technology

This is the name of a complex of methods for reducing the visibility of combat vehicles in radar, infrared and other areas of detection spectrum by specially developed geometric forms, radio absorbing materials and coatings, which significantly reduces the detection range and thereby increases the survival rate of the combat vehicle.

All new - well forgotten old. Another 70 years ago, the Germans very confused the British high-speed bomber Dehavilland Mosquito. High speed was only a half problem. During attempts, the interception suddenly turned out that the wholesale "Mosquito" was almost invisible to radar - the tree is transparent for radio waves.

A similar property has a large extent, German "Wunderwaff" GO.229, a reactive fighter-bomber, created under the program 1000/1000/1000. The whole miracle without vertical keel, similar to the fish-skate, was generally invisible for British radars of those years. The appearance of Go.229 very much resembles a modern American "Stelc" -B-2 "Spirit", which gives some reason to believe that American designers kindly use the ideas of their colleagues from the Third Reich.

On the other hand, the Horthert brothers, creating their GO.229, unlikely to give the designs of some sacral meaning, they only seemed a promising scheme "Flying Wing". 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 the most carefulness was the tenth business. In addition, the reduction in radar visibility was paid to the creation of Avro Vulkan strategic bomber (United Kingdom, 1952) and the Supersonic Strategic Scout SR-71 "BLACK BIRD" (USA, 1964).

The first studies in this area have shown that flat forms with narrowing sides have a smaller EPR ("Efficient scattering area" is a key parameter of the aircraft's visibility). In order to reduce radar notice, the vertical plumage was tilted relative to the plane of the aircraft, so as not to create a straight angle with the fuselage, which is the perfect reflector. For the "Black Drozda", multilayer ferromagnetic coatings, absorbing radar radiation, were specifically developed.

In short, by the time of the start of the work on the secret project "Señor Trend" - the creation of an unobistant shock aircraft - the engineers have already had good developments in the field of reducing EPR aircraft.

"Night Hawk"

When developing the "invisible" for the first time in history, the goal was to reduce all without exception to the demassing factors of the aircraft:
- the ability to reflect radar irradiation;
- emissions emissive electromagnetic waves;
- to make a sound;
- leave smoky and inversion traces;
- To be invisible in the infrared range.

Of course, on the F-11A7 there was no radar station - in the conditions of stealth, it was impossible to use such an appliance. During the flight in Stelc mode, all the on-board systems of radio communications, the respondent "its own strangers" and radio versioner should be disabled, and the visible navigation complex should work in passive mode. The only exception is the laser illumination of the target, it turns on after resetting the corrected airbab.

The absence of modern BREO, in combination with problem aerodynamics, as well as longitudinal static and travel instability meant a large risk when piloting the "invisible".

To reduce design time and eliminate many technical problems, designers used on F-117A a number of proven elements of existing aircraft. So, the engines for the "stealth" took from the F / A-18 deck fighter, some elements of the control system - from F-16. Also, the plane uses a number of nodes from the epic SR-71 and the T-33 training and training aircraft.

As a result, such an innovative machine was designed faster and cheaper than an ordinary impact aircraft. Lokhid is proud of this fact, hinting for the use of advanced CAPR (automated design systems) at the time. Although there is a different opinion - only thanks to the secrecy of the program of the invisibility, the program of the invisibility has escaped the stage of long and often meaningless discussion in Congress and other bastions of American democracy.

Now it is worth making a few comments about the "Stealth" technology, implemented on the NightHawk aircraft (after all, it is not a secret that it is possible to reduce the radar visibility of the aircraft in different ways; the same Pak Fa sells completely different principles - the parallelism of the edges and the "fistened" form of the fuselage ). In the case of F-117A, it was the apotheosis of STELS technology - everything was subordinated exclusively tolestity, despite the flight qualities of the machine. 30 years after the creation of the aircraft, many interesting details became known.

In the theory, Stels technology works as follows.: Numerous faces implemented in the architecture of the aircraft dispel the radiation radiation in the direction opposite to the radar antenna. Which side, do not try to establish a radar contact with an airplane - this "mirror curve" will reflect the radioles to the other side. In addition, the external surfaces of the F-117 are tilted at an angle of more than 30 ° from the vertical, because Typically, irradiation of the aircraft by terrestrial radar occurs under gentle angles.

If F-117 irradiate from different angles and then look at the reflection picture, it turns out that the strongest "illumination" give the sharp edges of the F-117 housing and the place of continuing disruptive. The designers achieved that their reflections are concentrated in several narrow sectors, and not distributed relatively evenly, as in the case of ordinary aircraft. As a result, when irradiated by the radar F-117, the reflected radiation is difficult to diffectly from the background noise, and the "dangerous sectors" is so narrow that the radar cannot delete sufficient information from them.

All overclocking contours of the cab lamp and fuselage, the niches of the chassis niche and the weapon compartment have sawy edges, and the side of the teeth are oriented towards the desired sector. An electrically conductive coating is applied to the glazing of the pilot cabin, designed to prevent irradiation of intrafabinity equipment and flying equipment - microphone, helmet, night vision points. For example, the reflection from the pilot helmet can be much larger than from the entire aircraft.

F-117 air intakes are covered with special arrays with cell size, close to half the wavelength of radar, operating in a centimeter range. The electrical resistance of the lattices is optimized to absorb radio waves, and it increases along the depth of the lattice to prevent the resistance jump (which increases the reflection) on the boundary with air.

All external surfaces and internal metal elements of the aircraft are painted with ferromagnetic paint. Its black color not only masks F-117 in the night sky, but also contributes to heat dissipation. As a result, the EPR "Stealth" during irradiation from the front and tails is reduced to 0.1-0.01 m 2, which is approximately 100-200 times less than the ordinary aircraft of similar dimensions.

If we consider that the most massive SPC countries of the Warsaw Treaty (C-75, C-125, C-200, Circle, "Cube"), which were in service at that time could shelter goals with an EPR of at least 1 m 2, The chances of "Knighthoka" to penetrate into the enemy airspace looked very impressive. Hence the first production plans: to release another 100 serial aircraft in addition to 5 pre-production.

Designers "Lockhid" have taken a number of measures and to reduce the thermal radiation of their shake. The air intake area made more than required for normal operation of the engines, and excess cold air sent to mix with hot exhaust gases to reduce their temperature. Very narrow nozzles form a practically flat shape of an exhaust jet, which contributes to its rapid cooling.

Wobblin 'goblin.

"Chrome dwarf" and not as otherwise. This is exactly called F-117A in a joke, the pilots themselves. Optimization of the shape of the glider by the criterion of reducing the visibility so worsened the aerodynamics of the machine, which is about what "highest pilot" or a supersonic could not go and speech.

When the leading aerodynamics of the company Dick Centrells first showed the desired configuration of the future F-117A, the nervous breakdown happened. Come to myself and realizing that he is dealing with an unusual aircraft, when creating the first violin, not specialists of his profile play, but some electricians, he put in front of his subordinates the only possible task is to make this "piano" A condition is at least somehow flying.

The angular fuselage, the sharp front edges of the surfaces, the profile of the wing, formed by the sections of the straight lines - all this is not suitable for a subsonic flight. Despite the fairly high pull-up, the "Night Hawk" is a limited maneuverable machine, which has a low speed, relatively low-distance and bad running and landing characteristics.

His aerodynamic quality during the landing approached only about 4, which corresponds to the level of spacecraft Space Shuttle. On the other hand, at high speed F-117A is able to confidently maneuver with six-time overload. Aerodynamic Dick Kentrell still achieved his own.

On October 26, 1983, operational readiness reached the first invisible division - a tactical group 4450 (4450th TG) on a tonopal air base. According to the memoirs of pilots, this meant the following - a shock aircraft. In the dark, somehow reached the specified area, found a point point and had to "put a high-precision laser guidance bomb. No other combat use for F-117A was not provided.

Due to the increasing number of F-117A on October 5, 1989, the group was reformed in the 37th Tactical Fighter Wing (37th TFW), consisting of two combat and one educational squadrons + backup machines. As part of each squadron, it was 18 "Nighthokov" in accordance with the schedule, but only 5-6 of them could begin to perform a combat task at any time, the rest were on heavy maintenance forms.

Almost all this time around "Stels" did not weakened the strict mode of secrecy. Although the avaabase of Tonopa was one of the most protected databases of the Air Force, there are additional, truly draconic measures to hide the truth about F-117A. At the same time, American registries often practiced very witty solutions. So, to scare the celebrated "aviation lovers" from among the staff of the base, on the F-117A and the service equipment were applied special stencils like Radiation, "Caution! High voltage "and other" horror stories ". By plane with such appearance, they did not look confusing.

Only in 1988, the Pentagon decided to publish the official press release of the Invisible Plane, providing the public a retouched photo F-117A. In April 1990, the first public demonstration of the aircraft took place. Of course, the type of F-117A struck the world aviation community. He became almost the audacious challenge to the traditional concepts of aerodynamics in the entire history of human flights.

The Americans placed on the "one hundred seventeenth" responsible role of a convincing example of the US technological superiority over the rest of the world, and to prove this statement of money did not regret. "Najkok" received a permanent registration on the covers of magazines, became the steep hero of Hollywood and the star of the world airshow.

Combat application

As for the first real combat use of F-117A, it happened during the overthrow of General Noriegy's mode in Panama. Until now, there is a dispute, or not the F-117A managed bomb on the territory of the Panaman military base. Panaman guardsmen, awakened by a close explosion, in some pants fought through the jungle. Naturally, no resistance to "stealth" did not turn out and the plane without loss came back.

Much more serious was the massive use of "Stels" in the war in the zone of the Persian Bay in the winter of 1991. The war in the bay was the largest military collision since the Second World War, the conflict was involved in varying degrees of 35 states (Iraq and 34 countries of the Anti-Israis Coalition - Multinational Forces, MNS). On both sides, more than 1.5 million people took part in the conflict, there were more than 10.5 thousand tanks, 12.5 thousand guns and mortars, more than 3 thousand combat aircraft and about 200 warships.

In service with air defense Iraq there were following types of SPK:
C-75 "Dvina" (SA-2 Guideline) 20-30 batteries (100-130 PU);
C-125 "Neva" (SA-3 GOA) - 140 launchers;
"Square" (SA-6 Gainful) - 25 batteries (100 launchers);
"OSA" (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.

RLS early alerts allowed to detect targets at an altitude of 150 meters in most cases outside of the aircraft of Iraq (and Kuwait), and the objectives at altitudes more than 6 km are found far deep in the territory of Saudi Arabia (on average 150-300 km).

The developed network of observation points, connected by permanent lines of communication with the centers of information, made it possible to effectively detect certainly the objectives, for example, such as winged rockets.

Midnight from 16 to January 17, 1991, became a starry hour F-117AWhen the first group of 10 "Nighthok" of the 415th squadron, each of which carried two 907 kg corrected GBU-27 bombs, soared to apply the first blows in the new war. At 3.00 local time "Invisible", which was not detected by the air defense system, attacked two command posts of the air defense sectors, the Air Force headquarters in Baghdad, the Joint Management and Tracking Center in Al Taji, the Government Residence and the 112-meter Baghdad Radine.

F-117A has always worked autonomously, without the involvement of the Rab aircraft, since the postulation of the interference could attract the attention of the enemy. In general, the operations "Stels" were planned so that the nearest allies plane was from them at a distance of at least 100 miles.
A serious threat to the "stels" was represented by anti-aircraft artillery and a small-range SPR with optical detection and aiming systems, which Iraq had not enough (CRKK Strela-2 (SA-7 GRAIL), "Strela-3" (SA-14 Gremlin), "Needle-1" (SA-16 Gimlet), as well as anti-aircraft guns (Zu-23-2, SSU-23-4 "Shilka", C-60, ZSSU-57-2). The pilots were forbidden to decline below 6,300 m, To avoid entry into the zone of the defeat of these funds.

In general, for the F-117A war, 1271 departure for 7000 hours lasting and dropped 2087 bombs with laser guidance GBU-10 and GBU-27 with a total weight of about 2000 tons. Untime shock aircraft struck 40% of priority terrestrial purposes, while, according to the Pentagon, none of 42 "stels" was not lost. This is especially strange, considering that we are dealing with a dialing minor machine without any constructive protection.

In particular, the Commander of the Multinational Forces Air Force in the Persian Gulf Zone, Lieutenant, Ch.Gorner, results in an example of two raids against the strongly protected Iraqi nuclear facilities in Al-Tuveay, south of Baghdad. The first raid was performed on January 18, 32 F-16C aircraft armed with conventional uncontrollable bombs participated in it, accompanied by 16 F-15C fighters, four EF-111 interference launchers, eight anti-cancer F-4G and 15 KS-135 tankers.

This numerous aviation group failed to fulfill the task. The second raid was performed at night with Eight F-117A, accompanied by two tankers. This time the Americans destroyed three of the four Iraqi nuclear reactors. In the future, F-117A episodically appeared in Iraq's airspace, during the Operation of Lisa Desert (1998) and the invasion of Iraq (2003).

Hunting "Stealths"

I remember well that day, March 27, 1999. Channel Ort, evening program "Time". Direct report from Yugoslavia, people dance on the wreckage of the American aircraft. The old woman recalls that it was once in this place "Messerschmitt" once broke. The next frame, something mocks the representative of NATO, then again went footage with fragments of a black aircraft ...

Yugoslav air defense was impossible - in the village of Village, Budanovtsy (suburb of Belgrade) was shot down "Stealth". The invisible aircraft was destroyed by the S-125 350th Battery of the Air Defense Brigade, which was commanded by Hungarian Zoltov Dani. There is also a version that F-117A was shot down by the MiG-29 fighter gun, who installed direct visual contact with him.

According to the American version, the "one hundred seventeenth" changed the flight mode, at that moment the pressure leap was formed in front of the air intake lattices, the aircraft was formed. An invulnerable aircraft was shot down in front of the whole world. The battery commander Zoltan Dani, on the contrary, argues that he brought the rocket using the French thermal imager.

As for the pilot "Stealth", then Lieutenant Colonel Dale Zelko managed to catapult and hid all night on the outskirts of Belgrade, until its radiomayak was found in EC-130. After a few hours, search and rescue helicopters HH-53 Pave Low arrived and the pilot was evacuated. In total, in the course of NATO aggression against Yugoslavia, "Stels" made 850 combat departures.

The wrecks of the F-117A "Night Hawk" (ser. Number 82-0806) are carefully stored in the Aviation Museum in Belgrade, along with the F-16 aircraft debris. These losses have officially recognized the United States. As for the "Nemethym", the Serbs claim that they have crumbled at least three F-117A, but two were able to reach NATO's airbase, where they were written off by arrival. Therefore, they have no debris.

The statement causes some doubt - the damaged F-117A could not fly away. Even the serviceable "Stoshemadenth" flew very badly - the pilot is unable to manage this "flying iron" without the help of electronic stability systems. On the aircraft there is even no backup mechanical management system - all the same, if the electronics fails, a person cannot cope with F-117A. Therefore, any malfunction for the "stealth" fatal, the aircraft cannot fly on one engine or with damaged planes.

By the way, except for the F-117A, according to official data, six "invisible" over the territory of the United States during the training flights were lost. Most often, the "stels" fought due to loss of orientation of pilots. For example, at night on June 11, 1986, F-117A (tail number 792) crashed into the mountain, the pilot died. Another tragic case occurred on September 14, 1997, when during the Airshow in Merlende F-117a collapsed in the air.

April 22, 2008 F-117A "NightHawk" last rose into the air. As the time has shown, the very idea of \u200b\u200ba highly specialized aircraft in the design of which "stands out" to any one quality (in this case, a small EPR) to the detriment of others, it turned out to be lowered.

After the disappearance of the USSR, in the new conditions, the requirements of the economy, ease of operation and the multifunctionality of aircraft complexes began to be published. And in all these parameters F-117A "NightHawk" significantly losing the strike aircraft F-15E "Strike Needle". Now it is on the basis of the F-15E that the F-15Se Silent Needle is created.

The idea to hide himself, his weapons and technique from the enemy's eye exciteed the minds of the Military since time immemorial. All sorts of tricks and disguise means have passed a long way of evolution. In parallel, the detection means developed. So, since the Second World War, the main enemy of the attack air assets gradually became the eyes and ears, but radar. They allowed to see opponent aircraft at any time of the day at a considerable distance.

History of creation

In the late 1970s, an unusual and very ambitious task was delivered to the United States to the United States - to make a full-fledged combat aircraft, the most hidden in infrared, visual, acoustic and (most importantly) radar band. The tactical attack aircraft was supposed to be used to apply bombing strikes on the most important and protected targets of the enemy, while remaining invisible for his radar.

The program for the creation of an invisible aircraft, or "stealth" was unprecedented secret. Lockheed became the head developer. The desire to maximal decrease in all types of demasking factors led to the emergence of a car, very little resembling a classic aircraft.

F-117A, namely, such an index received a new attack aircraft, soon reminded the iron, and at the glance at him, pilots had reasonable doubts that "it" can fly at all. To reduce radar viscosity, the aircraft gave complex chopped forms, dissipating radioles in various directions and providing up to 90% reduction in the effective scattering area. A gold-containing multilayer coating was applied to the cab lantern, and the air intakes of the engines are covered with special lattices. Measures were taken and to reduce thermal visibility - the exhaust of the nozzles was sent upward, as a result of which a practically flat jet of exhaust was formed, quickly dissipating in the air.

In addition, the NightHawk F-117A ("Night Hawk") was planned to be used primarily in the dark and in full-rod mode. To do this, it was tried to remove all the on-board radio devices or use them only in passive mode, excluding the demisciprons. By all the events, the frontal effective diffusion surface was reduced hundreds of times compared with the classical design aircraft!

Immediately it is necessary to make a reservation that the plane is absolutely invisible for enemy radars it is impossible to create. The meaning of the "Stealth technology" is to reduce the visibility for the most common radar of the centimeter and decimeter range.

A pay for all the "invisible" advantages of the novelty was the catastrophic decrease in flight technical characteristics. The plane turned out to be extremely unstable, and computers that stabilize the car were involved for its retention. Piloting F-117 with the disconnected systems of active stabilization is almost impossible. After severe and prolonged tests and improvements in the early 1980s, the first serial F-117 began to enter the US Air Force.

Tactical and technical and flight characteristics, weapons

F-117A is a single two-link attack aircraft, made according to the "Flying Wing" scheme with a V-shaped tail.

The length of the aircraft is 20.3 m.
Wing span - 13.3 m.
Empty weight - 13 381 kg.
Normal takeoff - 21 150 kg.
Maximum - 23,625 kg.

NightHawk is equipped with two Engines General Electric F404-F1D2 with a maximum burden of more than 4800 kgf each. Fuel mass - 5500 kg.

With a good tutorial, flight characteristics are very modest:

the maximum speed is 970 km / h (M - 0.91).
The practical ceiling is 13,700 m.
The range is 1720 km.
Combat radius - 860 km.

With low speed and flight height due to the characteristic structure of the fuselage and active NightHawk coursework systems, in addition, there were very serious restrictions on maneuverability and permissible overloads. In a real combat atmosphere, there are no highlights and other mulbite figures. Only the maximum secretive night horizontal flight. For its strange appearance and low flight characteristics of the "Night Hawk" received a nickname "Chrome Goblin" nickname.

A feature of the F-117a is that the aircraft does not have an on-board radar system at all and is equipped only with passive aiming and navigation tools, with the exception of the laser reference of the target used for a short period of time. All armament of the attack aircraft to reduce the visibility is stubborn inwards the fuselage in the two-section compartment. The main weapons are two controlled 907-kilogram bombs GBU-10, GBU-27 "Paveway" or two Blu-109 with optical or laser guidance. It is also possible to use AGM-88 HARM managed missiles, AGM-65 Maverick and even nuclear equipment bombs in-61.

Nuclear bomb in-61

In general, on paper TTX and weapon, F-117A looked very slad compared to other aircraft of that time. But the main weapon was still not the flight and technical capabilities and a couple of bombs, but a small visibility. She did a slow, vague and non-frozen "chrome goblin" a very formidable weapon, a star of conflict conflict in the twentieth century.

Despite the fact that the first serial aircraft rose into the air in 1982, thanks to increased secrecy measures, the fact of the presence of such a machine in the United States has long remained a mystery. The first time F-117A was officially represented only at the end of 1988, and in public appeared in 1990 at the air show in Le Bourget. Just about the end of serial production. Total US Air Force received 59 serial aircraft.

"Storm in the desert"

The first case of combat use of the Night Yastreb was recorded during the conflict in Panama in 1989, when two invisible aircraft were dropped on one bomb. Iraq became a more serious test in 1991, where there was a full-fledged air defense system. Even before the active phase of the combat operations of the F-117A, flews along the border between Iraq and Saudi Arabia. In the course of flights it was found that the "night hawks" remained invisible to the radars of Iraqi radar. This gave reasons for optimism both by the pilots themselves and the command of the Air Force of the Coalition.

F-117 During the operation "Storm in the desert"

An hour for "Chrome Goblin" came on the night of January 16, 1991. Ten aircraft, remaining completely unnoticed, caused shocks on strategic goals - government residences, Air Force Commands and the Comnger Management Center. During the first night, the shocks on key objects did not stop, disorganizing air defense and demoralizing the enemy. A total of 42 F-117 attack aircraft was used in the conflict, none of which was lost. At the same time, according to the statements of the American command, the effectiveness of the combat use of NightHawk when destroying the most protected and key objects exceeded such a much more numerous F-16, F-18, Tornado and other coalition aircraft.

Yugoslavia

If the operation "Storm in the desert" really became a stellar hour of invisible aircraft and their real combat successes are not particularly disputed by anyone, then with the participation of NightHawk in the conflict in the Balkans, everything is not so unequivocal. The Calling Society for the US Air Force was the destruction of the F-117A on March 27, 1999, in just a few days from the beginning of the operation.

The photo with the wreckage of the collapsed "Goblin" quickly flew around the whole world, destroying the myth of the full invisibility and invulnerability of the F-117A. Fortunately for the pilot Dale Zelko, he managed to catapult and was selected by the search and rescue group. Assumptions were expressed that the invisibility was shot down by Yugoslav MiG-29, even the name of the pilot was mentioned. According to another version, F-117 was shot down the Cube SPC. It is said that in fact "Goblin" shot the calculation of the S-125 SP 25 of the 250th air defense brigade under the command of Colonel Zoltan Dani. It should be noted that in many ways the fact of the destruction of the "stealth" of the outdated air defense system was the question of the good luck and military engineering of Yugoslav Zenitchikov.

They, by the way, assured that, in addition to the widely known shot F-117A with the serial number 82-0806, a few more "invisible" were knocked out, but it was not established reliable facts.

Modern condition and overall project evaluation

Of the 59 serial machines during operation, seven F-117a were lost. One was shot down, six crashed for technical reasons. Since 2006, NightHawk is beginning to gradually remove with weapons. This is due to the appearance of the latest fifth generation fighter F-22 Raptor in the commodity quantities in the USA - a much more perfect and balanced machine. In 2008, NightHawk made his last flight, after which they were removed from the Air Force to the reserve and translated into long-term storage.

This ended the quarter-time history of this charismatic, outstanding and ambiguous car. Now we can safely say that at the time of its appearance F-117a was a truly advanced and breakthrough battle aircraft. Its creation, experience of operation and combat use served as the basis for the design of more modern stealth aircraft - both in the United States and in Russia and China at present.

Is it possible to say that the first pancake came out with a coma, or, on the contrary, the American designers managed to give birth to an invulnerable super retention? On the one hand, the real combat effectiveness of too small nighthawk was greatly exaggerated, the reputation was incredibly inflated by the media, but on the other, the plane really managed to play decently, while at the very edge of the sword and performing the most complex and dangerous tasks of the breakthrough of enemy air defense.

Lockheed F-117 NightHawk -american tactical bomber developed by Lockheed Martin in the late 1970s. The first serial aircraft based on the use of STELS technologies.

History F-117

The possibility of creating a combat aircraft, which would be invisible to the opponent's radars was the dream of the military since the appearance of air defense radars. In the days of World War II, German aircraft designers tried to make their cars invisible, these works continued after the war in various research programs. In the 1960s, in the framework of the project to create a high-speed scout, some techniques were actively used, however, due to the enormous power of engines and velocities, literally splitting the body - the plane did not become invisible. Nevertheless, the potential was noticeable.

In 1977, the XCOM Experimental Committee was formed in the Pentagon, whose task was to withdraw the Stelc technology to the level of practical applicability. It was precisely then, on the basis of developments on SR-71, as well as the test results on the XST secret program, the Committee sanctioned the Senior Prom program (the winged Rocket Invisible ACM), ATB (which became the bombard), and, finally, Senior Trend, The result of which became F-117.

Since most of the work on Senior Trend was held in Skunk Works laboratories, the development contract went to the owner of the laboratories - the company Lockheed Martin. The requirements of the secrecy regime were ultrahigh, the witness of this is the name of the aircraft - F-117 dropped out of the overall line of aircraft:, and so on. In the unlawful rule, in the US Air Force, three-digit rooms received secret aircraft.

Design F-117

The construction of the aircraft is based on stealth technology. The aircraft itself is built according to the aerodynamic scheme "Flying Wing" with a V-shaped plumage. A big sweep wing characteristic (67.5 °) with an acute front edge, outlined by straight lines The wing profile, the faceted fuselage, formed by flat trapezia and triangular panels, is thus located on each other in order to reflect the electromagnetic waves away from the radar enemy. Located above the wing on both sides of the fuselage, flat air intakes have longitudinal partitions from radio absorbing materials. A portion of the cold air flow is separated at the entrance to the air intakes and, bypassing the engines, falls into the flat nozzles shielded by the wing, the lower panels of which are covered with heat-absorbing ceramic tiles, which significantly reduces the IR-replacement of the aircraft. The plane does not have external suspension, all weapons are placed inside the fuselage.

In the design of the aircraft, polymer composite materials and radio absorbing materials and coatings are widely used, only 10% of the design is made of metals. In the result of these measures, the effective surface of the scattering of the aircraft during irradiation with its locator in the front was reduced, according to some data, to 0.025 m², which is somewhat Tens times less than the EPR of ordinary aircraft similar.

Lockheed F-117 NightHawk - first stealth. Video Channel Skyships.

It is worth noting that the high characteristics of the minority had to pay low flight characteristics. The aircraft is very difficult to manage - a complex system of automatic control was developed only for what he could hold stably in the air. Naturally, in the case of visual detection of the enemy fighters, F-117 was doomed - his maneuverability is barely higher than at the shuttle. In addition, the form of the aircraft completely excluded the possibility of overcoming the sound barrier. However, when criticizing the car, it is worth considering that the F-117 is a tactical bomber, and not a fighter and a maneuverable battle for such a plane for such an aircraft.

The weapon compartment is a two-piece, with a system of extended beam holders. Model weapon - two controlled Aviation bombs GBU-10 or GBU-27. Installing AGM-88 Harm missiles, AGM-65 "Maverick", Atomic bombs B-61 or B-83 (two), GBU-15 bombs or Blu-9 container are possible. On the beam is possible to install rail guides for AIM-9 "SIDEWINDER".

Production

All serial aircraft were released in "A" modifications. 64 units were produced, the last serial copy was delivered by the US Air Force in 1990.

Operation F-117

The fact of the existence of an F-117 aircraft was officially recognized on November 10, 1988, when the Pentagon released a press release describing the history of the aircraft and published one retouched photo. The first public display of two F-117 took place on April 21, 1990. At the air show in Le Bourget, the plane was first represented only in 1991 after the operation of the storm in the desert.

Accidents and disasters

In the entire history of the operation of the F-117 aircraft, according to official data, 7 cars were lost, including one F-117 was shot down during the fighting.

Combat application

US invasion in Panama (1989)
War in Persian Gulf (1991)
Operation "Fox Desert" (1998)
NATO War against Yugoslavia (1999)
Iraq war (2003)

Removal with arms

The US Air Force planned to apply F-117 to 2018, but the growth of the cost of the program and the moral obsolescence of the bomber before the new fighter was forced to abandon F-117 in favor of F-22.

In March 2016, in Japan, it is planned to complete the tests of the new generation aircraft Advanced Technology Demonstrator X created using Stealth technologies. The country of the rising sun will be the fourth in the world, in service with which aircraft "invisible" will appear.

Previously, the presence of combat aviation complexes created with the use of substitution reduction technologies, only Russia, China and the United States boast. The presence of "stealth" is one of the mandatory parameters of the fifth generation aircraft.

The essence of the "Stealth" technology is to reduce the visibility in radar and infrared bands. The effect is achieved by a special coating, a specific form of the aircraft hull, as well as materials from which its design is made.

Radar waves emitted, for example, by the transmitter of the zenith rocket complex, are reflected from the outer surface of the aircraft and are accepted by a radar station - this is radar visibility.

It is characterized by an effective area of \u200b\u200bscattering (EPR). This is a formal parameter that is measured in units of the area and is a quantitative measure of the object properties to reflect the electromagnetic wave. The smaller this area, the more difficult it is to detect a plane and hit it with a rocket (at least the distance of its detection is reduced).

The old EPR bombers can reach 100 square meters, a conventional modern fighter ranges from 3 to 12 square meters. m, and the aircraft- "invisible" is about 0.3-0.4 square meters. m.

The EPR of complex objects cannot be accurately calculated by the formulas, it is measured by experimentally by special research on landfills or in non-e-chambers. Its value depends on the direction from which the aircraft is irradiated, and for the same flying machine is represented by the range - as a rule, the best values \u200b\u200bon the scatter area are fixed during the irradiation of the aircraft in the front hemisphere. Thus, the accurate EPR indicators can not be, and experienced values \u200b\u200bfor existing fifth generation aircraft are classified.

Western analytical resources, as a rule, underestimate the EPR data on their "stealth" -somolets.

The world's most famous modern aircraft - "invisible":
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 Major Strategic Bomber B-2A Spirit is the most expensive aircraft in the US Air Force Park. According to 1998, the cost of one B-2 was $ 1.16 billion. The cost of the entire program was estimated by almost $ 45 billion.

The first Public flight B-2 took place in 1989. A total of 21 plane was built: almost all of them are named after the US states.
B-2 has an unusual appearance and sometimes compared to the aliens ship. At one time, it gave rise to a lot of rumors that the aircraft was built using technologies obtained in the study of UFO fragments in the so-called zone 51.

The plane is able to take on board 16 atomic bombs, or eight-controlled bombs weighing 907 kg with laser guidance, or 80 bombs caliber 227 kg and deliver them from the Whiteman State Base (Missouri) almost anywhere in the world - the flight range "Ghost" 11 thousand km.

Spirit is automated as possible, the crew consists of two pilots. The bomber has a solid margin of strength and is able to make a safe landing for lateral wind in 40 m / s. According to foreign publications, the EPR bombarder is estimated in the range from 0.0014 to 0.1 square meters. For other sources, the bomber has more modest indicators - from 0.05 to 0.5 square meters. m in front projection.
The main disadvantage of B-2 Spirit is the cost of its service. The placement of the aircraft is possible only in a special hangar with an artificial microclimate - otherwise ultraviolet radiation will damage the radio absorbing plane.

B-2 Invisible for outdated radars, but modern anti-aircraft missile systems of Russian production are able to detect it and effectively hit. According to unconfirmed data, one B-2 was shot down or received serious combat damage to the use of an anti-aircraft missile complex (SPC) during the NATO military operation in Yugoslavia.

F-117: American "Chrome Goblin"

Lockheed F-117 Night Hawk - American Single Dialing Tactical Major Lockheed Martin Drum Airplane. It was intended for secretive penetration through the electronic air defense system and attacks of strategically important land objects.

The first flight was made on June 18, 1981. 64 units were produced, the last serial copy was delivered by the US Air Force in 1990. For the creation and production of F-117 more than $ 6 billion in 2008, aircraft of this type were fully removed from weapons as for financial reasons, so because of the adoption of the F-22 Raptor.

The EPR of the aircraft, according to foreign publications, ranged from 0.01 to 0.0025 square meters. M depending on the angle.

Reducing the substitution for F-117 was mainly achieved due to the specific angular shape of the hull built on the concept of "reflectors' planes", composite and radio absorbing materials and a special coating were also applied. As a result, the bomber looked extremely futuristic and because of this popularity in games and cinema F-117 may argue with the Hollywood stars of the first magnitude.

However, achieving a significant reduction in visibility, the designers had to break all possible laws of aerodynamics, and the plane received disgusting flight characteristics. American pilots nickname him for this "Chrome Goblin" (Wobblin 'Goblin).

As a result, six aircraft were lost from the flight incidents from 64 of the "invisible planes" of the F-117A - almost 10% of the total. On the F-117, only the most experienced pilots were put on the F-117, but they still were regularly broken.

The plane participated in five wars: US invasion of Panama (1989), War in the Persian Gulf (1991), Operation "Fox Desert" (1998), NATO War against Yugoslavia (1999), Iraqi War (2003).

In combat departures, at least one aircraft in Yugoslavia was lost - the invisible car was shot down with the help of an outdated Soviet SPC of the C-125 "Neva".

F-22: American "Raptor"

The first and so far the only fifth generation adopted by the aircraft is American F-22A Raptor.

The manufacture of the aircraft began in 2001. Currently, several F-22 take part in the operation of coalition troops in Iraq to bring strikes on the militants of the Islamic State of the Terrorist Organization forbidden in Russia.

To date, Raptor is considered the most expensive fighter in the world. According to open sources, taking into account the costs of its development and other factors, the cost of each of the aircraft ordered by the US Air Force exceeds $ 300 million.

Nevertheless, the F-22A is what boasts: it is the possibility of flying on supersonic without inclusion of floors, powerful side radio electronic equipment (BDEO) and, again, low visibility. However, on maneuverability, the aircraft is inferior to many Russian fighters even the fourth generation.

The F-22 thrust vector changes only in one plane (up-down), while on the most modern Russian combat aircraft, the thrust vector can vary in all planes, and independently of each other on the right and left engines.

According to the EPR of the accurate data fighter, there is no: the variation of the figures cited by different sources is from 0.3 to 0.0001 square meters. M. According to domestic EPR specialists F-22A ranges from 0.5 to 0.1 square meters. At the same time, the IRBIS radar station "Irbis" SU-35S fighter is able to detect "Raptor" on a distance of at least 95 km.

With its exhaust value, Raptor has a number of problems in operation. In particular, the anti-class coating of the fighter is easily washed off rain, and although over time, this flaw was able to level, the aircraft price increased even more.

Another serious disadvantage of F-22 is the oxygen system by pilot. In 2010, because of the suffocation, he lost control of the fighter and crashed by the pilot Jeffrey Hani.

Since 2011, all F-22A has been forbidden to rise above 7.6 thousand meters. It was believed that at such a height of the pilot in the event of the first signs of the suffocation would be able to decrease to 5.4 thousand m to remove the mask and breathe air in the cockpit. The reason was in a constructive disadvantage - carbon dioxide gas from engines fell into the respiratory system. We tried to solve the problem with the help of additional coal filters. But the lack is not completely eliminated so far.

F-35: American "Lightning"

F-35 Lightning II ("Lightning") was conceived as a universal aircraft for the US Armed Forces, as well as NATO Allies, able to replace the F-16 fighter, A-10 attack aircraft, McDonnell Douglas AV-8B Harrier II attachment attack and landing and landing McDonnell Douglas F / A-18 Hornet deck fighter-bommer.

The development of this fighter-bombarder of the fifth generation is spent huge money (the costs exceeded $ 56 billion, and the cost of one aircraft was $ 108 million), but it was not possible to bring to mind.

Analysts note that the enemy radar suppression systems installed on the F-35 cannot fulfill the task set to them in full. As a result, this may require the development of a separate aircraft intended to suppress the enemy radar to ensure the unimprovability of these fighters. The experts thus question the feasibility of the multi-billion dollar costs of the Pentagon to create an F-35 aircraft.

Some US media also note that the F-35 does not largely comply with the requirements for the fifth generation aircraft: "Lightning" is distinguished by low-handers, vitality and maneuverability, can not fly on supersonic velocity without flushing,
In addition, the fighter is easily detected by the RLS, working on ultra-high frequencies, and its EPR turned out to be more than it was stated in characteristics. Nevertheless, foreign editions, according to the existing tradition, estimate the value of the effective area of \u200b\u200bscattering F-35 aircraft depending on the angle of 0.001 square meters. m. According to many specialists, including Western experts, in terms of EPR F-35, much worse than F-22.

T-50: Russian invisible
Russian specialists separate elements of Stelc technology were applied on aircraft such as Su-34 bombing fighter, a light front-line MiG-35 fighter and a heavy Su-35s fighter. However, a heavy multi-purpose fighter Pak Fa T-50 and a distant strategic bomber Pak yes will become full "stealth" sumet.

T-50 (promising aircraft complex of front-line aviation, Pak Fa) - Russian response to the American fighter fighter F-22. The plane is the quintessence of all the most modern, which is in domestic aviation. It is known about his characteristics a little bit, and most of the time stays secret.

It is known that a whole range of new polymer carbon styles was used in Pak Fa. They are two times lighter than aluminum comparable strength and titanium, four or five times easier steel. New materials are 70% of the coating of the materials fighter, as a result, it was possible to drastically reduce the constructive mass of the aircraft - it weighs four times less than the aircraft collected from the usual materials.

TV channel "Star" / YouTube

In the Design Bureau, "Dry" declare "unprecedentedly low level of radar, optical and infrared substitution" Machines ", although the EPR of the fighter is estimated by domestic specialists quite restrained - in the region of 0.3-0.4 square meters. At the same time, some Western analysts express more optimistic assessments with respect to our aircraft: for the T-50 they call EPR three times less - 0.1 square meters. m. True data efficient scattering area for Pak Fa is classified.

In T-50, high intellectualization of the side is implemented. Radar station of a fighter with a new active phased antenna array (AFAR) NII. Tikhomirov can detect targets on a distance of more than 400 kilometers, at the same time accompany up to 60 goals and shell to 16. The minimum EPR accompanied targets is 0.01 square meters. m.

Pak Fa: Combat Wings of the future Pak Fa engines are separated from the longitudinal axis of the aircraft, such a decision allowed to increase the "shoulder" thrust when maneuvering and make a spacious weapon compartment, capable of accommodating heavy, inaccessible due to the size for F-35 Lightning II. Pak Fa has excellent maneuverability and controllability in vertical and horizontal planes both on supersonic and at low speeds.

Currently, the T-50 are installed engines of the first stage with which it is capable of maintaining supersonic speed on an unfaffold mode. After receiving the standard engine of the second stage, the tactical and technical characteristics of the fighter will significantly increase.

The first flight was made on January 29, 2010. The serial supply of Pak Fa to the troops is expected to begin in 2017, the entire military must receive 55 fighters of the fifth generation until 2020.

J-20: Chinese "Mighty Dragon"

CHENGDU J-20 is a Chinese fourth fighter (in Chinese nomenclature) or fifth generation (in Western). In 2011, I made the first trial flight. It is expected that the fighter will be commissioned in 2017-2019.

According to a number of media, Russian Al-31 PF engines are installed on the J-20, and the Chinese military massively purchased the written engines of these brands.
Most of the development tactical and technical characteristics remains secret. J-20 has a large number of similar and fully copied elements from the Russian MiG Technologies 1.44 and American Fifth Generation Fighters F-22 and F-35.

The aircraft is made according to the diagram of a duck: a pair of sub-skeleton keel and near-locked engines (similar to the MiG 1.44), the lantern and the nose is identical to the same elements on the F-22. The air intake location is similar to the F-35 design. Vertical plumage is all-turn and has a geometry F-35 fighter.

X-2: Japanese "Soul"

Mitsubishi ATD-X Shinshin is a prototype of the Japanese fighter fifth generation with Stelc technology. The aircraft was constructed at the Technical Design and Design Institute of the Ministry of Defense of Japan, and was built by a corporation, which during the Second World War produced the famous Zero fighters. The fighter received the poetic name Shinshin - "Soul".

The size of ATD-X is close to the Swedish multi-purpose SAAB Gripen fighter, and in form - to the American F-22 Raptor. The dimensions and angle of the tilt of the vertical plumage, the shape of the influx and air intakes are identical to the fact that it has an American fighter fifth generation. 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. The flight tests of the aircraft were supposed to be held in 2015, however, the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries developer was not able to comply with the delivery time set by the Ministry of Defense.

In addition, Japanese specialists need to finalize the fighter engine with a controlled vector of thrust, in particular, test the ability to restart it in case of a possible stop during the flight.

The Ministry of Defense of Japan notes that the aircraft is built exclusively for working out technologies, including ATD-X - Stels. However, it can become a base, on the basis of which the replacement for the Japanese-bomber-bomber F-2, developed by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Lockheed Martin for the air defense air forces of Japan.

In this case, the ATD-X will have to be set three times more powerful engines, and there is enough space in the aircraft housing to accommodate ammunition.

According to preliminary plans, the development work on the creation of a new F-3 will begin in 2016-2017, and the first prototype of the fighter will rise to the air in 2024-2025.

It has long been known that the vitality in battle can be provided not only by good protection, but also in disguise. For a long time, too little attention was paid to the disguise. In fact, all it was reduced only to a special camouflage color: the upper surfaces of the aircraft are painted in "Camouflage", and the bottom - in blue, under the color of the sky

Opening of Physics Peter Ufimseva

About thirty years ago, a luraptic popular scientific and technical journal, American intelligence officers stumbled upon the article of Russian Physics Peter Ufimsev, which said that the "wing" type aircraft made from certain materials was specially faceted and painted, almost invisible for radar .

Stealth American invisible aircraft invented by Russian scientists. "Tupic" branch of aviation.

Construction and testing of the aircraft

The article was very interested in American military specialists, and in the United States decided to build and experience such an aircraft.

There were opportunities for this. Then in the Pentagon - the US Department of Defense - a program for creating a new generation aircraft - a high-rise intelligence officer and a high-altitude interceptor, which were defeated by unattainable for means of detecting and defeating the enemy. In the mid-1970s, the US Air Force received a first-class SR-71 intelligence aircraft, which An unusual aerodynamic form and a special color, made on the "recipes" of Ufimsev and the radar visibility of the aircraft were distinguished.
The Americans were enveloped by success, the Americans moved further and began to develop new types of invisible aircraft based on the ideas of Russian physics. The project was called "Stealth" (from the English word "Stealth" - secretly, sneaking).

Creating invisible aircraft

Attempts to create a "full invisible aircraft" for a long time did not have success. Only twenty years ago, the United States showed the world a miracle of military equipment similar to a bat or an aliens ship. Two modifications of "Stels" were manufactured: F-117 fighter-bomber and a heavy strategic bomber B-2, which were used in the war against Iraq. A little later, the F-22 fighter fighter entered the unit. The F-117 is similar to a flying wing with a scope of 13, 2 m. But besides a specially selected shape, its entire design is designed with the maximum possible use of radio absorbing materials.
They reduce the level of reflected signals, which are also not reflected back, as from conventional surfaces, and up and down in narrow sectors. With the help of special exhaust nozzles and the supply of surrounding air, the intensity of infrared radiation of the jet jet of engines is significantly reduced, that is, the "heat" enemy sensors will also not detect this aircraft.
In the "Invisible" there is even a special communication system - a laser, which is almost impossible to gell. True, the F-117, to put it mildly, does not shit. The figures of modern higher pilotage on it will not do - such is the fee for "invisibility."

Technology Stels.

All the "Stealth" technology was designed for the use of a centimeter range of a centimeter range, for which American invisible aircraft actually become unobistant. However, in Russia, and the air defense (air defense) troops (air defense) today have a meter range for which it does not matter "Stealth" is a regular plane.

The news of the invisibility of "Stelles" only for one type of locator caused a real scandal in the US government. After all, billions were spent on the development of invisible aircraft, and it turned out that the effectiveness of new aircraft in battle could give up even old cars. It was noted that the technological breakthrough of Americans in the production of Stels was associated with emigration in the US Ufimsev, which was attracted to the work on the creation invisible.
For many years, Ufimtsev over the years has been engaged in the USSR. And not only he.

At least in the two Soviet KBs were built and tested invisible aircraft of different types. The output of authoritative commissions was:
1) The invisible aircraft, made according to Ufimsev's ideas, because of its form, has low speed and maneuverability - essentially it is a deltaplan, poorly adapted to combat maneuver and not capable of the highest pilot;
2) the aircraft can be found visually and special high-frequency radar; In addition, when opening bubblyukov and in some flight modes, it is visible in conventional radars and after "serif" can be easily shot down;
3) the cost of the aircraft is exormably high.

Conclusion: the construction of such aircraft is inappropriate

; Moreover, this type of aircraft is a "dead-end branch of the development of military aviation."

Therefore, in the early 1980s, work on the Ufimtsev "Stels" in the USSR was discontinued. An offended designer went to the United States, where she realized at the expense of Americans his "meaningless", as proved time, ideas.

Realization of designer ideas in the USA

The current development of combat aviation went to another way: the development of a new generation aircraft, which differed in ultra-high speed, flight height, mertainment and imperceptibility (due to these properties) for the electronic air defense tools.

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