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Boeing just declassified one of their stealth testbeds today, looks interesting:

http://www.boeing.com/news/releases/200 ... 1018m.html

http://www.popsci.com/popsci/aviation/a ... 76,00.html

I was wondering if anybody saw this... here is a pic:




surprisingly enough, this is something an imaginative hombuilder could do -- boeing effectively admitted as much, especially given the fact that it has no computerized controls... all MANUAL baby!!!

I was hoping that it was an actual prototype RIVET (Reversed Inlet Vectored ExhausT) configuration fighter, but alas, it is not.

Speaking of the devil...a few of us at work were debating was has been under development at places like Boeing and Lockheed.

Shaka[Zulu] wrote:I was wondering if anybody saw this... here is a pic:




surprisingly enough, this is something an imaginative hombuilder could do -- boeing effectively admitted as much, especially given the fact that it has no computerized controls... all MANUAL baby!!!

I was hoping that it was an actual prototype RIVET (Reversed Inlet Vectored ExhausT) configuration fighter, but alas, it is not.

I doubt an imaginative homebuilder could calculate millions of radar cross sections to validate the stealth design, or get the materials needed.

snipping myself (ow)

Sea Skimmer wrote:
I doubt an imaginative homebuilder could calculate millions of radar cross sections to validate the stealth design, or get the materials needed.

really? imaginative homebuilders are quite capable of producing extraordinary aircraft prototypes... see the facetmobile:

http://users.aol.com/slicklynne/facet.htm

granted, it is effectively a primitive version of the Have Blue prototype stealth (with equally dismal performance), but it does fly, and it is posessed of a very small RCS... never underestimate the ability of rogue intellectual assets...

Shaka[Zulu] wrote:snipping myself (ow)

Sea Skimmer wrote:
I doubt an imaginative homebuilder could calculate millions of radar cross sections to validate the stealth design, or get the materials needed.

really? imaginative homebuilders are quite capable of producing extraordinary aircraft prototypes... see the facetmobile:

http://users.aol.com/slicklynne/facet.htm

granted, it is effectively a primitive version of the Have Blue prototype stealth (with equally dismal performance), but it does fly, and it is posessed of a very small RCS... never underestimate the ability of rogue intellectual assets...

Creating a low observable airframe is not that hard. However it is a huge leap to go from something like that to a true stealth aircraft on the lines of the B-2, Nighthawk or Raptor.

A quick glance at this facetmobile shows that it would in fact have a quite large RCS, at least to an AEW aircraft. There's nothing shielding the cockpit interior. Though you cant really blame them for that, since how that’s done is one of the mostly highly protected secrets of stealth.

Sea Skimmer wrote: There's nothing shielding the cockpit interior. Though you cant really blame them for that, since how that’s done is one of the mostly highly protected secrets of stealth.

I wonder how effective the gold-impregnated canopy technique used on the EA-6B to protect the crew from ECM emissions would be at keeping the much weaker emissions of an air search radar from finding their way into the cockpit...

Enlightenment wrote:

Sea Skimmer wrote: There's nothing shielding the cockpit interior. Though you cant really blame them for that, since how that’s done is one of the mostly highly protected secrets of stealth.

I wonder how effective the gold-impregnated canopy technique used on the EA-6B to protect the crew from ECM emissions would be at keeping the much weaker emissions of an air search radar from finding their way into the cockpit...

You know they will never tell you that...