Technology "Stealth". The F-117A, S-37 Berkut and other aircraft

Russia has long been fighting the United States for the priority in creating a twenty-first century fighter that combines the characteristics of a supersonic super-maneuverable combat vehicle and the Stealth technology. An aircraft with such qualities should not be detected by radar and infrared surveillance. The construction of such a fighter of the future not only can dramatically improve the effectiveness of the national air force, but also provide a powerful argument in the competitive struggle on the world arms market.

Until quite recently, the leading design bureaus and aircraft builders could not combine in such a combat air machine such conflicting characteristics in terms of technology. And Russia was mainly in the role of catching up. Combining all these qualities, built on technology "Stealth" aircraft must 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 counterweight 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 performance with the Stealth technology. The aircraft, the construction of which is based on such a concept, should not only be inaccessible to radars, but also possess the qualities of a multi-purpose supersonic and super-maneuverable combat vehicle.

American stealth aircraft "Stealth" F-117 could not bring its designers to the desired goal. This car had very modest flight characteristics and could not take part in serious air battles. The United States Air Force was spending huge budget funds to develop a truly effective and invisible winged predator radar. However, they were able to approach the realization of this task only in the autumn of 1997, when the testing of the F-22 "Raptor" fighter began.

But this time the American aircraft builders could not count on an unqualified primacy. Since Sukhoi Design Bureau began flight tests of the C-37 Berkut machine only two weeks after its competitors. According to authoritative estimates of military experts, the Russian fighter considerably exceeds the "Raptor", mainly due to the unique wing of the reverse sweep. All this brought the competitive struggle of engineering thought and technology to a new stage of confrontation.

After the completion of the operation to seize Iraqi oil fields, ambitiously named "Storm in the Desert," US military officials tirelessly praised their Lockheed F-117A aircraft. These "black ghosts" who committed several destructive raids on Baghdad, the Iraqi air defense could not even see their radar stations on the monitors. This "Stealth" aircraft, whose photo demonstrates the ideal geometry of the car, became the embodiment of the thirty-year efforts of American engineers to develop this technology.

Back in 1962, Lockheed attempted to create an A-12 invisible aircraft. At first, these attempts did not bring the desired result. You can also recall the "Stealth" aircraft, the famous air reconnaissance of the time SR-71, received its nickname "Black Bird" due to the appropriate 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 a flight to a computer. This was the design of the machine, which had minimal radioimage. Already in 1975, the designers of Lockheed created the first prototype of an invisible aircraft. In the winter of 1977, the first generation F-117A combat vehicle was launched for the first time, and six years later it was adopted by the US Air Force.

Encouraged by such success, the Pentagon commissioned Northrop to develop a new strategic bomber, invulnerable to enemy air defenses, using the same technology. The work, which lasted nine years, resulted in the construction of a car that received the code number B-2. When creating all their "invisible" Americans did not use the technology of aliens, which was a lot of fables, and the theoretical development of our compatriots.

To absorb radio emission, they used a special ferromagnetic coating of the shell. In addition, the Americans resorted to a number of additional tricks. For example, in the machine itself, almost all the elements were made from non-reflective composite materials, such as carbon fiber. All engines were equipped with noise-suppression housings and forced cooling systems, which reduce the intensity of infrared emissions. And many more things were used in American "invisibles."

But here there is a reasonable question about the effectiveness of all these tricks. And then it turns out that huge funds (many billions of dollars!) Are wasted. First of all, these machines were so capricious in operation that they could be prepared for flight only at base airfields. In addition, incidentally it turned out that as soon as the "Stealth" gets wet, it starts to show itself clearly on the radar screens, like the invisible man from the famous novel by Herbert Wells. Perhaps, for this reason, during the military operations in Yugoslavia, the F-117A was shot down in one of the first sorties.

But the invention made in Russia, where a radically new technology for creating radio visibility was developed, was finally finished by the research of American scientists and aircraft builders in this field. In the vicinity of the aircraft, special plasma clouds are generated, so intensely absorbing electromagnetic waves that the visibility of the machine on the radar screen decreases by more than a hundred times.