Photo Shows That U.S. Submarines Still Have Stealth Problems

This official photo of the USS Colorado (SSN 788) returning to Groton on February 20 clearly shows parts of the stealth coating missing. H I Sutton (original photo US Navy)

Forbes: Photo Shows That U.S. Submarines Still Have Stealth Problems

One of the U.S. Navy’s latest fast attack submarines, the USS Colorado, recently returned from its maiden deployment. Homecoming photos show that large sections of the stealth coating have come off.

This issue is not new. Last September a whistleblower accused a U.S. shipbuilder of falsifying quality tests on the stealth coating. Whether or not quality control is an issue, the coatings are evidently still falling off.

USS Colorado (SSN 788) is the 15th Virginia Class submarine, and the fifth of the enhanced Block-III model. She was launched on March 17, 2018, so she is still considered new. And this was her first deployment. Significantly, she was built at a different shipyard than the one in the whistleblower case. This shows that problems with the coating are wider than that one complaint.

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WNU Editor: The U.S. Navy is not alone in having these problems .... U.S. Navy Submarines May Have Stealth Problems, But They’re Not Alone (Forbes).

Is This The Future Of Stealth Fighters?

Image: BAE Systems.

Robert Beckhusen, National Interest: What Is The Future Of Stealth Fighters? This Picture Is Your Clue.

Will stealth survive in the age of artificial intelligence?

Key point: It’s long been a goal of aerospace developers to eliminate moving control surfaces from airplanes.

Researchers at BAE Systems and The University of Manchester successfully test-flew an experimental unmanned aerial vehicle with no moving control surfaces, BAE Systems announced in December 2017.

The 12-foot-span, jet-propelled MAGMA drone could help BAE develop stealthier warplanes. Control surfaces account for a significant portion of an airplane’s radar signature.

Instead of rudders, ailerons and other conventional control surfaces, MAGMA relies on two new technologies for maneuverability. Wing circulation control “takes air from the aircraft engine and blows it supersonically through the trailing edge of the wing to provide control for the aircraft,” according to BAE Systems.

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WNU Editor: The BAE news release on this new technology is here .... Successful first flight trial completion of unmanned aerial vehicle, MAGMA (BAE Systems).

This Is How The F-35's Stealth Capability Is Maintained

Tech. Sgt. Edmundo Pena, 388th Maintenance Squadron Fabrication Flight, does low observable restoration on an F-35A wing tip at Hill Air Force Base, Utah, October 3, 2019. US Air Force/R. Nial Bradshaw

Business Insider: How Air Force maintainers make sure the F-35 stays a 'stealthy beast'

* The F-35A Lightning II boasts a "low observable" technology that makes it difficult for enemies to detect and track the fifth-generation fighter jet.
* But that technology is subject to wear and tear like any other component, and it takes airmen with special skills to keep it working.

HILL AIR FORCE BASE, Utah – How do you make a 51-foot-long, 35-foot-wide fighter jet, with an engine that generates 43,000 pounds of thrust, vanish?

You don't. There's no black magic that exists to make something that big disappear.

The F-35A Lightning II isn't invisible, but it does have a "cloak," which makes it very difficult to detect, track, or target by radar with surface to air missiles or enemy aircraft.

The real term used to describe the cloak is "low observable" technology, and it takes skilled airmen to maintain.

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WNU Editor: This must be tedious work.

Stealth Problems Are Nothing New For Submarines

The Russian Navy's imposing Oscar-II Class cruise missile submarine. If you look closely at the front of the submarine you can see that some of sonar absorbing tiles are missing. Russian Ministry of Defense

Forbes: U.S. Navy Submarines May Have Stealth Problems, But They’re Not Alone

Submarines rely on stealth to survive. An alarming problem with the U.S. Navy’s submarine stealth has come to the surface. A Sept. 26 whistleblower complaint accuses shipbuilder Huntington Ingalls of falsifying quality tests on the stealth coating of Virginia Class attack submarines, thus “knowingly and/or recklessly” putting “American lives at risk.”

This anechoic coating, which reduces the submarine’s sonar signature, is called Special Hull Treatment in U.S. Navy parlance. In layperson’s terms these coatings are usually rubber tiles glued on to the outside of the steel hull. The process of attaching them and final finish varies by country and is a very sensitive topic which, understandably, isn’t talked about. If the coating falls off, the submarine can be detected more easily.

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WNU Editor:The technology behind anechoic coating must be one of those secrets labelled ultra top secret.

New Construction Materials Made Of Composites Could Make Military Vehicles And Subs Invisible To Radar And Sonar

U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Alexander Cook

Popular Mechanics: How Metamaterials Could Lead to Invisible Tanks and Super-Stealthy Submarines

New construction materials made of composites could make military vehicles—and even soldiers—invisible to radar, sonar, and even the naked eye.

* Metamaterials are composite materials designed to manipulate light, radar, and sonar waves.
* Objects made of metamaterials could render themselves invisible to most types of sensors—including the human eye.
* Metamaterials are difficult to make and still a ways from mass production.

The development of new so-called metamaterials could lead to dramatic advances in military technology, particularly the ability to hide from sensors—even the human eye. Metamaterials, engineered composites designed to manipulate the electromagnetic spectrum, could lead to “invisible” tanks and armored vehicles, submarines undetectable by sonar, and weapons with improved seekers and guidance systems.

The big caveat though is that metamaterials are currently pretty difficult to manufacture and are still years away from full-scale production.

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WNU Editor: For more information go here .... Win the Race for Invisibility (US Naval Institute).

Experimental German Radar 'Tracked Two U.S. F-35 Stealth Jet For 100 Miles'

Lockheed Martin

Daily Mail: Experimental German radar 'tracked two U.S. F-35 stealth jet for 100 MILES' after lying in wait on a pony farm to catch them flying home from airshow

* Radar is designed with sensors and processors capable of tracking F-35 jets
* It works observing electromagnetic emissions in the atmosphere
* Then it will read how signals are bouncing off airborne objects
* German radar maker said the system tracked two US jets for nearly 100 miles

The F-35 stealth fighter is lauded by the U.S Air Force as almost invisible to radar - which is why it has spent $100million on each of the jets.

However, a German radar maker claims to have tracked two of jets from a pony farm for nearly 100 miles using an emerging generation of sensors and processors.

It used a new 'passive radar' system that analyzes how civilian communications - such as radio and TV broadcasts and mobile phone stations - bounce off airborne objects.

This, the firm says, renders the jet's stealth technology, that is designed to absorb ground based radar to stop it reflecting back, redundant.

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WNU Editor: It takes more than just a radar lock to shoot down a stealth plane .... An F-35 pilot explains why Russia and China's counterstealth can't stop him (Business Insider). More here .... No, Passive Radar Isn't Going To Make Stealth Technology Obsolete Anytime Soon (Warzone/The Drive).

U.S. Intelligence Believes There Is Another Mysterious Chinese Stealth Bomber Project

Unofficial concept art for a Chinese stealth bomber. Chinese social media

Business Insider: US intelligence report reveals another mysterious Chinese stealth bomber project

* A new report on China's military power from the Defense Intelligence Agency just revealed yet another Chinese stealth bomber project.
* China is known to be working on a long-range stealth bomber that's most likely a match to the US's B-2 Spirit bomber, but the intelligence report suggested a new fighter/bomber.
* The fighter/bomber concept makes a lot of sense for China in the Pacific, where a war with the US or Japan is a rising possibility to prepare for.
* China has some very long range air-to-air missiles, and a medium-range stealth bomber that can out-reach short range US fighters like the F-35 could give them an edge in combat over the South China Sea.

China made history as the only nation other than the US to ever field a stealth fighter jet, and a new report on China's military power from the Defense Intelligence Agency just revealed yet another batch of stealth combat aircraft projects.

China "is developing new medium- and long-range stealth bombers to strike regional and global targets," the report reads. "Stealth technology continues to play a key role in the development of these new bombers, which probably will reach initial operational capability no sooner than 2025," it continued.

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WNU Editor: There are some doubts that this is a real project .... Is China Really Building Two Stealth Bombers? (January 26, 2019).

Are U.S. Stealth Fighters 'Paper Fiction?

Lockheed Martin

Dave Majumdar, National Interest: Russia Thinks the F-22 and F-35 Stealth Fighter are "Paper Fiction"

Really?

Even if the Kremlin had found a way to defeat American low observable technology, it would be imprudent for Moscow to telegraph that message to its opponents in Washington

Why is the Kremlin investing billions of dollars (rubles) into the Sukhoi PAK-FA fifth-generation fighter and the PAK-DA stealth bomber if Moscow considers stealth technology to be useless?

Recently, in response to a column I wrote, Russian media denounced stealth technology as useless—asserting that aircraft such as the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor or F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) would easily fall prey to advanced Russian-built air defenses. The column clearly struck a nerve with Russia’s air defense experts. Indeed, former chief of staff of Russia’s air defense forces, Col. Gen. Igor Maltsev, told Gazeta.ru that stealth technology was “paper fiction.”

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WNU Editor: Stealth technology is very real. Otherwise why would China, Russia, the U.S., and other countries spend billions trying to perfect it.

Is China Really Building Two Stealth Bombers?

A CCTV news program offered a glimpse of what is believed to be a prototype of the H-20 bomber. Photo: CCTV screen grab

Sebastien Roblin, National Interest: Is China Really Building Two Stealth Bombers?

Could it be true?

In January 2018, two sentences in an annual report by the DIA on Chinese military power sent a minor shockwave rippling across the defense-related internet:

“The PLAAF is developing new medium- and long-range stealth bombers to strike regional and global targets. Stealth technology continues to play a key role in the development of these new bombers, which probably will reach initial operational capability no sooner than 2025.”

Bombers, plural . In a separate chart, an un-designated next-generation “Tactical Bomber” is listed, denoted as being equipped with a high-resolution Active Electronically Scanned Array radar, precision-guided bombs and long-range air-to-air missiles.

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WNU Editor: The answer is maybe .... China Is Developing Two Stealth Bombers (January 18, 2019).

The Next Generation Stealth May Be A Game Changer

National Interest/War Is Boring: Forget the B-2 Bomber or F-35: Next Generation Stealth Might Be a Game-Changer

It’s long been a goal of aerospace developers to eliminate moving control surfaces from airplanes. And it could change everything.

In 1975 John Kelly, a Boeing researcher, identified moving control surfaces as a major impediment to developing stealthy warplanes. “Elimination of control surfaces is a consideration that should be examined for low-RCS designs,” Kelly wrote in a company study.

The 12-foot-span, jet-propelled MAGMA drone could help BAE develop stealthier warplanes. Control surfaces account for a significant portion of an airplane’s radar signature.

Instead of rudders, ailerons and other conventional control surfaces, MAGMA relies on two new technologies for maneuverability. Wing circulation control “takes air from the aircraft engine and blows it supersonically through the trailing edge of the wing to provide control for the aircraft,” according to BAE Systems.

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WNU Editor: Faster please.

The Russian View Of Stealth Fighters And Bombers Is That It Is 'Fiction'

Dave Majumdar, National Interest: Russia: America's Stealth Fighters and Bombers are 'Paper Fiction'

Could it be true?

Even if the Kremlin had found a way to defeat American low observable technology, it would be imprudent for Moscow to telegraph that message to its opponents in Washington.

Why is the Kremlin investing billions of dollars (rubles) into the Sukhoi PAK-FA fifth-generation fighter and the PAK-DA stealth bomber if Moscow considers stealth technology to be useless?

Recently, in response to a column I wrote, Russian media denounced stealth technology as useless—asserting that aircraft such as the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor or F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) would easily fall prey to advanced Russian-built air defenses. The column clearly struck a nerve with Russia’s air defense experts. Indeed, former chief of staff of Russia’s air defense forces, Col. Gen. Igor Maltsev, told Gazeta.ru that stealth technology was “paper fiction.”

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WNU Editor: If it is fiction .... why telegraph it to the Americans?

DARPA: Stealth Technology May Not Work Anymore

F-35A Lightning II fighter jets from the 388th Fighter Wing at Hill Air Force Base, Utah, fly in formation over the Utah Test and Training Range, March 30, 2017. Pentagon officials announced April 14, 2017, that the Air Force is deploying a small number of F-35A fighters to Europe for training. (U.S. Air Force photo/R. Nial Bradshaw)

Michael Peck, National Interest: Did the Pentagon Just Admit Stealth Technology May Not Work Anymore?

A new report makes some stunning claims.

Did the Pentagon just admit that stealth technology may not work anymore? Or that America must be ready to face a future where its airpower doesn't control the skies?

DARPA, the Pentagon's cutting-edge research agency, has quietly raised these possibilities as it searches for future technology to fight the next war. And stealth technology may not be the answer.

“Platform stealth may be approaching physical limits,” says DARPA.

The agency also admits that “our acquisition system is finding it difficult to respond on relevant timescales to adversary progress, which has made the search for next-generation capabilities at once more urgent and more futile.”

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WNU Editor: All good things always come to an end .... including advances in military technology.

The B-2 Will Eventually Lose Its Stealth

National Interest: RIP B-2 Bomber: How America's Most Deadly Bomber Will Eventually Lose Its Stealth

For decades since the bomber became operational in 1997, the Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit stealth bomber has been effectively invulnerable to enemy air defenses. However, America’s enemies are starting to learn how to counter stealth aircraft, but the technology remains unproven as of yet. Various approaches have been tried to counter stealth aircraft including the use of low frequency radar, infrared, ultraviolet, bistatic and multistatic radars. Thus far, infrared search and track (IRST) and low frequency radar have shown the most amount of promise of being able to generate a weapons quality track on a stealth aircraft. Indeed, the only technology the U.S. government is willing to talk about to shoot down stealth aircraft is IRST technology.

The fact of the matter is that the B-2 will eventually lose its ability to penetrate enemy airspace. “The technology on which they were designed with respect to signature management. . . is ‘80s vintage,” then Air Force chief of staff Gen. Norton Schwartz told the House Armed Services Committee on Feb. 28, 2012. “And the reality is that the B-2 over time is going to become less survivable in contested airspace.”

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WNU Editor: The B-2's stealth technology is from the 1980s .... so yes .... it is only a question of time when it eventually loses its stealth.

China's New Surveillance Aircraft May Be Capable Of Spotting The F-22 And F-35

China is developing an early-warning carrier-based aircraft with radar to track stealth jets. Photo: Weibo

Eugene K. Chow, National Interest: China Might Have a New Radar That Can Spot F-22s and F-35s

A new Chinese surveillance aircraft could take away a key advantage of American stealth jets.

China is building a carrier-launched plane equipped with advanced early-warning radar that could even spot stealth jets from afar.

Official state media has confirmed the development of the long-rumored KJ-600, a twenty-five to thirty ton twin turboprop plane built by Xian Aircraft Corporation with a large AESA (Active Electronically Scanned Array) radar, which has the reported capability of locating stealth aircraft like U.S. F-22s and F-35s over two hundred miles away.

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Update #1: Why America’s stealth jet forces should fear China’s new unarmed eye in the sky (SCMP)
Update #2: China Developing Advanced Aircraft Capable Of Detecting Stealth Planes, Including F-35, F-22 (International Business Times)

WNU Editor: If the above report is true .... so much for the U.S. having a stealth advantage.

Report: China Developing Ghost Imaging Spy Satellite To Track U.S. Stealth Aircraft

A U.S. Air Force B-2 Spirit bomber from the Whiteman Air Force Base does a flyover during the 95th Rose Bowl game in Pasadena, California, January 1, 2009. REUTERS/Mike Blake

South China Morning Post: Could ghost imaging spy satellite be a game changer for Chinese military?

Scientists are developing a probe to track stealth bombers at night.

China is developing a new type of spy satellite using ghost imaging technology that could change the game of military cat and mouse within a decade, according to scientists involved in the project.

Existing camouflage techniques – from simple smoke bombs used to hide tanks or soldiers on battlefields to the hi-tech radar absorption materials on a stealth aircraft or warship – would be of no use against ghost imaging, physics experts said.

Quantum ghost imaging can achieve unprecedented sensitivity by detecting not just the extremely small amount of light straying off a dim target, but also its interactions with other light in the surrounding environment to obtain more information than traditional methods.

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Update #1: China can soon detect invisible US B-2 Spirit stealth bomber; all about ghost imaging spy satellites (IBtimes).
Update #2: China could track B-2 stealth bombers from space within 10 Years (SpaceDaily/Sputnik)

WNU Editor: A lot of speculation here. And if the Chinese are successful in developing this technology to detect and track stealth aircraft .... it will be a game-changer.

This Air Force General Wants A Cloaking Device For His Fleet Of Aerial Tankers

A Boeing Co. KC-135 Stratotanker. Photographer: SeongJoon Cho/Bloomberg

Bloomberg: This Air Force General Wants a Cloaking Device for His Aerial Tankers

* ‘Star Trek’ technology wanted by general to protect his planes
* Pilot shortage also a top concern for Air Mobility chief

The U.S. Air Force’s military transport chief is tapping Silicon Valley, the defense industry and the Pentagon’s new innovation office in search of electronic cloaking technologies out of “Star Trek” to shrink the profiles of aerial tankers on enemy radar.

“I’ve got airplanes with big fat bodies and long wings,” General Carlton Everhart, head of the Air Mobility Command, said Tuesday in an interview at Bloomberg’s headquarters in New York. “I’ve got first-generation tankers refueling fifth-gen fighters. The enemy doesn’t have to look for the fighter -- he just has to look for me.”

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WNU Editor: In any shooting war the aerial tanker fleet will be prime targets .... so I can understand why they want to be hidden and to be able to protect themselves.

These Are The Top Lethal Stealth Weapons Of War

As storm clouds gather in the background multiple B-2 Spirit aircraft land for aircraft recovery Aug. 24, 2016 at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam. The B-2s low-observable, or “stealth,” characteristics give it the ability to penetrate an enemy’s most sophisticated defenses and threaten its most-valued, heavily defended targets while avoiding adversary detection, tracking and engagement. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Jovan Banks)

Kyle Mizokami, Scout Warrior: 5 Most Lethal Stealth Weapons of War

These are the best "unseen" military assets and not all are in the air.

Stealth, or the idea of reducing the ability of the enemy to detect a weapon, has been around since the first caveman sewed a pocket into his clothing and hid a rock in it.

Thousands of years later, with the ability to detect objects on the ground, in the air and at sea using electromagnetic radiation, hiding weapons in plain sight has become much harder. The idea of making an aircraft invisible to radar waves was not pursued as the properties of radar with regards to object shape were not fully understood.

Pyotr Ufimtsev, a Russian physicist, published a number of papers [3] on predicting the reflection of electromagnetic waves—radar waves. The Soviet Union, not understanding the gravity of his work, translated many of them into English.

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WNU Editor: It is interesting that it was a Soviet scientist who figured out the technology to make a stealth plane .... but it was the Americans who understood the value of his work. Learn something new everyday.

Court Case To Decide On Who Invented Stealth Technology Grinds On

CNN: Who really invented stealth technology?

(CNN)Decades after the U.S. Air Force unveiled one if its first stealth combat planes, the B-2 bomber, lawyers are still arguing over the origins and legal ownership of the technology that allows pilots to fly virtually undetected by enemy radar.

On February 19, a federal appeals court ordered a hearing to determine whether the Pentagon infringed on a patent owned by Zoltek, a materials company from St. Louis, when it developed the stealthy coating for the F-22 fighter plane and B-2 bomber.

In the latest development in a case that has spanned nearly 20 years, the ruling reversed a Federal Claims Court judge's 2014 decision that sided with the U.S. government by determining that Zoltek's patent was invalid.

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WNU Editor: This case has been going on for 20 years .... and by the sound of it .... will probably go on for a few more years.

This Is How China And Russia Are Going To Eliminate America's Stealth Aircraft

China's new stealth drone, Divine Eagle.

Zachary Keck, National Interest: This Is How China and Russia Plan to Crush America's Stealth Aircraft

Both China and Russia appear to be building unmanned aerial vehicles designed to negate America’s advantages in stealth aircraft.

Earlier this year, photos first emerged of a new High Altitude, Long Endurance (HALE) UAV termed the Divine Eagle that foreign observers believe is designed to detect and eliminate stealth enemy aircraft far from the Chinese mainland.

As Jeffrey Lin and P.W. Singer wrote back in May:

“[The Divine Eagle’s] long range anti-stealth capabilities can be used against both aircraft, like the B-2 bomber, and warships such as the DDG-1000 destroyer. Using the Divine Eagle as a picket, the Chinese air force could quickly intercept stealthy enemy aircraft, missiles and ships well before they come in range of the Mainland. Flying high, the Divine Eagle could also detect anti-ship missile trucks and air defenses on land, in preparation for offensive Chinese action.”

Update: Russia and China are developing drones that could make stealth aircraft obsolete -- Jeremy Bender, Business Insider

WNU Editor: If these reports are true .... America's "stealth advantage" has just been eliminated.

U.S. Stealth Fighters Cannot Hide From Chinese Missiles And Radar

F-35 and F-22. Photo from Military Photos And Photoshops

How China Will Track—and Kill—America’s Newest Stealth Jets -- Bill Sweetman, Daily Beast

A gang of advanced missiles and a bleeding-edge radar unveiled at a Chinese air show could mean big trouble for the Pentagon’s best fighters.

Once, no magic act was complete without the magician’s revealingly dressed assistant. Her job was not merely to be sawn in half but to dominate the mostly male audience’s attention at moments when a focus on the whereabouts of the rabbit might blow the gaff.

That was a useful lesson to bear in mind at last month’s Zhuhai air show—China’s only domestic air and defense trade show, held once every other year.

If anything at Zhuhai was wearing fishnets and high heels, it was the Shenyang FC-31 stealth fighter, which resembles a twin-engine version of America’s newest stealth jet, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. But the real tricks lay in Beijing’s growing family of advanced missiles and radars.

The FC-31 prototype was hidden except when it was flying, and not much detail was available. But the display was notable for the eruptions of smoke from the engines, most likely Russian RD-93s.

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My Comment: The F-35 program is a one trillion U.S. dollar program because of it's superior and unique stealth technologies and avionics .... and now we are being told that this is no longer the case ?!?!?!?!

Why does this not surprise me.