Rebirth of the 1980s: The Military Industry Empire

The avionics need to be upgraded later, and the engine needs to be upgraded later. After all these upgrades, what else can be upgraded?

That would be the airframe!

But, can the airframe be upgraded?

"It relies on radar and missiles. The era of dogfights with cannons is over." Someone immediately replied. Nowadays, if anyone still shouts 'Long live the Sixth Master' or advocates for dogfights with cannons, they are either fools or have ulterior motives. After all, under normal circumstances, they would be shot down long before they could even get close enough for a dogfight.

"That's right. Modern aerial combat mainly relies on radar. Radar must first detect the target before an attack can be launched. Do you think there is a type of aircraft that radar cannot see?"

"That's impossible, unless it's a wooden airplane."

"That's right, even a wooden airplane would be detected by radar."

"How could there be an airplane in this world that cannot be detected by radar? If there really was, then there would be no need for ultra-low-altitude penetration. It could just fly brazenly at high altitude!"

Everyone discussed their conclusions.

In the 1980s, if you suggested a stealth aircraft to anyone, they would definitely think you were talking science fiction.

"We know that radar detects targets by the radar waves reflected back from the target. If there is a special way, for example, making the surface of the aircraft a special shape, so that the radar waves are reflected in other directions, not back towards the radar?"

Everyone fell into thought.

The principle of radar is very simple: emit radar waves, illuminate the target, and then the waves are reflected back and received by the radar, and then a bright spot appears on the screen. If the radar waves are all reflected in other directions and do not return to the radar antenna, then it will disappear from the radar screen!

This simple explanation opened a new door for everyone.

"It is impossible to completely eliminate the reflection of radar waves, but we can reduce the amount of radar waves that are reflected back. If we use the equivalent radar cross-section to calculate, and if the existing aircraft is 5 square meters, we reduce this area to 0.5 square meters, or even 0.1 square meters, do you think our aircraft can still be detected by radar?"

"How is that possible?" Old Lu murmured, "Chief Qin, what you said is indeed a method, but I'm afraid it would be very difficult to achieve, right?"

Qin Yang smiled: "As long as there is a way, it is possible to achieve. For example, we can change the existing circular cross-section of the nose into a diamond shape. This way, no matter which direction the radar waves are coming from in the forward hemisphere, they will be reflected in other directions. Wouldn't that greatly reduce the radar cross-section?"

In this era, the cross-section of the nose is almost always round. This conforms to fluid mechanics. Only the F-16 fighter has a flat nose, flat on the bottom. This can provide pre-compression of the air for the air intake, which can also be regarded as an innovation.

As for the diamond-shaped cross-section of the nose? Only stealth aircraft have it. This is the most suitable layout researched by countless engineers through arduous efforts, and here, it is directly said by Qin Yang!

"Behind the nose, the air intakes can just stick to the lower sides, forming a two-rib air intake layout. At the same time, add an S-shaped curve at the back to block the engine. This can also reduce the radar wave reflection source of the engine fan blades. Without changing anything else, just changing these can reduce the frontal radar cross-section from 5 square meters to 1 square meter."

These are all mature layouts from later generations. Almost every stealth aircraft plays it this way: a diamond-shaped nose in the front, and parallelogram air intakes with two cheeks on the back, and an S-bend inside, perfectly shielding the blades.

Of course, almost means there are exceptions. This exception is the old Maozi's Su-57. The Su-57 is a flattened Su-27, modified from the Su-27. This type of aircraft uses a nacelle method, the air intake directly faces the fan blades, and there is no way to modify it. Therefore, the stealth of the Su-57 is limited and cannot reach the level of the East and the United States.

These things sound simple, but they are the result of the hard work of countless aircraft engineers. For the people present, it opened a new door!

"That's right, if designed this way, the radar cross-section of the aircraft can indeed be greatly reduced. Chief Qin, you are a genius!" Old Lu said, "I understand what you mean. We only need to modify the J-11 on the existing platform to greatly reduce its radar cross-section, thereby shortening the detection distance of enemy radar!"

If we talk about complete stealth, it does not exist. A more accurate way of saying stealth is low observability, which means it is less likely to be detected, which requires efforts in all aspects.

"Let's continue to talk about the back. For fighter jets, a huge vertical tail is the largest radar reflection source, which can allow enemy aircraft to easily detect it when approaching from the side. We need to tilt the vertical tail outwards to form a V-shaped twin tail, which can reduce the radar cross-section."

For stealth aircraft, the V-shaped twin tail is also a necessary layout. Even if it is a single-engine aircraft, it must use a twin tail, such as the F117.

"If it is tilted, the force of the vertical tail will change, and it will not be able to control it well." A technician said.

The aerodynamic control of a vertical tail is simple, after all, it is directly perpendicular to the fuselage. When the rudder surface at the tail rotates, the airflow directly flies to the side, but if it is tilted, the control becomes very complicated.

It is the same as submarines. Conventional submarines use cruciform tail rudders, which are simple and direct, but they are prone to rubbing in shallow water. Later, there was an X-shaped tail rudder, which can reduce the height, but the control is not generally difficult.

"In the future, there will be fly-by-wire operation, we can use computer control." Qin Yang said.

Stealth aircraft certainly cannot use hydraulic operation, it simply cannot be controlled. They are all fly-by-wire. This is even more so for the later flying-wing B2, because a sensor failure once caused a crash accident.

"That's right, fly-by-wire control." Old Lu nodded: "This way, the side will not be easily detected by enemy aircraft!"

"Well, the general shape is like this. Next are the details. For example, the cockpit should be coated to prevent internal equipment from reflecting radar waves. The seams of each hatch should be made into a jagged shape to reduce echo reflection. By the way, the weapons must also be internal."

A major feature of stealth aircraft is the internal placement of weapons. Only internal placement will reduce the radar cross-section of the weapons. Otherwise, once missiles are mounted, all other efforts will be in vain.

"Weapons are internal?" Everyone was shocked again.

This change is not easy!