How f 117 was shot down. Visible invisibles: the most famous stealth aircraft. Current state and general assessment of the project
As the terrorist group Islamic State (IS, an organization banned in Russia) loses its foothold in Iraq and Syria, the US Air Force is increasingly concerned about the behavior of Russian fighters in the skies over the conflict zone. This was reported by the American publication Aviation Week.
According to one US Air Force squadron commander (pilot of an F-22 Raptor fighter), Russian planes regularly hover next to coalition forces for as much as 20-30 minutes. He explains to the publication that American pilots are increasingly observing sudden and potentially dangerous maneuvers of Russian Su-35 and Su-30 fighters. At the same time, the F-22 is deprived of the ability to exchange data through the tactical system.
Russian Aerospace Forces fighter jets constantly fly within the firing range of the coalition ground forces and close to American aircraft, whose pilots can observe them with the naked eye from the cockpit. But due to congestion in the airspace, the process of identifying them is difficult. Another problem with the American is the lack of a helmet-mounted target designation system.
The F-22 Raptor is the world's first and only fifth-generation multirole stealth fighter in service with the US Air Force and created using stealth technology.
The essence of "invisibility"
Today, the United States, Russia, China and Japan can boast of having combat aircraft systems created using visibility reduction technologies. The presence of "stealth" technologies is one of the mandatory parameters of the fifth generation aircraft.
The essence of stealth technology is to reduce visibility in the radar and infrared ranges. The effect is achieved due to a special coating, a specific shape of the aircraft body, as well as the materials from which its construction is made.
Radar waves emitted, for example, by the transmitter of an anti-aircraft missile system, are reflected from the outer surface of the aircraft and received by the radar station - this is radar visibility.
"YouTube/TASS"
It is characterized effective scattering area (EPR). This is a formal parameter, which is measured in units of area and is a quantitative measure of the property of an object to reflect an electromagnetic wave. The smaller this area, the more difficult it is to detect an aircraft and hit it with a missile (at least its detection range decreases).
For old bombers, the RCS can reach 100 square meters, for an ordinary modern fighter it is from 3 to 12 square meters. m, and for "invisible" aircraft - about 0.3-0.4 square meters. m.
The RCS of complex objects cannot be accurately calculated using formulas; it is measured experimentally with special devices at test sites or in anechoic chambers. Its value strongly depends on the direction from which the aircraft is irradiated, and for the same flying machine it is represented by a range: as a rule, the best values in terms of the scattering area are recorded when the aircraft is irradiated in the forward hemisphere. Thus, there can be no exact EPR indicators, and the experimental values for existing fifth-generation aircraft are classified.
Western analytical resources, as a rule, underestimate EPR data for their "stealth" aircraft.
B-2: American "spirit"
Heavy stealth strategic bomber B-2A Spirit is the most expensive aircraft in the US Air Force fleet. As of 1998, the cost of one B-2 was $1.16 billion. The cost of the entire program was estimated at almost $45 billion.
The first public flight of the B-2 took place in 1989. A total of 21 aircraft were built: almost all of them are named after American states.
The B-2 has an unusual appearance and is sometimes compared to an alien ship. At one time, this gave rise to many rumors that the aircraft was built using technologies obtained from the study of UFO wreckage in the so-called Area 51.
The aircraft is capable of taking on board 16 atomic bombs or eight laser-guided 907 kg guided bombs, or 80 227 kg caliber bombs and deliver them from Whiteman Air Force Base (Missouri) to almost anywhere in the world. The flight range of the "ghost" is 11 thousand km.
Spirit is maximally automated, the crew consists of two pilots. The bomber has a solid margin of safety and is able to make a safe landing with a side wind of 40 m/s. According to foreign publications, the RCS of a bomber is estimated in the range from 0.0014 to 0.1 sq. m. According to other sources, the bomber has more modest performance - from 0.05 to 0.5 sq. m in frontal projection.
The main disadvantage of the B-2 Spirit is the cost of its maintenance. The aircraft can only be placed in a special hangar with an artificial microclimate - otherwise, ultraviolet radiation will damage the radio-absorbing coating of the aircraft.
The B-2 is invisible to outdated radars, but modern Russian-made anti-aircraft missile systems are able to detect it and effectively hit it. According to unconfirmed reports, one B-2 was shot down or received serious combat damage from the use of an anti-aircraft missile system (SAM) during the NATO military operation in Yugoslavia.
F-117: American "lame goblin"
Lockheed F-117 Night Hawk- American single-seat subsonic tactical stealth strike aircraft from Lockheed Martin. It was designed for covert penetration through the enemy's air defense system and attacks on strategically important ground targets.
The first flight was made on June 18, 1981. 64 units produced, the last serial copy was delivered to the US Air Force in 1990. More than $6 billion was spent on the creation and production of the F-117. In 2008, aircraft of this type were completely withdrawn from service, both for financial reasons and due to the adoption of the F-22 Raptor.
The RCS of the aircraft, according to foreign publications, ranged from 0.01 to 0.0025 sq. m depending on the angle.
The reduction in visibility for the F-117 was mainly achieved due to the specific angular shape of the hull, built according to the concept of "reflector planes", composite and radar-absorbing materials and a special coating were also used. As a result, the bomber looked extremely futuristic, and because of this, the popularity in games and cinema of the F-117 can compete with Hollywood stars of the first magnitude.
However, having achieved a significant reduction in visibility, the designers had to violate all possible laws of aerodynamics, and the aircraft received disgusting flight characteristics. American pilots nicknamed him the "lame goblin" (Wobblin' Goblin) for this.
As a result, out of 64 F-117A "stealth" aircraft built, six aircraft were lost from flight accidents - almost 10% of the total. Only the most experienced pilots were put on the F-117, but they still crashed regularly.
The aircraft participated in five wars: the US invasion of Panama (1989), the Persian Gulf War (1991), Operation Desert Fox (1998), the NATO war against Yugoslavia (1999), the Iraq war (2003).
At least one aircraft was lost in combat sorties in Yugoslavia - an invisible aircraft was shot down by the Yugoslav air defense forces with the help of an outdated Soviet S-125 Neva air defense system.
F-22: American "Raptor"
The first and so far the only fifth-generation aircraft put into service is the American F-22A Raptor.
Aircraft production began in 2001. At the moment, several F-22s are taking part in the operation of the coalition forces in Iraq to strike at militants of the Islamic State terrorist organization banned in Russia.
Today it is considered the most expensive fighter in the world. According to open sources, taking into account development costs and other factors, the cost of each of the aircraft ordered by the US Air Force exceeds $300 million.
Nevertheless, the F-22A has something to brag about: this is the ability to fly at supersonic without turning on the afterburner, powerful on-board radio-electronic equipment (avionics) and, again, low visibility. However, in terms of maneuverability, the aircraft is inferior to many Russian fighters, even the fourth generation.
The thrust vector of the F-22 changes only in one plane (up and down), while on the most modern Russian combat aircraft the thrust vector can change in all planes, independently of each other on the right and left engines.
There is no exact data on the EPR of a fighter: the spread of figures given by different sources is from 0.3 to 0.0001 sq. m. According to domestic experts, the EPR of the F-22A ranges from 0.5 to 0.1 sq. m. At the same time, the Irbis radar station of the Su-35S fighter is capable of detecting the Raptor at a distance of at least 95 km.
With its exorbitant cost, the Raptor has a number of operational problems. In particular, the anti-radar coating of the fighter was easily washed off by rain, and although over time this drawback was leveled, the price of the aircraft increased even more.
Another serious drawback of the F-22 is the oxygen supply system for the pilot. In 2010, due to suffocation, pilot Jeffrey Haney lost control of the fighter and crashed.
Since 2011, all F-22As were forbidden to rise above 7.6 thousand meters. It was believed that at such an altitude, the pilot, if the first signs of suffocation occur, would be able to descend to 5.4 thousand meters in order to remove the mask and breathe air in the cockpit. The reason turned out to be a design flaw - carbon dioxide from the engines got into the respiratory system of the pilots. They tried to solve the problem with the help of additional carbon filters. But the disadvantage has not been 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, capable of replacing the F-16 fighter, the A-10 attack aircraft, the McDonnell Douglas AV-8B Harrier II vertical take-off and landing aircraft and the McDonnell carrier-based fighter-bomber Douglas F/A-18 Hornet.
Enormous money was spent on the development of this fifth-generation fighter-bomber (costs exceeded $56 billion, and the cost of one aircraft was $108 million), but it was not possible to bring the design to perfection.
Su-57(Perspective Aviation Complex of Frontal Aviation, PAK FA) is the Russian response to the American F-22 fifth-generation fighter. The aircraft is the quintessence of all the most modern that is in domestic aviation. Little is known about its characteristics, and most of it is still kept secret. Due to its modernization potential, it can become a sixth generation fighter.
It is known that for the first time in PAK FA a whole range of the latest polymeric carbon plastics was used. They are two times lighter than aluminum of comparable strength and titanium, four to five times lighter than steel. New materials make up 70% of the material fighter's coverage, as a result, it was possible to drastically reduce the structural weight of the aircraft - it weighs four times less than an aircraft assembled from conventional materials.
The Sukhoi design bureau claims an "unprecedented low level of radar, optical and infrared visibility" of the aircraft, although the RCS of the fighter is estimated by domestic experts rather restrainedly - in the area 0.3–0.4 sq. m. At the same time, some Western analysts are more optimistic about our aircraft: for the T-50 they call the EPR three times less - 0.1 sq. m. The true data of the effective scattering area are classified.
The Su-57 has a high intellectualization of the board. Radar fighter with a new active phased antenna array (AFAR) Research Institute. Tikhomirova can detect targets at a distance of more than 400 kilometers, simultaneously track up to 60 targets and fire up to 16. The minimum RCS of tracked targets is 0.01 square meters. m.
The PAK FA engines are separated from the longitudinal axis of the aircraft, this solution made it possible to increase the “shoulder” of thrust during maneuvering and make a spacious weapon compartment capable of accommodating heavy weapons that are inaccessible due to the size of the F-35 Lightning II.
The PAK FA is distinguished by excellent maneuverability and controllability in vertical and horizontal planes both at supersonic and low speeds. At present, the first stage engines are installed on the aircraft, with which it is able to maintain supersonic speed in non-afterburner mode. After receiving a regular engine of the second stage, the performance characteristics of the fighter will increase significantly.
According to a number of media reports, the J-20 is equipped with Russian AL-31FN engines, and the Chinese military has massively purchased decommissioned engines of these brands.
"TASS/Ruptly"
Most of the tactical and technical characteristics of the development remain secret. The J-20 has a large number of similar and completely copied elements from the Russian MiG 1.44 technology demonstrator aircraft and the American F-22 and F-35 fifth generation fighters.
The aircraft is made according to the "duck" scheme: a pair of ventral fins and closely spaced engines (similar to the MiG 1.44), a canopy and a nose are identical to the same elements on the F-22. The location of the air intakes has a design similar to the F-35. The vertical tail is all-moving and has a geometry similar to the tail of the F-35 fighter.
The cockpit canopy is made according to a common non-binding scheme, which improves visibility for the pilot and reduces the RCS of the machine.
X-2: Japanese "soul"
Mitsubishi ATD-X Shinshin- a prototype of the fifth generation Japanese fighter with "stealth" technology. The aircraft was designed at the Technical Design Institute of the Ministry of Defense of Japan, and built by the corporation that produced the famous Zero fighters during World War II. The fighter received the poetic name Shinshin - "Soul".
The ATD-X is close in size to the Swedish Saab Gripen multi-role fighter, and in shape to the American F-22 Raptor. The dimensions and angle of inclination of the vertical tail, the shape of the influx and air intakes are identical to those of the fifth-generation American fighter. 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. Flight tests of the aircraft were supposed to be carried out in 2015, but the development company Mitsubishi Heavy Industries was unable to meet the delivery dates set by the Ministry of Defense.
In addition, Japanese specialists need to refine the engine of a fighter with a controlled thrust vector, in particular, to test the possibility of restarting it in the event of a possible stop during the flight.
The Ministry of Defense of Japan notes that the aircraft was built solely for testing technologies, including ATD-X - "stealth". However, it may become the basis for a replacement for the Japanese F-2 fighter-bomber developed by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Lockheed Martin for the Japan Air Self-Defense Force.
In this case, the ATD-X will have to install three times more powerful engines, and in the body of the aircraft to allocate enough space for ammunition. According to preliminary plans, the first prototype of the F-3 fighter will take to the air in 2024-2025.
Roman Azanov
Another opportunity for the F-117A to distinguish itself was the war against Yugoslavia in March-June 1999. In it, Nighthawks were widely used from the first day, being involved in night attacks on air defense facilities, as well as on other important stationary targets well covered by air defense systems. . At the same time, laser-guided KAB remained the main weapon. According to some reports, a feature of the use of "stealth" in this operation was their constant cover by electronic warfare aircraft. If this is so, then there is no need to look for better evidence of the exaggeration of their invisibility for modern advanced air defense. In general, the participation of the F-117A in this war in the American press is much less written than about the Gulf War, from which we can conclude that their use in the European theater was less successful. And besides, the conflict in the Balkans finally put an end to the myth of the invulnerability of "stealth".
A real shock for America was the destruction on the third day of hostilities (March 27 at 20.55) of the first F-117A (pilot K. Dvili), which was shot down 32 km from Belgrade near the village of Budanovtsy. There are various versions of the destruction of this aircraft: by the Kub air defense missile system, by the MiG-29 fighter and by anti-aircraft artillery fire. It is possible that various means of the Serbs participated in the "finishing off" of this F-117A, so it is difficult to decide who the main merit belongs to. According to the American pilot, the attack on his plane was completely unexpected, without triggering the warning system. At the same time, K. Dvili "does not remember how he pulled the catapult ring." Seven hours later, a search party found the pilot in a hiding place where he was hiding from the Yugoslav police, and took him to the Aviano air base in northern Italy. During the operation to search for him, helicopters of the HH-60 Pave Hawk search and rescue service were involved, one of which with 12 crew members and landing troops on board was shot down near the city of Uglevik, while only two crew members, taken in captivity. On April 1, at the Pleso airfield (Zagreb, Macedonia), another F-117A made an emergency landing, which received combat damage. Another aircraft of this type, according to the Serbs, was lost on April 5 during the attack on the Crveni Kot TV tower. The pilot ejected and landed near the village of Remete. On May 20, the Serbs reported that over Kosovo a MiG-29 had shot down another enemy aircraft, probably the last of the campaign, which was also classified as an F-117A. In total, according to the Ministry of Defense of Yugoslavia, in this war the United States lost three F-117А.
The consequences of these losses for America were far greater than one might have hoped. More recently, rumors that have been circulating for two years that the remains of one of the "stealth" shot down in Yugoslavia were taken to Russia and subjected to comprehensive research have been confirmed. In its October 5, 2001 issue, Aviation Week featured a report from Zhukovsky in which an unnamed Russian aviation industry official "admitted that the remnants of the F-117A were being used to improve Russian air defense capabilities to detect and destroy stealth aircraft and cruise missiles." Of course, it is unlikely that studying the technological achievements of twenty years ago will greatly advance Russian science, but it is always useful to hold other people's secrets in your hands.
Stealth technology remains at the forefront of military engineering today. She turned the foundation of world aviation, making aircraft the main tactical weapon on the battlefield. For the first time, stealth fighters were introduced to the world after the sensational Operation Desert Storm. American engineers have done a miracle by putting the F-117 aircraft into wide production. The new technology was developed by Lockheed. Invisibles could easily fly into any well-guarded airspace and eliminate the target, remaining unnoticed by local radars.
Stealth technology
Significant progress in the development of the engineers of the American company Lockheed achieved in the late 1970s. Previously, similar technologies were used to camouflage submarines and ground armored vehicles. However, an improved approach was later adopted to conceal a large object in mid-air.
"Stealth" is an aircraft that is invisible to most radars and equipment scanning in the infrared spectrum. Conventional aviation units, falling into the range of radiating waves, are captured by the equipment. This effect is achieved due to the reflection of the radio signal from the body of the aircraft. The larger the scattering area, the higher the probability of detecting an object. A large bomber has an indicator of about 100, a fighter - up to 12, and an American Stealth aircraft - 0.3 sq.m.
The foundation of stealth technology is considered to be two components: the maximum absorption of radiation from the locators by the surface of the body and the reflection of waves in a direction that is not included in the search range of the radar. The solution to these problems was a special coating and the angular shape of the aircraft.
The development of such an air facility has been carried out since the early 1960s, however, limited technical and financial resources for a long time did not allow to achieve proper results. The situation has changed dramatically in a decade and a half. In 1981, the first Stealth aircraft took to the skies. From that moment on, the production of the F-117 was on a large scale.
Pros and cons of technology
Only good things can be said about the Stealth aircraft. Nevertheless, many military experts have long expressed their dissatisfaction with the innovation of American aviation. And indeed, if you look at it in detail, the technology had its significant drawbacks. First, it concerns the cost of the aircraft. The construction of one unit was more than half a billion dollars. Major stealth bombings were estimated at $1.1 billion.
The next nuance was the rapid development of radar equipment. Already by the beginning of the 1990s, almost all radar stations could, with varying degrees of probability, detect stealth technology aircraft. Because of this, American engineers had to constantly improve their developments.
Another disadvantage of the technology was a noticeable decrease in the flight characteristics of the stealth, since the design focused on radar stealth. As a result, the "Stealth" (aircraft) was much inferior to many other air units both in speed, and in maneuverability, and even in safety.
As for the advantages, in addition to stealth, it is worth highlighting the effective counteraction to the strike threat. The fact is that not a single automated missile is capable of fixing an aircraft with sufficient accuracy.
To date, the US government continues to allocate billions of dollars to build new representatives of the Stealth class.
The principle of operation of the stealth aircraft
To absorb radio emission, a ferromagnetic coating is used, which is applied to the entire body of the object. When waves hit a given surface, under the action of microscopic magnetic particles, they are redirected at an increased frequency to the other side of the radar. Thus, the radiation energy is wasted. To improve stealth properties, all equipment and accessories in the aircraft are made of carbon fiber. Also, to redirect the radio beams, it was decided to construct the body and wings from planes, without surface roundings.
Stealth stealth aircraft has special turbojet engines. The difference from traditional ones is the use of a diffuser in front of the compressor. This allows radiation to be reflected inside the engine, thereby neutralizing it. The aircraft is also equipped with a cooling system. It forcibly reduces the infrared noise of the engines.
Even the pilot's seat was changed to disperse radar study. It has a corrugated shape, like all other vertical parts of the aircraft. Moreover, the tail of the aircraft has also undergone a change. As a result of improvements, he acquired a V-shaped horizontal shape.
The first stealth aircraft
In 1981, the subsonic strike Lockheed F-117 codification Night Hawk became the advanced development of the American company Lockheed. The aircraft was designed to quickly penetrate the enemy's tactical zone, successfully hiding from air defense systems. As a result of subsequent upgrades, technologies for countering homing missiles were introduced.
By 1990, the US Air Force had 64 F-117 units. In the international codification, the aircraft was named "Night Hawk". According to the American designation system, the invisibility was assigned the letter F. It is interesting that for a long time the F-117 was considered a fighter. Nevertheless, today it is a conventional subsonic tactical-strike aircraft.
"Night Hawk" was successfully used in combat operations in Panama, the Persian Gulf, Yugoslavia, Iraq. The first losses are dated March 1999. It was a stealth aircraft shot down by a S-125 missile near the Serbian settlement of Budzhanovtsy.
At the moment, the Nighthawk has been withdrawn from service due to lack of funds in connection with the development of the F-22 fighter (the new Stealth aircraft).
Specifications Lockheed F-117
The length of the aircraft is 20 m, while the wingspan exceeds 13 m. The crew includes one pilot. The mass of the F-117 varies from 13.4 to 23.8 tons, depending on the workload and fuel supply. Initially, it was planned to reduce the nominal weight of the aircraft to 10 tons, but in the end, the cooling installation required additional space. As a result, the lower part of the case had to be modified.
The package includes 2 F404 engines with a total thrust of 9700 kgf. As for flight characteristics, the maximum flight range is about 1720 km. In this case, the combat radius is 860 km. "Nighthawk" is capable of climbing to a height of up to 13.7 kilometers. The speed of movement is 993 km / h, offline - 905 km / h.
Description of stealth B-2 Spirit
This stealth aircraft was developed by the American company Northrop Gr. Today it is in active operation. It is a heavy strategic bomber. Designed to destroy large tactical ground targets. Able to break through dense air defenses thanks to the use of stealth technology. The cargo compartment has the ability to transport nuclear weapons. The Spirit project cost the US government $45 billion.
The crew of the bomber consists of 2 people. The nominal weight of the stealth is 72 tons. At the same time, the aircraft is capable of lifting up to 100 tons of supplies and fuel into the air. All four engines are bypass turbojet. Maximum thrust - 30500 kgf. The bomber has a speed of up to 1010 km/h. The flight range exceeds 11 thousand km.
Standard armament includes Mk or CBU class bombs, AGM missiles and B nuclear weapons. It is currently the largest stealth aircraft in the world.
Characteristics of the F-22 Raptor
The Raptor fighter is a fifth-generation multi-purpose air object. It was developed by Boeing, Lockheed and GD. It is the newest and most advanced stealth fighter in the world.
The F-22 is based on the principle of hitting a target with lightning speed. It is worth noting that all the weapons of the Raptor are located in special internal compartments to reduce visibility. The fighters' baptism of fire took place in Syria in the fall of 2014.
The F-22 crew can only consist of one person. The net weight is about 20 tons. The carrying capacity varies within 10 tons. The set includes two engines with a capacity of 7400 kgf each. When flying, the fighter develops a speed of up to 2410 km / h.
Russian stealth project "Berkut"
In 1997, the first experimental carrier-based Su-47 fighter was released. Mikhail Pogosyan became its designer. The work on the project was carried out on the territory of Russia.
The Su-47 is considered a completely strategic target, so no weapons are installed on it. Its purpose is to obtain and analyze intelligence from well-defended enemy points. In the future, it is planned to upgrade the aircraft to a light bomber.
Crew - 1 pilot. The nominal weight of the object is 26.5 tons. Both engines are bypass turbojet with an afterburner. The total thrust is provided in 17500 kgf. This allows the Su-47 to reach speeds of 2,500 km/h.
Asian Stealth Shenyang J-31
This Chinese stealth aircraft only received widespread production at the end of 2012. It is a multi-role fighter of the latest generation. Miru became known as "Krechet" after an international exhibition in Zhuhai.
The fighter is controlled by 1 pilot. It is worth noting that the J-31 is considered one of the smallest stealth aircraft. Its length is only 16.9 m, and the wingspan is 11.5 m at all. At the same time, the mass of the object is 17.5 tons. The maximum speed threshold is 2200 km / h.
Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk American tactical bomber developed by Lockheed Martin in the late 1970s. The first serial aircraft based on the use of stealth technologies.
History of the F-117
The ability to create a combat aircraft that would be invisible to enemy radars has been a dream of the military since the advent of air defense radars. Even during the Second World War, German aircraft designers tried to make their cars invisible, and this work continued after the war as part of various research programs. In the 1960s, as part of a project to create a high-speed reconnaissance aircraft, some techniques were actively used, however, due to the enormous power of the engines and the speeds that literally heated the hull, the aircraft did not become invisible. However, the potential was noticeable.
In 1977, the Pentagon formed an experimental committee "XCom", whose task was to bring stealth technology to the level of practical applicability. It was then, based on the developments in SR-71, as well as the test results for the secret XST program, that the committee authorized the Senior Prom programs (the ACM stealth cruise missile grew out of it), ATB (which became a bomber), and, finally, Senior Trend, which resulted in the F-117.
Since most of the work on the Senior Trend was carried out in the Skunk Works laboratories, the development contract went to the owner of the laboratories, Lockheed Martin. The requirements of the secrecy regime were ultra-high, evidence of this is the name of the aircraft - the F-117 fell out of the general line of aircraft:, and so on. According to an unspoken rule, in the US Air Force, secret aircraft received three-digit numbers.
F-117 design
The design of the aircraft is based on stealth technology. The aircraft itself was built according to the aerodynamic scheme "flying wing" with a V-shaped plumage. Completely uncharacteristic for subsonic aircraft, a large swept wing (67.5 °) with a sharp leading edge, a wing profile outlined by straight lines, a faceted fuselage formed by flat trapezoidal and triangular panels are located in such a way relative to each other to reflect electromagnetic waves away from the radar enemy. Flat air intakes located above the wing on both sides of the fuselage have longitudinal baffles made of radio-absorbing materials. Part of the cold air flow is separated at the inlet to the air intakes and, bypassing the engines, enters the flat nozzles shielded by the wing, the lower panels of which are covered with heat-absorbing ceramic tiles, which significantly reduces the infrared visibility of the aircraft. The aircraft has no external suspension, all weapons are placed inside the fuselage.
The aircraft design widely used polymer composite materials and radar-absorbing materials and coatings, only 10% of the structure is made of metals. tens of times less than the EPR of conventional aircraft of similar sizes.
Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk - the first stealth. Skyships channel video
It is worth noting that for the high stealth performance had to pay low flight performance. The plane is very difficult to control - a sophisticated automatic control system was developed just to keep it stable in the air. Naturally, in the event of visual detection by enemy fighters, the F-117 was doomed - its maneuverability is barely higher than that of the Shuttle. In addition, the shape of the aircraft completely excluded the possibility of breaking the sound barrier. Nevertheless, when criticizing the machine, it should be borne in mind that the F-117 is a tactical bomber, not a fighter, and maneuvering combat in targeting was not provided for such an aircraft at all.
Weapons compartment - two-section, with a system of retractable beam holders. Typical weapons are two GBU-10 or GBU-27 guided aerial bombs. It is possible to install AGM-88 HARM, AGM-65 "Maverick" missiles, B-61 or B-83 atomic bombs (two each), GBU-15 bombs or BLU-9 container. It is possible to install rail guides for AIM-9 "Sidewinder" on the beam.
Production
All production aircraft were produced in modification "A". 64 units produced, the last serial copy was delivered to the US Air Force in 1990.
F-117 operation
The fact of the existence of the F-117 aircraft was first officially recognized on November 10, 1988, when the Pentagon issued a press release describing the history of the aircraft and released one retouched photograph. The first public display of two F-117s took place on April 21, 1990. At the air show in Le Bourget, the aircraft was first presented only in 1991 after Operation Desert Storm.
Accidents and disasters
In the entire history of the operation of the F-117 aircraft, according to official figures, 7 aircraft were lost, including one F-117 was shot down during the fighting.
Combat use
- US invasion of Panama (1989)
- Gulf War (1991)
- Operation Desert Fox (1998)
- NATO war against Yugoslavia (1999)
- Iraqi War (2003)
Decommissioning
The US Air Force planned to use the F-117 until 2018, but the increase in program costs and the obsolescence of the bomber in front of the new fighter forced the F-117 to be abandoned in favor of the F-22.
Hunt for the invisible (Serbian experience)
Until now, a clear and precise story about the circumstances of the destruction of one of the most advanced aircraft in the world has not been published. There are many versions of what happened, but they all relate to technical details. This is indeed quite an intriguing topic - how could the Serbs, armed with old Soviet anti-aircraft missiles, shoot down the latest stealth aircraft? According to retired colonel Dani Zoltan, it's not just about technology, but also about the preparation of the operation.
Zoltan commanded the 3rd Battery of the 250th Air Defense Brigade, which defended Belgrade. He had radars, four C-125 anti-aircraft missile launchers (according to Western classification - Sa-3, each with four missiles), and all this did not pose any threat to enemy bombers. At least, this was the opinion of NATO, who sent their planes to bomb Serbian targets, hoping for modern means of suppressing air defense. At first, the Serbs were not very active in countering the air raids, but already three days after the start of the campaign, on March 27, they unexpectedly shot down an F-117 - an aircraft that seemed invulnerable.
According to Zoltan, he had no illusions about the technical superiority of the enemy, and therefore preferred not to openly attack the bombers, revealing the location of his radars and missiles, but to "lie in an ambush", waiting for the opportunity to shoot down an enemy aircraft for sure.
As Strategy Page notes, this operation demonstrates that in modern warfare, a competent commander can organize successful resistance even with outdated weapons. At the same time, it is not superfluous to mention
that the destruction of the F-117 is just the most famous case of Zoltan's career. In fact, his unit distinguished itself more than once during that war, disrupting many air raids and shooting down another aircraft - the F-16. The NATO forces were unable to destroy a single radar or launcher that was part of Zoltan's battery.
Zoltan Method
radars so they can track the "stealth". How exactly - the colonel did not tell. It is known that he did not keep the radars on all the time, but launched at the right time for a short time so that NATO AWACS aircraft could not detect and direct fighters at them.
In fact, another factor that predetermined the success of the operation was the tactics of NATO commanders. They sent F-117s without cover and did not change flight routes. The downed plane flew along this route for the fourth time in a row, and this allowed the Serbian anti-aircraft gunners to be well prepared for the "hunt".
As for the technical side, the undoubted advantage of the Serbian battery was the radars and missiles of the old system. As you know, the radar tracks the aircraft, registering the radio signal reflected from it. Modern radars use a high signal frequency. However, in the case of "stealth" short waves are scattered by the chopped body of the aircraft so that it cannot be seen - it is the bizarre shape that is the basis of this technology.
However, for long-wave (low-frequency) radars, this shape of the aircraft is not an obstacle. Such locators are not very accurate, but they "see" any large object in the air. In addition, as already mentioned, the F-117 is characterized by low maneuverability and low speed, which makes it an ideal target for older anti-aircraft missile systems with low-frequency radars.
Zoltan was no longer able to shoot down a single "stealth". Immediately after the alliance lost this aircraft, the command took measures to prevent such situations. The F-117s no longer flew alone - they were escorted by fighters armed with HARM missiles (guided by a radar signal). The planes began to change flight routes, and the Serbs could no longer "ambush" them ... However, this did not diminish the fame of the retired colonel. He has already gone down in history as the man who was able to shoot down a stealth plane.