Chuck Hast wrote:
> The flat surfaces on the stealth fighter are set in such a way as to
> scatter
> radar and reduce the reflectivity of the fighter, that is why it is
> like that not
> due to the design limitations. It is all about radar signatures and
> those flat
> faces are set in such a way to make it hard to get a good primary
> return off
> of the aircraft.
The same is true with newer stealth aircraft which are NOT flat faced,
but more "curvy". They have the same stealthy characteristics, without
the inherently non-aerodynamic nature of flat faces on the aircraft.
Also, those earlier aircraft are only really flyable thanks to
"fly-by-wire" computer assistance.
I'd have to side with Ken here. Newer computational models and improved
computation speeds have made the flat faces an unneccesary compromise in
stealth aircraft design.
I know I've read all of this elsewhere before, but I'm too lazy to
google it and paste links here ;)
- Ian
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