Eli5: What makes a stealth fighter harder to detect than a regular plane?
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Stealth aircraft use several different approaches that combine to reduce or nearly eliminate their visible to radar (and to a lesser extent heat-detection systems like on heat-seeking missiles or even just the human eye)
First and most important, is that most stealth aircraft are shaped in such a way that the angles of the plane reflect radar waves *away* from their origin. Remember, radar works by detecting the signals that bounce off the object. If those signals are not going back to a receiver, they’re not being detected. They typically also have special paint or coating that absorbs radar waves and converts them into heat, which again, leads to a smaller signal being received back.
Then they some properties that reduce their visibility to things other than radar. For example, they tend to have engines designed to minimize noise and exhaust heat which makes it harder to hear the planes and harder to detect them by tracking their infrared signatures from the engine exhaust. They also tend to be painted in such a way as to be hard to see with the eye. They typically also have special electronic systems (like radars and targeting systems) that don’t leak electromagnetic waves that could be detected.
In general, the stealthiest aircraft use all of the above, but you can achieve some measure of stealth or at least reduced visibility to radar by using some of the above options.
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