Stealth Aircraft Variants

[Jesse220]

Remember how Boeing made the F-15 into s stealth fighter with stealth technology? well I was thinking that other aircraft like the F-14, F-16, F/A-18, and other Modern Fighter like the European Russian, and French fighters could become Stealth fighters. What would you say?

[ChernayaAkula]

Boeing didn't make the F-15 into a stealth fighter. They canted out the fins a bit, put the missiles in a bolt-on weapons bay and called it "silent" as a marketing gag. Not a stealth fighter by a loooooooooooong shot.
The weapons bays are quite nifty in that they reduce drag and therefore help reducing cost in day-to-day air policing missions by saving fuel (and probably improving the life span of live missiles by keeping them out of the airstream). But the rest of the airframe is still the "flying tennis court" it's been since the 1970s. To bastardize Vice Admiral Thomas F. Connolly's thoughts on the F-111 ("not enough thrust in all Christendom to make a fighter out of the F-111"), there isn't enough RAM in all Christendom to make the Eagle stealthy.
If you want a stealthy F-15, look at the F-22. 

You could say that in terms of attempting to reduce radar cross section, the F/A-18E/F is as "stealthy" as an F/A-18C/D Hornet is ever going to get while still being an F/A-18 and not something else.

[perttime]

My attempt at Euro Stealth:



I recall somebody's quite nice in-action artwork of what looked like a Silent Eurofighter.

[PR19_Kit]

I like the look of that. 

Eminently buildable too, I'd say, maybe with a lot of PSR work though.

[Mossie]

Tornado 2000, a proposal to update the Tornado IDS with extra range and a measure of stealth:

[Jesse220]

That's what I'm saying If they add stealth technology to the F-15, then maybe anyone can turn their fighter jets into stealth variants. By the way I wonder if the Chinese can turn their J-10 fighters into stealth fighters.

[Hobbes]

You can certainly reduce the radar signature of an aircraft by refining its design. The Tornado 2000 example shows what that approach tends to look like. But for optimal results, the airframe has to be designed for stealth from the start: shaping is very important, and there's only so much you can change of the shape of an existing aircraft.

[Jesse220]

You can certainly reduce the radar signature of an aircraft by refining its design. The Tornado 2000 example shows what that approach tends to look like. But for optimal results, the airframe has to be designed for stealth from the start: shaping is very important, and there's only so much you can change of the shape of an existing aircraft.

Good point

[PR19_Kit]

For many stealth aircraft the vital point is to stop the radar beam 'seeing' the engine's compressor face. That's why the F-117 has grids across the intakes and such convoluted intake ducting, and why the B-2 has its intakes above the wing with equally convoluted ducts. Trying to modify an existing design to be like that would be very difficult, if not impossible.

[Jesse220]

Any thought of making a Stealth A-10 Variant?

[seadude]

F-15 ----> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_F-15SE_Silent_Eagle
F-14 ----> Proposed navalised F-22  http://www.ausairpower.net/USN/NATF-1S.jpg
F-18 ----> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_F/A-18E/F_Super_Hornet
F-16 ----> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_Martin_F-35_Lightning_II

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sukhoi_PAK_FA
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chengdu_J-20
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikoyan_LMFS
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Next-Generation_Bomber
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitsubishi_ATD-X

Or..........check the list of stealth aircraft at the very bottom of this Wikipedia article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stealth_aircraft

[Weaver]

Another important aspect of stealth is minimising the number of reflectivity spikes by having most of the reflecting edges parrallel to each other at only a few angles. For instance, the wing leading edges, intake edges, tailplane edges and all the panel edges should be at the same angles (hence the zig-zig panel lines). What this does is ensure that the radar echo the aircraft does produce is limited to a narrow range of angles, none of which are pointing back at an enemy radar aerial on the ground ahead of it. Again, this is very difficult to retrofit.

[Jesse220]

F-15 ----> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_F-15SE_Silent_Eagle
F-14 ----> Proposed navalised F-22  http://www.ausairpower.net/USN/NATF-1S.jpg
F-18 ----> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_F/A-18E/F_Super_Hornet
F-16 ----> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_Martin_F-35_Lightning_II

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sukhoi_PAK_FA
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chengdu_J-20
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikoyan_LMFS
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Next-Generation_Bomber
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitsubishi_ATD-X

Or..........check the list of stealth aircraft at the very bottom of this Wikipedia article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stealth_aircraft

I halved been looking at those thanks

[McColm]

You could look at the Convair King Fish concepts for ideas.

[Jesse220]

You could look at the Convair King Fish concepts for ideas.

You do have a good point