Stealth aircraft

Stealth aircraft are designed to avoid detection using a variety of technologies that reduce the reflection and emission of radar, infrared, visible light, radio signals and sound. Their shape sends radar waves away from the radar, radar-absorbing materials cover the skin, weapons are carried inside the aircraft and the engines are hidden deep in the fuselage.

Full-size stealth combat aircraft demonstrators have been flown by the United States (in 1977), Russia (in 2000) and China (in 2011). The Lockheed Have Blue led to the F-117 Nighthawk, the first operational stealth aircraft, followed by the B-2 Spirit bomber and the F-22 Raptor and F-35 Lightning II fighters. Today stealth is also used for drones, stealth aircraft and the sixth-generation fighters of the future.