POTENTIAL SOVIET REACTIONS TO A US STEALTH FIGHTER

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88B00443R001604240016-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 6, 2010
• Sequence Number: 16
• Publication Date: November 28, 1984
• Content Type: MEMO

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/01/06: CIA-RDP88B00443R001604240016-1
Iq
Next 5 Page(s) In Document Denied
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/01/06: CIA-RDP88B00443R001604240016-1
 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/01/06: CIA-RDP88B00443R001604240016-1
MILITARY AFFAIRS
U.S. "STEALTH" PROGRAM DISCUSSED
Moscow VESTNIK PROTIVOVOZDUSHNOY OBORONYin Russian, 110 3, Mar 83;,pp 84-85
Article by Major V. Ionov: "On the Program to Design 'Invisible' Aircraft"
[According to information from the foreign press]
[Text] Recently, the aggressiveness of the foreign policy and the magnitude
?
of military preparations of American imperialism have increased sharply. A
great deal of attention in the United States is devoted to expanding its
aviation capabilities in order to overcome the air defenses of the Warsaw
Pact countries. To achieve this goal, the United States is conducting work
on the "Stealth" program, which is attempting to develop methods that would
substantially complicate detection of aircraft through air defense means
using the principles of radio location or heat- seeking.
The "Stealth" aircraft development program is being conducted by a number of
large U.S. aerospace firms. A contract for 7.3 billion dollars for designing
the future strategic ATV bomber was granted to the Northrop Corporation. The
Lockheed Company, using the experience it gained in designing the SR-71 and
A-11 aircraft, is at present building 29 reconnaissance aircraft which have
received the designation CSIRS. Their construction is being financed by the
project for designing the future ATF fighter aircraft. The Boeing, Grumman
and Vought companies are also participating in this work. In fiscal year
1982 alone the United States spent nearly one billion dollars on this
developmental work.
Despite the fact that details of the "Stealth" technology are classified, the
basic principles of this concept have been widely discussed in the foreign
press.
The?first of these principles involves decreasing the geometric size of the
aircraft with the purpose of lowering electronic paramagnetic resonance (EPR)
and developing aerodynamic forms of the fuselage, wing and engine air intakes
that would make radar signals be reflected away from their source. In order
to do this, sharp-edged protrusions on the outside of the aircraft are being
replaced by smooth contours= and engines, systems and other on-board
equipment are ben pplaced within the fuselage.
The second principle involves the use of radar 'absorbing. materialse Plastic
polymers for the exterior coating of aircraft bodies, and carbon-containing
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/01/06: CIA-RDP88B00443R001604240016-1
 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/01/06: CIA-RDP88B00443R001604240016-1
? W
or ceramic materials for other aircraft components; the use of heat in-
sulation materials which would lessen the infrared radiation of the engine;
and engine exhaust pipes of a special form that would complicate the ope-
rations of heat-seeking locators.
These measures will noticeably decrease the distance at which an aircraft can
be detected. Decreasing the energy of the reflected radar signal by 12 db
will lower the detection distance by 50 %, and if the signal is weakened by
20 db, the distance will decrease by.nearly two-thirds.
An important role is being given to improving existing and developing new,
active and passive methods of radio electronic warfare. For example, if the
enemy's radar frequency is determined with the aid of on-board equipment, the
signals would be delayed and re-emitted, thereby causing errors in radar
calculations. The reflected signal would be interpreted by the radars as if
it had come from a target located at a significantly greater distance than is
really the case. The British Ferranti Company has developed an IMP system of
radio-technical location that determines the operating zone of enemy radar
with the aid of supersensitive transducers having a 360 field of vision and
reflects such data with the aid of an on-board computer on a display screen.
This type of apparatus, according to foreign experts, decreases even further
the probability of detecting an aircraft when an optimal route and flight
profile in radar zones is not taken by the aircraft.
There are differing opinions with regard to the tactics of "Stealth"
aircraft in breaking through an air defense system. Some experts believe
that such aircraft will not have to penetrate the enemy air defense zone at
low altitude; at medium and high altitudes they will be, from an aerodynamic
viewpoint, more effective, which will assure a significantly greater flight
range with an identical fuel supply. However, other projects have been
looked at recently involving penetration of the air defense system, for the
most part at low altitudes.
The Northrop Corporation's ATV bomber is being designed as a "flying wing,"
which provides a higher relative weight for armament, in comparison with an
aircraft having the usual aerodynamic design, because the aircraft weight is
distributed along the entire wingspan. In connection with this, and due to
lower requirements for a maximum load and maneuverability, the load-bearing
strength of the aircraft will be fairly light. In developing this aircraft,
the company is using experience it acquired at the end of the 1940's in
connection with the design of the B-35 and B-49 bombers (Fig. 1), consttucted
as "flying wings" and using relatively small vertical stabilizers. For
comparison, Fig. 2 shows one of the 1979 "Stealth" projects of the Boeing
Company.
Plans call for the Northrop Company aircraft to be smaller in size than the
B-1B bomber and to carry a somewhat smaller combat load, which basically
includes highly accurate bombs of various size. The engines will be located
in the central part of the wing.
The Lockheed Company's CSIRS aircraft, according to the foreign press, is
similar to or somewhat smaller than the F-18 "Hornet" fighter aircraft. It
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/01/06: CIA-RDP88B00443R001604240016-1
 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/01/06: CIA-RDP88B00443R001604240016-1
has one engine and tail rudders that are inclined inwards. In design, the
aircraft has a delta-shape with exceptionallly smooth contours, and con-
stitutes a flying platform that is carrying a box-shaped compartment. A
diagram of the aircraft, based on analyses of foreign specialists, is shown
in Fig. 3.
Fig. 1
r?ig. 3
Fist. 2
The engine air intake is located at the top of the fuselage, behind the
cockpit. Although this placement does not provide enough air for the engine
at large angles of attack, it is still enough for a normal functioning of the
engine, due to an intensive air flow turbulence that cones from the leading
edge of the wing and hugs the fuselage. The exhaust gases apparently mix
with the air from the second contour of the engine in order to cool them, and
this provides a decrease in the intensity of heat radiation. As a result,
there is a decrease in the distance at which the target can be detected by
the heat-seeking warheads of missiles.
According to American military experts, the development and deployment of
"Stealth" aircraft will greatly increase the surprise use of aircraft,
because of a sharp decrease in the distance at which they can be detected,
and it will also decrease the effectiveness of anti-aircraft guided missiles,
(ZUR), because of the decrease in the EPR and an increase in fluctuating
errors when aiming missiles. Shortcomings of such aircraft include a certain
decrease in aerodynamic characteristics, a relatively small combat load
because of the presumed absence of external pods, as well as a limitation in
using navigational systems for operational activities and communications.
Although research in the "Stealth" program, judging from Western press
reports, is still in the experimental stage, the United States is already
trying to determine future uses for "Stealth" technology in designing new
types of tactical fighter aircraft, reconnaissance aircraft, and various
unmanned systems and winged missiles. The main attention of the American
administration, however, is directed toward the development of strategic
bomber aviation.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/01/06: CIA-RDP88B00443R001604240016-1
 ? Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/01/06: CIA-RDP88B00443R001604240016-1
In accordance with the modernization plan for the strategic forces of the
United States Air Force, serial production is being planned for the ATV
bombers in 1988-19894 immediately following the completion of the planned
production of 100 Rockwell B-1B bombers. The ATV aircraft will be rigorously
tested in the process of B-1B production. Thus, the B-1B bomber fulfills two
functions: It is an intermediary strategic aircraft for penetrating the air
defenses of a probable enemy, and it serves as a guarantee in the event of
failure of the "Stealth". concept.
If the ATV bomber is developed successfully, it can be deployed in 1991. In
that case, some 100 of these aircraft will be accomplishing missions of
penetrating air defenses instead of the B-1)3 bombers, which would then be
used only as carriers for winged missiles to be released outside the air
defense zone of the enemy.
The program for designing an "invisible" aircraft is another example of the
unrestrained attempts by aggressive circles in the United States to achieve
military superiority over the Soviet Union.
COPYRIGHT: "Vestnik protivovozdushnoy oborony," 1983.
11350
CSO: 8144/1213
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/01/06: CIA-RDP88B00443R001604240016-1