"Stealth" (aircraft): technical characteristics. Stealth planes were shot down just like regular planes, only the Americans hid it. Pros and cons of technology

On March 27, 1999, on the fourth day of NATO’s Operation Merciful Angel in Yugoslavia, the Serbian air defense gave the Pentagon a “gift”: they shot down the most secret aircraft of the Lockheed corporation from the Soviet Neva air defense system. The $50 million F117 A Stealth, which was called the most invulnerable aircraft in the world, was targeted by anti-aircraft gunners of the Yugoslav People's Army and was destroyed in one hit. The Americans were shocked; US President Bill Clinton tried to hide this story from his fellow citizens.

The press convinced the Americans that the “stealth plane” crashed due to a “technical error.” The Serbs, they say, do not have missiles that can shoot down the most modern American vehicles. Of course, in 1999 there was a huge queue for the F117 A all over the world. The package of orders for it was planned 10 years in advance. This was the most expensive project of the US military-industrial complex, designed until 2018, and Lockheed planned to earn several hundred billion dollars.

But after March 27, 1999, all business plans collapsed. Customers began to refuse to cooperate with Lockheed. Surprisingly, the Americans, with their vaunted electronics, “missed” the Soviet missile and exposed the Stealth to attack. The Serbian military worked accurately; they understood that they were being monitored by spy satellites from the Pentagon. After carefully studying the F117A flight schedule over Serbia, the JNA air defense headquarters came to a surprising conclusion: they never fly high speeds, they approach the target very close and, most importantly, they return to the air base along the same route after the bombing. American pilots worked according to clear instructions and never violated their traditions. This “self-confidence” failed pilot Del Zelko, whose parents were from Yugoslavia, on March 24, 1999.
Sergeant Dragan Matic, who was the first to press the “start” button, shared a “military secret” in an interview with Serbian media: “It is a fantasy of American engineers and pilots that Stealth is invisible. For radars operating at low frequencies, it is quite noticeable. We spotted him another 50 kilometers away and waited for him to pass by our crew. Yes, its radiation signal is weaker than that of conventional aircraft, but it still appears on radar screens. Maybe the pilot made a mistake, maybe he got lost, but he was flying at an altitude of only 5 kilometers and fell into our sights. We shot down a terrible, fantastic machine - the most secret aircraft of the US Air Force. The pilot ejected and disappeared into the woods. Five hours later, a group of American special forces arrived in several helicopters and took him away. The very next day he was at the Aviano base near Venice. We managed to shoot down a “fantastic” plane. We immediately left the position along with the equipment. The faster you redeploy, the greater your chances of staying alive.”

Lieutenant Colonel Djordje Anicic, who commanded the air defense group, wrote the book “Change” after the war. In it, he described in detail the nightmarish days of Operation Merciful Angel. Here is just a small fragment from the documentary report of Lieutenant Colonel Anicic: “Over 650 aircraft took part in the first raid on Yugoslavia. To begin with missile strikes were applied according to command posts and air defense installations of the Yugoslav Army. They were going to cause the most significant damage to our army literally in the first hours. But nothing came of it for them. The NATO command realized that it would be very difficult to disable the air defense. Therefore, a special air brigade was created, which consisted of 150 of the most modern aircraft designed to destroy the Belgrade air defense system. At that time, we had several dozen SAM-3 systems - this is third-generation rocket technology. And NATO aviation at that time already belonged to the 6th generation of weapons. This is the “colossus” that was thrown against the people of Serbia. Almost all of Europe and the United States, which is almost 600 million people, started a war against a small country with a population of only 10 million people. This was a demonstration of NATO’s strength; it immediately turned from a defensive alliance into an aggressive one. This was an overture before Kosovo was taken from us. Every day the number of aircraft participating in the war against us increased. But NATO failed to destroy our air defense system. We tried to defend ourselves with dignity. We often changed our positions, constantly deceived the enemy and forced him to wage war not only at night, but also during the day. At the end of the aggression, over 1,000 aircraft were flying from NATO air bases every day. This method of defense allowed the country's leadership to gain time. NATO failed to break Serbia and bring it to its knees.”

Now the “downed Stealth” is on display in the aviation museum near Belgrade. Here you can look at the “American miracle of technology” worth $50 million. By the way, the team of Lieutenant Colonel Djordje Anicic destroyed not only the F117 A in 1999. On May 30, it managed to damage the F16. The Pentagon then sent a special group in four helicopters and ten airplanes to pick up the pilot and his car. After the end of the bombing of Yugoslavia, the military said that many American planes were shot down. NATO tried not to talk about this. After all, where the vehicles destroyed by the JNA air defense fell, a few minutes later American special forces found themselves. They worked painstakingly and carefully - they assembled everything down to the last screw. The wreckage and parts of the aircraft were taken with them to US Air Force bases in Italy and Germany. They covered their tracks, as they say, so that no one could prove that the Serbs shot down the most expensive planes in the world using old air defense systems made back in Soviet times.

Konstantin Kachalin - expert on the Balkans (Moscow)

Stealth technology remains at the forefront of military engineering today. She turned the foundation of world aviation upside down, making airplanes the main tactical weapon on the battlefield. Stealth fighters were first introduced to the world after the sensational Operation Desert Storm. American engineers performed a miracle by releasing the F-117 aircraft into wide production. Development new technology was handled by Lockheed. Stealth aircraft could easily fly into any well-guarded airspace and eliminate a target while remaining undetected by local radars.

Stealth technology

Engineers from the American company Lockheed made significant progress in development in the late 1970s. Previously, similar technologies were used for camouflage submarines and ground armored vehicles. However, an improved approach was later used to hide a large object in the airspace.

"Stealth" is an aircraft that is invisible to most radars and equipment scanning in the infrared spectrum. Conventional aviation units, falling into the range of radiating waves, are picked up by equipment. This effect is achieved due to the reflection of the radio signal from the aircraft body. How larger area scattering, the higher the probability of detecting an object. A large bomber has an indicator of about 100, a fighter - up to 12, and an American stealth aircraft - 0.3 sq.m.

The foundation of stealth technology is considered to be two components: maximum absorption of radiation from locators by the surface of the body and reflection of waves in a direction not included in the radar search range. The solution to these problems was a special coating and angular shape of the aircraft.

Development of such an aerial object has been carried out since the early 1960s, but limited technical and financial resources did not allow the desired results to be achieved for a long time. The situation changed dramatically after a decade and a half. In 1981, the first stealth aircraft took to the skies. From that moment on, the production of the F-117 became widespread.

Pros and cons of technology

We can only say good things about the Stealth aircraft. However, many military experts for a long time expressed their dissatisfaction with the innovation American aviation. And indeed, if you look in detail, the technology had its significant drawbacks. Firstly, this concerns the cost of the aircraft. Construction of one unit cost more than half a billion dollars. Large stealth bombings were even estimated at $1.1 billion.

The next nuance was dramatic development radar equipment. By the early 1990s, almost all radars could, with varying degrees of probability, detect stealth aircraft. Because of this, American engineers had to constantly improve their developments.

Another disadvantage of the technology was a noticeable decrease in the flight characteristics of the stealth, since during the design the emphasis was placed on radar stealth. As a result, the Stealth (aircraft) was much inferior to many other air units in speed, maneuverability, and even safety.

As for the advantages, in addition to stealth, it is worth highlighting the effective counteraction to the strike threat. The fact is that not a single automated missile is capable of fixing an aircraft with sufficient accuracy.

To date, the American government continues to allocate billions of dollars for the construction of new representatives of the Stealth class.

The principle of operation of a stealth aircraft

To absorb radio radiation, a ferromagnetic coating is used, which is applied to the entire body of the object. When on given surface waves hit, under the influence of microscopic magnetic particles they are redirected with increased frequency in the direction other than the radar. Thus, the radiation energy is spent. To improve stealth properties, all equipment and accessories in the aircraft are made of carbon fiber. Also, to redirect radio beams, it was decided to construct the body and wings from planes, without surface roundings.

The stealth aircraft has special turbojet engines. The difference from traditional ones is the use of a diffuser in front of the compressor. This allows radiation to be reflected into the engine, thereby neutralizing it. The aircraft is also equipped with a cooling system. It forcibly reduces infrared engine noise.

Even the pilot's seat was changed to diffuse radar studies. It has a corrugated shape, like all other vertical parts of the aircraft. Moreover, the tail of the aircraft also underwent changes. As a result of modifications, it acquired a V-shaped horizontal shape.

The first stealth plane

In 1981, the advanced development of the American company Lockheed was the subsonic strike Lockheed F-117 Night Hawk codification. The aircraft was designed to quickly penetrate the enemy's tactical zone, successfully hiding from air defense systems. As a result of subsequent upgrades, technologies to counter homing missiles were introduced.

By 1990, the US Air Force had 64 F-117 units. In international codification, the aircraft was called the “Night Hawk”. By American system The invisible designation was assigned the letter F. Interestingly, for a long time the F-117 was considered a fighter. Nevertheless, today it is a conventional subsonic tactical-strike aircraft.

The Nighthawk was successfully used in combat operations in Panama, the Persian Gulf, Yugoslavia, and Iraq. The first losses dated back to March 1999. It was a stealth plane shot down by a S-125 missile near the Serbian settlement of Budzhanovci.

At the moment, the Nighthawk has been withdrawn from service due to a lack of funds in connection with the development of the F-22 fighter (the new Stealth aircraft).

Lockheed F-117 Specifications

The length of the aircraft is 20 m, while the wingspan exceeds 13 m. The crew includes one pilot. The F-117's weight varies from 13.4 to 23.8 tons, depending on load and fuel capacity. Initially, it was planned to reduce the nominal weight of the aircraft to 10 tons, but in the end the cooling installation required additional space. As a result, the lower part of the body had to be modified.

The package includes 2 F404 engines with a total thrust of 9700 kgf. As for flight characteristics, the maximum flight range is about 1720 km. In this case, the combat radius is 860 km. "Nighthawk" is capable of rising to a height of up to 13.7 kilometers. The driving speed is 993 km/h, in autonomous mode - 905 km/h.

Description of the invisible B-2 Spirit

This stealth aircraft was developed by the American company Northrop Gr. Today it is in active use. It is a heavy strategic bomber. Designed to destroy large tactical ground targets. Capable of breaking through dense air defense thanks to the use of Stealth technology. The cargo compartment has the ability to transport nuclear weapons. The Spirit project cost the American government $45 billion.

The bomber's crew consists of 2 people. The nominal weight of the stealth is 72 tons. At the same time, the aircraft is capable of lifting up to 100 tons of supplies and fuel into the air. All four engines are double-circuit turbojet engines. Maximum thrust - 30500 kgf. The bomber reaches speeds of up to 1010 km/h. The flight range exceeds 11 thousand km.

Standard armament includes Mk or CBU class bombs, AGM missiles and nuclear weapons letters B. At the moment this is the world's largest stealth aircraft.

Characteristics of the F-22 Raptor

The Raptor fighter is multi-role airborne object fifth generation. Its development was carried out by Boeing, Lockheed and GD. It is the newest and most advanced stealth fighter in the world.

The F-22 is based on the principle of striking a target with lightning speed. It is worth noting that all of the Raptor’s weapons are located in special internal compartments to reduce visibility. The fighters underwent their baptism of fire in Syria in the fall of 2014.

The F-22 can only be crewed by one person. Net weight is about 20 tons. Loading capacity varies within 10 tons. The configuration includes two engines with a power of 7400 kgf. When flying, the fighter reaches speeds of up to 2410 km/h.

Russian stealth project "Berkut"

In 1997, the first experimental carrier-based fighter Su-47 was released. Its designer was Mikhail Pogosyan. Work on the project was carried out in Russia.

The Su-47 is considered a completely strategic object, so it does not carry any weapons. Its purpose is to obtain and analyze intelligence data from well-protected enemy points. In the future, it is planned to upgrade the aircraft to a light bomber.

Crew - 1 pilot. The nominal mass of the object is 26.5 tons. Both engines are dual-circuit turbojet engines with an afterburner. The total thrust is provided at 17,500 kgf. This allows the Su-47 to reach speeds of 2,500 km/h.

Asian stealth Shenyang J-31

This Chinese stealth aircraft only entered widespread production at the end of 2012. It is a multi-role fighter of the latest generation. The world became known as "Krechet" after the international exhibition in Zhuhai.

The fighter is controlled by 1 pilot. It is worth noting that the J-31 is considered one of the smallest stealth aircraft. Its length is only 16.9 m, and its wingspan is 11.5 m. At the same time, the mass of the object is 17.5 tons. The maximum speed threshold is 2200 km/h.

As the terrorist group "Islamic State" (IS, an organization banned in Russia) loses its position in Iraq and Syria, the US Air Force is increasingly concerned about the behavior of Russian fighters in the skies over the conflict zone. This was reported by the American publication Aviation Week.

According to one of the US Air Force squadron commanders (an F-22 Raptor fighter pilot), Russian planes regularly “hang out” near coalition forces for as long as 20–30 minutes. He explains to the publication that American pilots are increasingly observing sudden and potentially dangerous maneuvers of Russian Su-35 and Su-30 fighters. At the same time, the F-22 is deprived of the ability to exchange data through the tactical system.

Russian Aerospace Forces fighters constantly fly within the firing range of coalition ground forces and close to American aircraft, whose pilots can observe them with the naked eye from the cockpit. But due to congestion in the airspace, the process of identifying them is difficult. Another problem the American has is the lack of a helmet-mounted target designation system.

The F-22 Raptor is the world's first and only fifth-generation multi-role stealth fighter in service with the US Air Force and created using stealth technologies.

The essence of "invisibility"

Today, the USA, Russia, China and Japan can boast of having combat aviation systems created using visibility reduction technologies. The presence of stealth technologies is one of the mandatory parameters of fifth-generation aircraft.

The essence of stealth technology is to reduce visibility in the radar and infrared ranges. The effect is achieved due to a special coating, the specific shape of the aircraft body, as well as the materials from which its structure is made.

Radar waves emitted, for example, by an anti-aircraft transmitter missile complex, are reflected from the outer surface of the aircraft and are received by the radar station - this is radar signature.

"YouTube/TASS"

It is characterized effective dispersion area (EPR). This is a formal parameter, which is measured in units of area and is a quantitative measure of the property of an object to reflect an electromagnetic wave. The smaller this area, the more difficult it is to detect an aircraft and hit it with a missile (at least its detection range decreases).

For old bombers, the EPR can reach 100 square meters; for a typical modern fighter it ranges from 3 to 12 square meters. m, and for stealth aircraft - about 0.3-0.4 sq. m.

The EPR of complex objects cannot be accurately calculated using formulas; it is measured experimentally using special instruments at test sites or in anechoic chambers. Its value strongly depends on the direction from which the aircraft is irradiated, and for the same flying machine is represented by a range: as a rule, the best values ​​for the scattering area are recorded when the aircraft is irradiated in the forward hemisphere. Thus, accurate indicators There cannot be an EPR, and the experimental values ​​for existing fifth-generation aircraft are classified.

Western analytical resources, as a rule, underestimate EPR data for their stealth aircraft.

B-2: American "spirit"

Heavy stealth strategic bomber B-2A Spirit is the most expensive aircraft in the US Air Force fleet. As of 1998, the cost of one B-2 was $1.16 billion. The cost of the entire program was estimated at almost $45 billion.

The first public flight of the B-2 took place in 1989. A total of 21 aircraft were built: almost all of them were named after American states.

The B-2 has an unusual appearance and is sometimes compared to an alien ship. At one time, this gave rise to many rumors that the plane was built using technologies obtained from studying UFO debris in the so-called Area 51.

The aircraft is capable of carrying 16 atomic bombs or eight guided bombs weighing 907 kg with laser guidance, or 80 bombs of 227 kg caliber and deliver them from Whiteman Air Force Base (Missouri) to almost anywhere in the world. The flight range of the “ghost” is 11 thousand km.

Spirit is fully automated and has a crew of two pilots. The bomber has a significant safety margin and is capable of making a safe landing in a crosswind of 40 m/s. According to foreign publications, the EPR of a bomber is estimated in the range from 0.0014 to 0.1 sq. m. According to other sources, the bomber has more modest performance - from 0.05 to 0.5 sq. m in frontal projection.

The main disadvantage of the B-2 Spirit is the cost of its maintenance. The aircraft can only be housed in a special hangar with an artificial microclimate - otherwise, ultraviolet radiation will damage the radio-absorbing coating of the aircraft.

The B-2 is invisible to outdated radars, but modern anti-aircraft missile systems Russian production capable of detecting it and effectively hitting it. According to unconfirmed reports, one B-2 was shot down or received serious combat damage from the use of an anti-aircraft missile system (SAM) during the NATO military operation in Yugoslavia.

F-117: American "lame goblin"

Lockheed F-117 Night Hawk- American single-seat subsonic tactical stealth strike aircraft from Lockheed Martin. It was intended for covert penetration through enemy air defense systems and attacks on strategically important ground targets.

The first flight took place on June 18, 1981. 64 units were produced, with the last production example delivered to the US Air Force in 1990. The creation and production of the F-117 cost more than $6 billion. In 2008, aircraft of this type were completely withdrawn from service both for financial reasons and due to the adoption of the F-22 Raptor.

The aircraft's EPR, according to foreign publications, ranged from 0.01 to 0.0025 sq. m depending on the angle.

The reduction in visibility for the F-117 was mainly achieved due to the specific angular shape of the hull, built according to the concept of “reflector planes”; composite and radio-absorbing materials and a special coating were also used. As a result, the bomber looked extremely futuristic, and because of this, the F-117 can rival the F-117 in terms of popularity in games and cinema. Hollywood stars first magnitude.

However, having achieved a significant reduction in visibility, the designers had to violate all possible laws of aerodynamics, and the aircraft received disgusting flight characteristics. American pilots nicknamed him the “lame goblin” (Wobblin’ Goblin) for this.

As a result, out of 64 F-117A stealth aircraft built, six aircraft were lost from flight accidents - almost 10% of the total. total number. Only the most experienced pilots were allowed to fly the F-117, but they still crashed regularly.

The aircraft served in five wars: the US invasion of Panama (1989), the Gulf War (1991), Operation Desert Fox (1998), the NATO war against Yugoslavia (1999), and the Iraq War (2003).

At least one aircraft was lost in combat missions in Yugoslavia - by Yugoslav forces air defense The invisible car was shot down using an obsolete Soviet S-125 Neva air defense system.

F-22: American "Raptor"

The first and so far only fifth-generation aircraft adopted for service is the American F-22A Raptor.

Production of the aircraft began in 2001. At the moment, several F-22s are taking part in the operation of coalition forces in Iraq to strike militants banned in Russia terrorist organization"Islamic State".

Today it is considered the most expensive fighter aircraft in the world. According to open sources, taking into account the costs of its development and other factors, the cost of each of the aircraft ordered by the American Air Force exceeds $300 million.

Nevertheless, the F-22A has something to boast about: the ability to fly at supersonic speed without turning on afterburner, powerful avionics (avionics) and, again, low visibility. However, in terms of maneuverability, the aircraft is inferior to many Russian fighters, even of the fourth generation.

The F-22's thrust vector changes only in one plane (up and down), while on the most modern Russian combat aircraft the thrust vector can change in all planes, independently of each other on the right and left engines.

There is no exact data on the EPR of the fighter: the spread of the given different sources numbers range from 0.3 to 0.0001 sq. m. According to domestic experts, the EPR of the F-22A ranges from 0.5 to 0.1 sq. m. At the same time, the Irbis radar station of the Su-35S fighter is capable of detecting Raptor at a distance of at least 95 km.

Despite its prohibitive cost, the Raptor has a number of operational problems. In particular, the anti-radar coating of the fighter was easily washed off by rain, and although over time this drawback was eliminated, the price of the aircraft increased even more.

Another serious drawback of the F-22 is the pilot's oxygen supply system. In 2010, pilot Jeffrey Haney lost control of his fighter due to suffocation and crashed.

Since 2011, all F-22As were prohibited from rising above 7.6 thousand meters. It was believed that at such an altitude the pilot, when the first signs of suffocation occurred, would be able to descend to 5.4 thousand meters in order to remove the mask and breathe the air in the cockpit. The reason turned out to be a design flaw - the pilots got into the breathing system carbon dioxide from engines. They tried to solve the problem using additional carbon filters. But the shortcoming has not yet been completely eliminated.

F-35: American "lightning"

F-35 Lightning II("Lightning") was conceived as a universal aircraft for the US armed forces, as well as NATO allies, capable of replacing the F-16 fighter, the A-10 attack aircraft, the McDonnell Douglas AV-8B Harrier II vertical take-off and landing attack aircraft and the McDonnell carrier-based fighter-bomber Douglas F/A-18 Hornet.

A huge amount of money was spent on the development of this fifth-generation fighter-bomber (expenses exceeded $56 billion, and the cost of one aircraft was $108 million), but it was never possible to bring the design to fruition.

Su-57(advanced aviation complex for front-line aviation, PAK FA) is the Russian answer to the American fifth-generation fighter F-22. The aircraft is the quintessence of all the most modern that is in domestic aviation. Little is known about its characteristics, and most of it is still kept secret. Thanks to its modernization potential, it can become a sixth generation fighter.

It is known that PAK FA was the first to use a whole range of new polymer carbon fiber reinforced plastics. They are two times lighter than aluminum of comparable strength and titanium, and four to five times lighter than steel. New materials make up 70% of the material fighter's coating; as a result, it was possible to sharply reduce the structural weight of the aircraft - it weighs four times less than an aircraft assembled from conventional materials.

The Sukhoi design bureau claims an “unprecedentedly low level of radar, optical and infrared signature” of the vehicle, although the EPR of the fighter is assessed by domestic experts rather restrainedly - in the area 0.3–0.4 sq. m. At the same time, some Western analysts express more optimistic assessments regarding our aircraft: for the T-50 they call the EPR three times less - 0.1 sq. m. The true data on the effective dispersion area is classified.

The Su-57 features high on-board intelligence. Fighter radar with a new active phased antenna array (AFAR) Research Institute named after. Tikhomirov can detect targets at a distance of more than 400 kilometers, simultaneously track up to 60 targets and fire at up to 16. The minimum RCS of tracked targets is 0.01 square meters. m.

The PAK FA engines are spaced apart from the longitudinal axis of the aircraft; this solution made it possible to increase the thrust “shoulder” during maneuvering and create a spacious weapons bay capable of accommodating heavy weapons, which are inaccessible due to the size of the F-35 Lightning II.

The PAK FA is distinguished by excellent maneuverability and controllability in vertical and horizontal planes both at supersonic and at low speeds. Currently, the aircraft is equipped with first-stage engines, with which it is capable of maintaining supersonic speed in non-afterburning mode. After receiving the standard engine of the second stage, the tactical and technical characteristics of the fighter will increase significantly.

According to some media reports, the J-20 is equipped with Russian engines AL-31FN, and the Chinese military massively purchased decommissioned engines of these brands.

"TASS/Ruptly"

Most tactical and technical characteristics development remains secret. The J-20 has a large number of similar and completely copied elements from the Russian technology demonstrator MiG 1.44 and the American fifth-generation fighters F-22 and F-35.

The aircraft is made according to the canard design: a pair of ventral fins and closely spaced engines (similar to the MiG 1.44), a canopy and a nose section - identical to the same elements on the F-22. The location of the air intakes has a design similar to the F-35. The vertical tail is all-moving and has a geometry similar to that of the F-35 fighter.

The cockpit canopy is made according to a common unbound design, which improves visibility for the pilot and reduces the ESR of the vehicle.

X-2: Japanese "soul"

Mitsubishi ATD-X Shinshin- prototype Japanese fighter fifth generation with stealth technology. The aircraft was designed at the Technical Design Institute of the Japanese Ministry of Defense, and built by the corporation that produced the famous Zero fighter planes during World War II. The fighter received the poetic name Shinshin - “Soul”.

The ATD-X is close in size to the Swedish multi-role fighter Saab Gripen, and in shape - to the American F-22 Raptor. The dimensions and angle of inclination of the vertical tail, the shape of the influx and air intakes are identical to those of the American fifth-generation fighter. The cost of the aircraft could reach about $324 million.

The first public demonstration of the new Japanese fighter took place at the end of January 2016. Flight testing of the aircraft was supposed to take place in 2015, but the developer company, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, was unable to meet the delivery deadlines set by the Ministry of Defense.

In addition, Japanese specialists need to modify the fighter engine with controlled thrust vectoring, in particular, test the possibility of restarting it in the event of a possible stop during the flight.

The Japanese Ministry of Defense notes that the aircraft was built exclusively for testing technologies, including ATD-X - “stealth”. However, it could become the basis from which a replacement for the Japanese F-2 fighter-bomber developed by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Lockheed Martin for the Japan Air Self-Defense Forces will be created.

In this case, the ATD-X will have to install three times more powerful engines, and enough space will be allocated in the aircraft body to accommodate ammunition. According to preliminary plans, the first prototype of the F-3 fighter will take off in 2024-2025.

Roman Azanov

Stealth technology, the pride of American engineering, which allows an aircraft to become invisible, has disappeared like dust in the wind. This happened on March 27, 1999 near the city of Ruma, 50 kilometers from Belgrade. The "Triumph of Engineering" was hit by a Soviet missile by the Serbian air defense system. After this incident, NATO leadership banned the flights of all aircraft of this type over Serbia in order to avoid further losses of this aircraft. The Stealth technology itself is truly unique. And the niche for its use could not be better chosen - to create an aircraft that none of them can see existing systems Air defense is a truly great task.
In the USSR, the first mention of the technology and operating principle dates back to 1962. Then in Moscow, the Soviet Radio publishing house published a very interesting book entitled “The Method of Edge Waves in the Physical Theory of Diffraction.” Its author, an ambitious and talented scientist Pyotr Ufimtsev, described a method according to which it is possible to construct a unique form for any aircraft, it will refract rays from target detection systems (radars) and not reflect them, but refract them and direct them towards different sides, thereby making the aircraft invisible to the enemy. However, by a strange coincidence, the military did not find understanding of the new theory. Behind the stingy army “production has no basis” lay a rejection of almost the very promising project modernity. Later, aircraft scientists who had studied this work well discovered that the book described an algorithm for calculating the optimal profile of an aircraft to ensure minimal reflection on radars. On the other side of the ocean, in the USA, they had been working on the creation of this type of aircraft for many years, but numerous calculations and experiments , testing did not give positive results. Everything constantly went awry, until one day radar specialist Dennis Overholes saw the very work of Peter Ufimtsev. Excited Overholes, sweeping away everything in his path, rushed to the office of the general designer of the project, Ben Rich. After studying the book, Overholes and Rich came to the conclusion that the book of the Soviet scientist described the very method of calculating all the necessary quantities. At the same time, the idea came to the minds of American scientists that the surface of an aircraft could be divided into hundreds of straight parts, thereby providing an effective area for refraction of radar rays.
However, not everyone believed that a plane with such a shape would be able to move at all. When Lockheed Martin's lead aerodynamics engineer saw the shape of the plane, his legs gave way. According to all existing principles of aircraft construction, such a device could not fly. Cantrell gave his engineers simple task: make sure that the plane can take off and fly for at least some time. This is how the Americans managed to create a standard stealth aircraft. However, the euphoria from success quickly passed. There were no more than 10% of metal parts in the airframe design. The rectangular shape of the fuselage and the V-shaped tail made the aircraft so difficult to pilot that it was sheer torture for the pilot flying it. This design put an end to supersonic speed for the aircraft, significantly reduced its combat radius and payload. In addition, during the flight mission, all communication systems, the friend-or-foe identification system, and even the altimeter had to be turned off in order to avoid targeting air defense systems. The plane turned out to be so clumsy that the Americans themselves doubted its effectiveness until the last moment. Associate Professor at the Kazan Research Institute technical university(KAI), avionics specialist Ilya Matveev shared in an interview with the Zvezda TV channel his opinion regarding the control systems in this aircraft: “Due to the design features, the aircraft could only be controlled through a special fly-by-wire system, which used double duplication of control channels. Due to its aerodynamic characteristics, the aircraft was extremely unstable in pitch and yaw, so these parameters were also monitored by a computer, which was called a “stability control computer”, and in addition to it, a little later an automatic engine thrust control was installed, which, To be honest, it wasn’t particularly reliable.” Bombs against palm trees The first “combat” use of the F-117 took place during the operation by American troops to overthrow the ruler of Panama, Manuel Noriega. It is worth noting that Panama did not have any air defense system at that time, so the Panamanian troops could not provide even the merest resistance. "Stealth" successfully bombed and returned back to the air base. The next "output" took place in the Persian Gulf in 1991. The anti-aircraft missile systems available to the Iraqi air defense forces were not properly used due to the low qualifications of the combat crews, so the Stealth systems worked almost freely. On the night of January 17, a flight of 10 aircraft from the 415th squadron carried out the first strikes. At three o'clock in the morning, planes bombed air force control centers in Baghdad and the air surveillance control center in Al-Taji. During airstrikes, American pilots were prohibited from descending below 6 thousand meters so as not to come under fire from short-range air defense systems and anti-aircraft artillery, which, unlike more powerful air defense systems, could still identify a low-flying target and fire at it. Yugoslav shame The 1999 NATO operation aimed at overthrowing the Milosevic regime was truly the “finest hour” for the use of the F-117. However, not all plans for the use of this machine were destined to come true. On that black day for the American Air Force, on all central channels one could observe the wreckage of a once formidable military vehicle and local residents jumping on these remains. The vehicle was shot down by the S-125 air defense system, which was part of the third battery of the 250th air defense brigade, which commanded by Zoltan Dani. Zoltan himself said in subsequent interviews that from the very beginning he had no illusions about the technical superiority of these machines. Plus, Dani had about two hundred soldiers subordinate to him, in whom the commander was confident.
Before placing the missiles in position, Dani ordered the deployment of cable communications rather than radio stations for communications. Thus, the Yugoslav officer solved several problems at once: the cable lines could not be intercepted, jammed or eavesdropped, which excluded the possibility of unmasking the positions of the air defense complex.
Nevertheless, “catching” this “miracle of American thought” turned out to be a difficult task. Since Yugoslav air defense crews turned on their radars short time, seeing a stealthy aircraft in this “corridor” was an incredibly difficult task. The target, according to Zoltan Dani himself, was captured at the very last moment, literally a minute before the radar was forced to turn off. The stealth aircraft came so close to the air defense battery that the probability of its destruction was almost 100%. The Yugoslavs' calculation was simple: let them get as close as possible, launch and hit the plane, without giving it a chance for an anti-missile maneuver. When Zoltan realized that the Stealth had been shot down, he noted the distance. It turned out that the plane was hit only 13 kilometers from the positions of the air defense battery. The air defense system's ammunition consumption was two 5V27D missiles. The first cut off the plane's wing, and the second hit the fuselage. In the case of the loss of their best aircraft, the Americans made not only a technical, but also a tactical miscalculation. The NATO command was so confident in the invulnerability of its aircraft that it sent it on a mission without any cover. Moreover, the course that the pilot of the plane, Dale Zelko, took to approach the targets was used for the fourth time. If we go into technical side this issue, then, of course, the decisive role was played by the symbiosis of the experience of the Yugoslav commander Dani, the radar of the air defense system of the S-125 missiles. The whole point of this air defense system is that for radars operating in the long-wave range, detecting an aircraft even with such a bizarre shape is not very difficult. Of course, they cannot determine the location of the target with an accuracy of up to a meter, but they are capable of indicating the direction, course and altitude. In addition, the F-117 was distinguished by extremely low maneuverability at low altitudes, and was not a maneuverable aircraft in principle, precisely due to its airframe and design itself. Thus, the F-117 became an ideal target for the Yugoslav air defense system. The NATO command has still not acknowledged the other losses of this aircraft during the Yugoslav aggression. According to the portal jfdefence.com, US and NATO aviation lost from 4 to 5 F-117 aircraft, but there are no official documents on this topic in the Pentagon. After the American plane was shot down, the pilot still managed to eject and subsequently successfully evacuate from the crash site. Despite this, the plane shot down in the vastness of Yugoslavia became the subject of constant criticism around the world. NATO realized that the technology was likely to be exposed, so it took additional measures to protect the F-117. These aircraft never flew alone again: they were constantly accompanied by a pair of F-15/F-16s equipped with HARM missiles, which were aimed at the radar of the ground-based air defense system. The incident that occurred in 1999 greatly damaged the bravado of American and NATO pilots, and the technology used to build the ultra-expensive aircraft was soon recognized as ineffective. End American car came truly suddenly. In June 2005, the Pentagon held closed hearings on the F-117 program and aircraft based on it, and in 2008 the aircraft was officially removed from service. An inglorious end to an expensive and obscure program that once again was beaten by reliable Soviet weapons.

Another opportunity for the F-117A to distinguish itself was the war against Yugoslavia in March-June 1999. In it, Nighthawks were widely used from the first day, being used for night strikes against air defense targets, as well as other important, well-covered air defense systems stationary targets. At the same time, laser-guided KAB remained the main weapon. According to some reports, a feature of the use of stealth in this operation was their constant cover by electronic warfare aircraft. If this is so, then there is no need to look for better evidence of the exaggeration of their invisibility for modern developed air defense. In general, much less has been written about the participation of the F-117A in this war in the American press than about the Gulf War, from which we can conclude that their use in the European theater was less successful. And besides, the conflict in the Balkans finally put an end to the myth of the invulnerability of “stealth”.

A real shock for America was the destruction of the first F-117A on the third day of hostilities (March 27 at 20.55) pilot Mr. K. Dvili), who was shot down 32 km from Belgrade near the village of Budanovci. There are different versions defeat of this aircraft: by a Kub air defense missile system, a MiG-29 fighter and anti-aircraft artillery fire. It is possible that various Serbian assets took part in “finishing off” this F-117A, so it is difficult to decide who gets the main credit. According to the American pilot, the attack on his plane was completely unexpected, without triggering the warning system. At the same time, K. Dvili “does not remember how he pulled the catapult ring.” Seven hours later, a search team found the pilot in a hideout where he was hiding from Yugoslav police and brought him to Aviano Air Base in Northern Italy. During the operation to search for him, helicopters of the search and rescue service NN-60 "Pave Hawk" were involved, one of which with 12 crew members and troops on board in the area of ​​​​Ugljevik was shot down, while only two crew members managed to escape, taken captured On April 1, at the Pleso airfield (Zagreb, Macedonia), another F-117A, which received combat damage, made an emergency landing. Another aircraft of this type, according to the Serbs, was lost on April 5 during an attack on the Crveni Kot TV tower. The pilot ejected and landed near the village of Remete. On May 20, the Serbs reported that a MiG-29 over Kosovo shot down another, probably the last enemy aircraft of the campaign, which was also classified as an F-117A. In total, according to the Yugoslav Ministry of Defense, the United States lost three F-117A in this war.

The consequences of these losses for America were much greater than could have been hoped. Quite recently, rumors that had been circulating for two years were confirmed that the remains of one of the stealth aircraft shot down in Yugoslavia were taken to Russia and subjected to comprehensive research. In its October 5, 2001, issue, Aviation Week carried a report from Zhukovsky in which an unnamed senior Russian aviation industry official "admitted that the remains of the F-117A were being used to improve the Russian air defense's ability to detect and destroy stealth aircraft and cruise missiles." Of course, it is unlikely that studying the technological achievements of twenty years ago will greatly advance Russian science, but holding other people's secrets in your hands is always useful.