The secret is a complex combination of special coating and smart design. The purpose of a stealth plane is to enter hostile territory, carry out its mission, and return safely undetected by the enemy. To achieve this, it is not enough just to escape the radio waves of radars. It still needs to be silent, hard to see with the naked eye and able to bypass heat sensors. The most famous of these planes is the American B-2 Spirit bomber, which is also by far the most expensive plane in the world. To date, there are only 21 examples in operation, which cost the United States a fable of 2.2 billion dollars each. If its 150 tons were transformed into pure gold, it wouldn’t give a quarter of that value! When the B-2 was designed, in the 70’s, the idea was that it would be equipped to drop atomic bombs against the Soviet Union – at the time the great military rival of the United States -, entering without being seen in its immense territory and destroying strategic targets.
From the 1990s, with the more peaceful coexistence between the two countries, the bomber was adapted to carry conventional bombs, being able to participate in smaller battles. In addition to its invisibility, what is most impressive about the B-2 is its great autonomy for a warplane, managing to fly 11,000 kilometers without refueling. His combat debut took place in 1999, during the separatist conflicts in Kosovo, a province of the former Yugoslavia. While other planes took off from aircraft carriers and air bases close to the region, the B-2s came directly from the United States, where the only air base capable of taking care of their delicate maintenance is located. In a new war between the United States and Iraq it is likely that the B-2s will be the first planes in the line of attack, destroying Iraqi anti-aircraft defenses and opening the way for other aircraft.
wing effect
Instead of having wings and a tail like regular planes, the entire B-2 is a kind of flying wing. This greatly improves its lift in the air, saving fuel and allowing the B-2 to reach intercontinental distances in a short time, even with its immense weight of 150 tons.
no hot air
Before exiting through the exhausts, the jet of air generated by the engines and which propels the plane forward passes through cooling ducts. Thus, the air leaves the ship with a temperature almost equal to the environment, losing missiles and radars that follow heat trails
discrete engine
The metal parts of the B-2, like the landing gear and four jet engines, are buried in the middle of the plane, where they don’t reflect radar waves. This hiding place also serves to muffle the noise of the engine.
Smaller than a bird
The B-2’s odd shape was designed to deflect radio waves away from the radar that sent them, preventing them from returning to equipment and pinpointing the plane’s position. In addition, the aircraft is covered with non-metallic materials and a layer of special paint (of secret composition) capable of absorbing a part of these radio waves, in the same way that a black object is able to absorb light. Thanks to the mysterious dye (which needs to be renewed every flight) and its shape, the B-2 is identified by radars as an object smaller than a small sparrow and therefore does not appear on the screen.
caught by the radar
Radio waves emitted by a radar bounce off solid objects and are reflected back. Each object appears in a different way on the equipment screen. As large metal sheets (such as those on the fuselage of airplanes) are excellent wave reflectors, these are returned at high frequency to the radar and common aircraft appear clearly on the screen.