stealth technology

The B-2 stealth bomber's ‘jagged wedge’ profile is unmistakable in this picture. As is the case with its immediate predecessor, the US F-117A, the advanced technology of the B-2 ensures that detection of its presence by radar and heat sensors is virtually impossible.

A head-on view of the US Air Force's B-2 stealth bomber in its hangar. The aircraft is virtually undetectable in the air, and much of its advanced technology is secret.

Methods used to make an aircraft as nearly invisible as possible, primarily to radar detection but also to detection by visual means and by heat sensors. This is achieved by a combination of aircraft-design elements: smoothing off all radar-reflecting sharp edges; covering the aircraft with radar-absorbent materials; fitting engine coverings that hide the exhaust and heat signatures of the aircraft; and other, secret technologies.

The US F-117A Nighthawk stealth fighter-bomber saw action in the US invasion of Panama in 1989. It was used successfully in the Gulf War of 1991, the invasion of Iraq in 2003, and in Kosovo in 1999. The B-2 Spirit bomber has been used in Kosovo, Iraq, and Afghanistan, and the F-22 Raptor fighter has come into service with the US Air Force. The F-35 Lightning II is an Anglo-American fighter-bomber that is scheduled to be deployed in 2011.