F/A 22 's RCS

im so confused i really need to know its real RCs can you clear up the confusion please????

I believe that info would be classified.

Marbles versus Golf Balls

There are no official RCS values given/released by the U.S. Air Force other than:

The U.S. Air Force, in it’s effort to get money to build more F-22s, has revealed just how “stealthy” the F-22 is. It’s RCS (Radar Cross Section) is the equivalent, for a radar, to a metal marble. The less stealthy (and much cheaper) F-35, is equal to a metal golf ball. The F-35 stealthiness is a bit better than the B-2 bomber, which, in turn, was twice as good as that on the even older F-117. Much older aircraft, like the B-52, have a huge RCS, which makes them very easy to spot on radar. But with a smaller RCS, it's more likely that the aircraft won't be detected at all.
F-22 Stealth Ability Revealed by USAF

Bear in mind, "marbles" come in varying sizes, ranging from 12mm to 42mm.
Thus, you have an 'educated guess' unofficial and hypothetical actual RCS numeric value, according to the formula, of an RCS for the F-22 at:

The range of the diameter for glassy marbles is from 12mm to 42mm, and according to the formula, the range of cross resection area for glassy marbles could be from 0.0001m2 to 0.0014m2..........

As for the marbles with the most common size (14.4mm and 16mm in diameter), their cross resection area shall be 0.00016m2 and 0.0002m2.....

and for the JSF:

The standard golf ball today is 1.68 inch (4.2672 cm) in diameter.

According to formula, its cross resection area shall be around 0.00143m2, which is about 7~9 times bigger than the minimal frontal RCS of F/A-22, but 1/35~1/70 of the frontal RCS of the western NG LO-fighters such as EF-2000, Rafale, F/A-18E/F, and so on.
toan's reply to the topic of "F-22 and F-35 RCS revealed by USAF."

Another source giving an 'educated guess' unofficial and hypothetical actual RCS numeric values is here, Table of Contents located here.






seekerof

[edit on 29-4-2006 by Seekerof]

So its the size of an average marble while the JSf is a golf balll thank you seerkeroff. I was confused i just read on globalsecurity on the JSf that according to this air force report its .0002 -.0001meters squared(marble) for the F/A 22 while the F 35 is .0015 (golf ball).
www.globalsecurity.org...

* Radar signature approximately the size of a bumblebee, thereby avoiding detection by the most sophisticated enemy air defense systems
* Signatures/emissions of sound, turbulence, and heat that can aid detection are reduced
* Requires no direct assistance from electronic support aircraft that may be more easily detected
* Includes planform alignment of the wing and tail edges, radar-absorbing sawtoothed surfaces, an engine face that is concealed by a serpentine inlet duct, "stealthy" coating cockpit design to minimize the usually substantial radar return of pilot’s helmet
* Through internal weapons placement, the F-22 eliminates multiple surface features that could be detected by enemy radar

www.f22-raptor.com...

[edit on 29-4-2006 by urmomma158]

bumblebees and 14-16mm marbles should be similar in size. So its .0001m2 -.0002m2 while jsf is .0015m2 a few times larger than thr F 22 but still very stealthy indeed F 22 sounds like overkill to me .

[edit on 29-4-2006 by urmomma158]

[edit on 29-4-2006 by urmomma158]

One figure for radar cross section means absolutely nothing.


It will change with radar wavelength, with atmospheric conditions, and most of all, with attitude angle of aircraft to radar beam.

kilcoo hit the nail on the head. 99% of RCS figures published are at best misleading, particularly when people try to make comparisons. RCS vary depending on the angle, aircraft configuration, wavelength of the radar etc.

The F-22 is stealthy and generally speaking has a very low RCS compared to normal fighters.

The F-22 primarliy uses its shape to deflect radar. It does use some RAM as well but far less than might be expected. And it uses a minimum amount of radar transparent materials (radome would be an obvious exception).

Originally posted by planeman
kilcoo hit the nail on the head. 99% of RCS figures published are at best misleading, particularly when people try to make comparisons. RCS vary depending on the angle, aircraft configuration, wavelength of the radar etc.

The F-22 is stealthy and generally speaking has a very low RCS compared to normal fighters.

The F-22 primarliy uses its shape to deflect radar. It does use some RAM as well but far less than might be expected. And it uses a minimum amount of radar transparent materials (radome would be an obvious exception).

well im going to have to disagree although it can vary a lot by frequency the F/A 22 is designed for all aspect wideband stealth so it can maintain its signature over a wide range of frequencies.

Not saying that it's not stealthy at all aspects. But where it's 0.00001 head on, from the top it might be 0.0014, from the back 0.0025. It's still stealthy, but it's a bigger RCS from the different angles. (those numbers were just pulled off the top of my head btw.)

That's just what i meant in gneral terms. thanks for clarifying Zaphod. Anyway the front aspect is the most crucial. And the Xband fire control frequency is the most important to hide from.Also the F 22 is not dependent on ram it doesnt need it.

[edit on 29-4-2006 by urmomma158]

Ok, it might be helpful if we explore how the F-22 is radar stealthy, then we can realize the limitations of that stealth. Much like the F-117 before it, is designed to deflect radar away from the source rather than back to the sensor. The obvious difference from the F-117 is that the F-22 has blended (/smoothed) surfaces rather than sharp edged facets. However, if you look at the basic shape, you can still trace the basically flat surfaces, they just have blended edges.

The limitation is that if the radar is perpendicular to any face, that face will reflect back. To reduce the chances of this, the aircraft uses two very basic tricks:

1. Repeat the same angles of surfaces as much as possible so that the number of angles from which you get a reflection is reduced (a few big “spikes” rather than many smaller ones)
2. Angle the surfaces such that they are unlikely to be facing a radar – i.e. minimize reflection from key angles such as the front and side.

Here is a SIMPLIFIED diagram showing how if a radar is positioned perpendicular to a surface, it gets a reflection:

The diagram is also intended to illustrate the general duplication of angles going on.

Hope this helps.


[edit on 29-4-2006 by planeman]

Yes i know that atealth ac are vulnerable from some angles that's something i already know.

you would think that more information on the raptor would be classified to begin with, unless the government already has a much better aircraft. cause it isn't too hard to get a good bit of information on the Raptor so that means that enemies can get hold of the information just as easily. so can't imagine how much better and how much more AWESOME looking of an aircraft they could have compared to the raptor