Is it possible to make a nuclear missle stealth?

I know that we have advanced in stealth technology within the past few decades, but what I want to know, if it is possible to make a missle stealth. Can you shape it or can you just put RAM to hide it for a short period? What I want to know is, do you think that it is possible?

Anything is possible. With a missile you really cannot change the shape much but to make it stealthy the materials coating etc can be used to absorb, scatter and or mask the radar signature. It would be a scary weapon indeed and a weapon that would never be admitted to. Even the pursuit of such a thing would bring very bad things into current events...

Do you think that America and Russia are working on making one stealth? It may even be possible to put ECM on the missles.

Do you think that you would be able to give it jagged edges like the F-117, or would that change the aerodynamics a little too much for the missle.

Originally posted by galm 1
Do you think that you would be able to give it jagged edges like the F-117, or would that change the aerodynamics a little too much for the missle.

F117 is seriously old hat now dude, why do you think I had a poster of it like 13 years ago!! it was out of date then!

Yes the f-117 stealth is OLD, stealth of that design relies on angles and deflections. New school stealth is rounded and curved, this is partly du to the advent of computer aided design and more advanced software. The f-117 was designed mostly without this aid, hence the angularity.

You cannot shape a nuclear missle like a B-2 bomber, it won't fly. The only way that I know how to give it better stealth is to give it jagged edges, like the F-117.

You cannot make a missile smooth?

If I was a missile I would like to be a slippery as possable. Besides cruse missiles are basically pilotless jet planes any way, don't think shape is much of a muchness apart from launching the things.

peace!

You cannot make a missle flat like a B-2. It just won't fly. The smooth surfaces are just part of it, it need to bounce off and appear flat on the radar.

Don't know much about radar signutares, but I have this on good authority.

If a british army land rover was dropped out of an aircraft, its radar signurature would be as big as a 747's!!

That in part is to do with a 747 being smooth and rounded, it has a smaller reflection that it should do

The AGM-86B just got canceled.

AGM-86B Air Launched Stealth (Low visibility) Cruise Missile





[edit on 4/12/2007 by kinglizard]

I thought that a bomber that was flat and smooth would reflect the radar to mak it look flat on the radar. I know that the B-52 will show up bright as day on a radar.

if you mean an ICBM, it's the blast at take off that needs to be hidden, it's quite brite on an IR sensor, the missile it self has a relatively small RCS and can be made smaller yet, it's the blast at lift off that gives and ICBM away in most cases most likely that already have MIRV's that are stealth

They're working on making ICBM MIRVs stealthy, but the problem will always be the IR signature. And ICBM leaves the atmosphere during flight, and the heat from reentry will give a substantial IR signature.

As for a cruise missile, that's a better bet for a stealth nuke. It's much easier to make a cruise missile stealthy, because you don't have to worry about the extreme temperatures.

I would hazard a guess that if you can find out about it - you’re allowed to.

Presumably an air drop of a cruse missile would give off less of an IR signature than a surface launch as you would not need as much energy to get the thing airborne.

If you see one of these things flying - then minutes later there is a blinding flash of light consider your self lucky and hit the dirt!

Hmmm....maybe they could incorporate plasma shields like the one the russians are working on. Another method would be to bend light around the missile so it's invisible to the naked eye. The thermal signiture perhaps could be hidden the same way that the F-22 Raptor does it. Just spitballing here -- nothing in concrete.

There's no way to use an F-22 like system to shield the IR signature on a MIRV warhead. The temperatures you're talking about on reentry are much higher than are put out by the F-22 engines.

Good point, Zaphod58, that never occurred to me. Cloaking an incoming missile is alot harder than it seems at first. I suppose just make it faster so it can't be touched.

[edit on 12-4-2007 by carnival_of_souls2047]

From kinglizard's article:

The concept of a nuclear cruise missile now appears to be out of fashion. US Strategic Command is demanding a capability for prompt global strike -- like the kind delivered by a hyper-mach ballistic missile, not a subsonic cruise missile. Conventional (read: non-nuclear) warheads are seen as the proper kill mechanism of a cruise missile, stealthy or otherwise.

Part of me says who knows what they're really up to, as half of what little info the Pentagon deigns to release is disinfo anyway.

But if you take the report at face value, the DoD now just wants a blazing fast delivery system, stealth be damned. Certain logic to it, and a new trough for the MIC to gorge off of.

Of course the justification of these weapons systems is increasingly absurd, given how fast our weapons development is outstripping that of the rest of the world, and that our supposed mortal foe for the foreseeable future is an endless war on low-tech or no-tech terrorists. Cruise nukes are already obsolete against box cutters???

It's Strangelovian madness; only we have the tech to defend ourselves from the tech we already have, so we just continue to chase our own tail, to be frightened of our own reflection in the mirror, to the ever-growing profit of the contractors.

The Russians already have the tech to make ICBM's virutally untouchable by American defence systems..

Meet the Topol SS-27 ICBM; www.youtube.com...

It can change is trajectory mid-flight, something other ICBM's can not do, making it harder to counter. It can resist laser defence systems and electromagnetic attack. Oh, and it can reach speeds of 3 miles a second...trying to intercept that with another warhead is next to impossible!

The Russians also have developed supercavitation technology, which essentially creates a plasma layer around a torpedo/vessel, allowing it to travel through the water at unmatched speeds.

When people say America is untouchable it brings a tear to my eye