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Originally posted by crankyoldman
ng a lot of money at 51 and all the other known/secret facilities and yet it doesn't seem that much ever gets out. So the question is, if all the place is is a place for developing better ways to kill, have we not seen some really fantastic ways to kill? Why do we instead see crappy hummers, DU bombs, and soldiers working largely as they have for the last 5000 years?
Originally posted by gariac
reply to post by mbkennel
Your argument is just semantics. The aircraft is observed by radar, hence you minimize the echo in the direction of the observer.
You can't put a light on a plane and match the background. Point sources have an inverse cube fall off. The light required would be a function of the distance to the observer. But if you knew the position of the observer, you would just take out that target. A panel light source would be inverse square law, but a similar problem.
And then this lighting has to stand up to the friction hence heat due to air resistance.
Basically high standoff BVR simply makes visual stealth an academic exercise. This doesn't mean the aircraft should be painted lime green, but the point is agonizing over being spotted visual isn't required these days.
The biggest threat is the accidental contrail.
Originally posted by crankyoldman
reply to post by mbkennel
untold amounts of money, high tech security, secrecy beyond belief and you contend that cox style airplanes capable of dropping bombs is the best area 51 can do? The tech isn't new, only the application is new and unmanned bomb droppers is hardly a leap worthy of they 51 hype - buy have been doing versions of this a the local radio controlled airplane centers all over the country for years. I'm not specifying just 51, all the supposed places, pine gap, china lake and all the rest have produced: cox planes with remote bomb dropping capabilities. Wow, super, there has been more advancement in athletic shoes at far less cost.