From: skunk-works-digest-owner@mail.orst.edu To: skunk-works-digest@mail.orst.edu Subject: Skunk Works Digest V5 #96 Reply-To: skunk-works-digest@mail.orst.edu Errors-To: skunk-works-digest-owner@mail.orst.edu Precedence: bulk Skunk Works Digest Tuesday, 31 May 1994 Volume 05 : Number 096 In this issue: Re: See it and not kill it? Re: See it and not kill it? Re: See it and not kill it? See the end of the digest for information on subscribing to the skunk-works or skunk-works-digest mailing lists and on how to retrieve back issues. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Lou Dellaverson Date: Mon, 30 May 1994 18:28:08 -0500 (CDT) Subject: Re: See it and not kill it? On Sat, 28 May 1994, murr wrote: > BaDge writes: > > > TITLE Air Force Admits Enemies Can Detect Stealth Bomber.--News. > > SOURCE Boston Globe: Nov 2, 1989, 9:1 > > LENGTH Medium (6-18 col inches). > > ABSTRACT The US Air Force has announced that systems and technology > > exist to detect the B-2 Stealth bomber on enemy radar but that enemies will > > not be able to destroy the plane. The announcement is the latest in a > > series that continue to pare back previous claims for the aircraft. > > I remember reading this item when it came out. How can this be? Does the > enemy say: > > "That's on of those REAL expensive B2 planes. Let's not destroy it."? > > If you can see it you can shoot it. A subsonic plane that big would be a > fat target. Better part of a giga buck bites the dust. Why are we still > making `the plane without a mission'? > > murr > The basis for this unhittable claim works like this: Use heat dispresion technology and ircm to reduce the signature. Fly above the service cieling of the fighters you wish to avoid. Example, you fly at 70000 feet against current soviet type fighters with a very low ir signature. This would give a fighter vectored to a firing position approx. 1.0-1.5 seconds to aquire-lock-fire, before he would lose momentum at the top of his arch and drop out of firing position. Lou ------------------------------ From: murr Date: Mon, 30 May 1994 21:44:51 -0400 (EDT) Subject: Re: See it and not kill it? On Mon, 30 May 1994, Lou Dellaverson wrote: > The basis for this unhittable claim works like this: > Use heat dispresion technology and ircm to reduce the signature. > Fly above the service cieling of the fighters you wish to avoid. > > Example, you fly at 70000 feet against current soviet type fighters > with a very low ir signature. This would give a fighter vectored to a > firing position approx. 1.0-1.5 seconds to aquire-lock-fire, before > he would lose momentum at the top of his arch and drop out of firing > position. This brings two questions. Can the B2 cruise at 70,000 ft? Are there no opposing fighters that can sustain the cruise height of a B2? The Mig 25 may be crude, but it was designed to counter high altitude threats (the Valcurery(sp) ??). The B2 would be a difficult target with conventional countermeasures. The real question would be, is it more expensive to build the B2 or the weapons to fight it? The same problem dogs SDI. murr ------------------------------ From: Lou Dellaverson Date: Mon, 30 May 1994 22:41:27 -0500 (CDT) Subject: Re: See it and not kill it? On Mon, 30 May 1994, murr wrote: > > > On Mon, 30 May 1994, Lou Dellaverson wrote: > > > The basis for this unhittable claim works like this: > > Use heat dispresion technology and ircm to reduce the signature. > > Fly above the service cieling of the fighters you wish to avoid. > > > > Example, you fly at 70000 feet against current soviet type fighters > > with a very low ir signature. This would give a fighter vectored to a > > firing position approx. 1.0-1.5 seconds to aquire-lock-fire, before > > he would lose momentum at the top of his arch and drop out of firing > > position. > > This brings two questions. Can the B2 cruise at 70,000 ft? Are there no > opposing fighters that can sustain the cruise height of a B2? The Mig 25 > may be crude, but it was designed to counter high altitude threats (the > Valcurery(sp) ??). The B2 would be a difficult target with conventional > countermeasures. The real question would be, is it more expensive to > build the B2 or the weapons to fight it? The same problem dogs SDI. > I wasn't suggesting that the B-2 is good for anything (personal opion is that it is not). I was just answering the unhittable part. The stronger the ir signature, the quicker a missile can aquire and lock. Conventional planes are hot enough to get it in 1 second. The 70000 foot number comes from some research I did against known opposing aircraft. Lou ------------------------------ End of Skunk Works Digest V5 #96 ******************************** To subscribe to skunk-works-digest, send the command: subscribe skunk-works-digest in the body of a message to "majordomo@mail.orst.edu". 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