[blackrock]

I’ve heard it said that stealth is a lie.

That radar technology from World War 2 era is able to detect stealth aircraft. The Russians just built up more of that kind of radar band to detect current stealth planes.

This is how the F-117 got shot down in Yugoslavia. It was supposed to have the radar cross section of a small bird.

Can anyone provide insight to this?

[jabl]

> I’ve heard it said that stealth is a lie.

The pop culture version of stealth providing perfect invisibility was always a lie.

But it does provide decreased detection range. If your radar detects a traditional plane at 300 nm but a stealth plane at 30 nm, you're effectively blind as a bat.

> That radar technology from World War 2 era is able to detect stealth aircraft. The Russians just built up more of that kind of radar band to detect current stealth planes.

> This is how the F-117 got shot down in Yugoslavia. It was supposed to have the radar cross section of a small bird.

Stealth technology apparently isn't that good for old school low frequency radars, so yes, there's a grain of truth there. But such radars provide poor resolution (which is why modern radars tend to use higher frequencies) so they are not that useful for targeting. That F-117 case was AFAIU a combination of poor operational planning (flying the same routes over and over again), as well as a 'lucky' shot.

There's of course a lot of research into 'stealth-defeating' technologies. IR guided missiles, multistatic radar etc.