Gambit,
I am just curious, does the piece of news has any credibility ?
No...Rachel Maddow in this piece has no credibility whatsoever. She may possess a journalism degree, but she is now largely a commentator/entertainer for MSNBC.
I for one thought f-22 are the best and kinda untouchable as far as fighter planes are concerned.
I would not go so far as to say 'untouchable', but for now, even planning for the Russian's PUKE-FA, the F-22 is the proverbial king-of-the-hill when it comes to mano-a-mano air combat.
I mean can you please tell us what are the things she talked about are true and which ones are false. please explain technically like you do in other topics.
Thanks.
As you wish...
First...Maddow talked about how the parts for F-22 is manufactured in several different states and how that is a negative. But did she bother to do any research on the F-16? If she did, Maddow would have found out the F-16 was an
INTERNATIONAL affair where different countries, not just states, manufactured under license the aircraft, and look at the three decades the aircraft is still flying and evolving. The F-16 was designed for NATO members. I personally have worked on NATO F-16s and found insignificant differences with US ones. So already Maddow jumped the gun with an assumption that can be easily refuted.
Now come the hammer...
Maddow claimed or 'reported' that the F-22 is 'vulnerable to rain', whatever that mean. If she had bother to do any research like a real journalist should, she would have found out this...
F-22 Stealth
Radar absorbant materials, or RAM is applied sparingly on the F-22 airframe as opposed to the entire airframe on the F-117. This is because designers have incorporated curves on crucial surfaces and edges, which lessens the need for RAM.
Radar absorbent material (RAM) is needed mostly on intake lips and wing leading edges. A real journalist would have informed her audience of this fact and how the F-22 and the coming F-35 is different than the (retired) F-117.
Here is the
TRUE reason why we do prefer the F-22 to stay out of inclement weather...
When a radar signal impact a
PLANAR surface, if the surface is perpendicular to the incident angle, then the reflection will be back to source. But when the planar surface is angled, no matter how slightly, the signal will be deflected away from source direction. If two or more surfaces or edges meet to create a corner, like in the second illustration above, then we have what is called 'corner reflector' or 'target corner reflector'. On an airliner, where the engine pod pylon attached to the underside of the wing, we have a corner reflector, for example. On an ordinary aircraft, corner reflectors are everywhere. But for a military aircraft corner reflectors are undesirable.
In theory, if we have a perfectly smooth surface, then as long as the surface is angled away from the aggressor radar, the surface is effectively invisible to radar. But there is no such thing as a perfectly smooth surface. Minor and even microscopic surface imperfections create microscopic corner reflectors and these are how a radar detect an aircraft. We have large structural corner reflectors and microscopic corner reflectors, add them all up and we have a 'blip' on the radar scope. Planar deflection is how the F-117 came to be. That is why we see the body of the F-117 composed of many surfaces that are angled away from the viewer.
But the F-22 is not shaped like the F-117. When a radar signal impact a curve, there is something called the 'creeping wave behavior'...
Creeping wave - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In radar ranging, the creeping wave return appears to come from behind the target.
The wave basically travels on the curved surface. Only minor and microscopic corner reflectors on the F-22 return anything to the radar. Remember...No surface is ever perfect. The B-2, F-22 and F-35 exploits the 'creeping wave' behavior with their body shaping and everyone can see the generational differences between the F-117 and its younger brethens.
What 'rain' or water does is create additional and larger corner reflectors, keep in mind that radar signals travels at light speed, and in doing so, those small corner reflectors increased the aircraft's RCS. Water has nothing to do with the RAM on the F-22, which is confined to very specific areas compared to the F-117 where it was covered with RAM. The reason why shoe/boot covers must be worn when working on the F-22 is because of the fear of corner reflectors. This behavior is also on 'non-stealth' aircrafts but because they are 'non-stealth' it is no big deal. But if it is on a 'stealth' aircraft, intellectually dishonest people like Rachel Maddow masquerading as 'journalists' will have readied commentaries on how terrible is the F-22.
The above is a real F-22 in the world's largest RF anechoic chamber.
Edwards Air Force Base, Benefield Anechoic Facility
The original project consisted of an anechoic chamber to support ground testing of electronic warfare systems on full-scale aircraft such as the B-1B and B-2 bombers. The chamberthe largest in the worldis a massive, 250 x 264 x 70-foot steel plate box enclosed in a metal hangar building. The walls, ceiling, and floor are covered in 816,000 pyramidal foam cones designed to absorb radio frequency signals.
The walls are covered with RAM to absorb any RF reflections, leaving only
ONE signal -- the one that bounced off the aircraft itself.
It is this kind of investment in R/D that enabled the current US 'stealth' aircrafts...
To have their RCS as that of insects and small birds.
Here is the wiki source for what is an 'anechoic chamber'...
Anechoic chamber - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The RAM is designed and shaped to absorb incident RF radiation (also known as non-ionising radiation), as effectively as possible, from as many incident directions as possible. The more effective the RAM is the less will be the level of reflected RF radiation. Many measurements in electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) and antenna radiation patterns require that spurious signals arising from the test setup, including reflections, are negligible to avoid the risk of causing measurement errors and ambiguities.
I strongly suggest people read and search for themselves information about these tools. See if the Russians and the Chinese have something similar and ask yourself if whatever they claim to have gone through the same R/D efforts.
So when water is on the surface of an F-22, of course it will increase the aircraft's RCS, from insect to small bird level, not because there is anything wrong with the aircraft but because of how the laws of physics works. Rachel Maddow and MSNBC is too wrapped up in their own political agenda and ratings to bother with these fine technical details. Which is more entertaining, claim that the US military is incompetent and wasteful or that the USAF is flying one amazing aircraft?
Russian and Chinese fanboys are pathetically gullible.