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Development Status and Trend of Stealth Technology of Tactical Missiles

D G Xu 1 , J S Liu 1 , S Luo 1 and P Li 1

Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd Journal of Physics: Conference Series , Volume 2460 , International Symposium on Advanced Launch Technologies (ISALT 2022) 03/07/2022 - 05/07/2022 Xi'an, China Citation D G Xu et al 2023 J. Phys.: Conf. Ser. 2460 012064 DOI 10.1088/1742-6596/2460/1/012064

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In modern warfare, precision guided munitions have become one of the major equipment to attack and hit the enemy's crucial value targets. In addition, they are the critical targets of the missile defense and anti-aircraft interceptor system of varying countries during interception and destruction, and the world has increased investment in missile defense. Therefore, the penetration and countermeasures capacities of missiles holds the key to the victory, and the stealth technology of tactical missiles provides a vital orientation for the future advancement of weapons and equipment technology. Based on the current military requirements, this paper summarizes the application of stealth technology in varying tactical missiles and analyzes the development trend of such technology in the future, which is expected to have great implications for further research and application of both stealth and anti-stealth technology.

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Recent advances in stealth coating

• REVIEW PAPER
• Published: 15 February 2024

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• Nidi Shirke 1 ,
• Vaijayanti Ghase 1 &
• Vandana Jamdar   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-3972-9993 1  

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Low-observable technology, often known as stealth technology, hides soldiers, aircraft, ships, submarines, missiles, satellites, and ground vehicles from radar and infrared sensors (preferably invisible). Stealth coating reduces radar cross section and makes aeroplanes harder to detect. Stealth planes employ radar-absorbing polymers. Stealth technology camouflages vehicles and buildings from radar. A radar-absorbent material may alter an items radar cross section at specific radar frequencies, but it does not make it "invisible" at any frequency. Stealth technology reduces radar reflections using radar-absorbing materials and geometry. Polymer composite-based stealth are graphene, carbon black, carbon nanotubes, and carbon fibres as carbonaceous material and filler. Stealth coating resin market size is based on epoxy, polyurethane, and polyimide. It also protects automobiles against ultraviolet rays, chips, scratches. Tanks and ships employ stealth coating technology to avoid hostile radar. The coating absorbs and scatters radar radiation, hiding the device. Military aircraft uses stealth coating to avoid radar. Commercial airlines are using stealth coating technologies to improve safety and security. The coating reduces aircraft drag and weight, improving fuel economy. Stealth coating absorbs radar signals, hiding the aircraft from radar detection systems. Military and private planes utilise it for security. Stealth coating reduces radar detection by absorbing or deflecting radar emissions. Military operations need stealth and secrecy, but civilian aviation may employ this technology to avoid hijackings and identify unlicensed planes radar-absorbent polymers cover stealth aircraft. These and other design features may weaken the aircraft's radar signal.

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Shirke, N., Ghase, V. & Jamdar, V. Recent advances in stealth coating. Polym. Bull. (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00289-024-05166-4

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Received : 28 May 2023

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DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/s00289-024-05166-4

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• Published: 18 December 2020

MATERIAL WITNESS

New lessons for stealth technology

• Philip Ball 1  

Nature Materials volume  20 ,  page 4 ( 2021 ) Cite this article

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With the advent of sonar and radar detection methods, however, the challenge was of another order: to reduce not optical visibility but the reflection of acoustic or microwave/radio electromagnetic signals. Stealth camouflage on today’s fighter aircraft typically uses coatings and composites that absorb radio waves, potentially reducing the radar scattering cross-section of a jet to the equivalent of a golf ball. Metamaterials — structures made from arrays of artificial building blocks of perhaps macroscopic size with tailored properties such as response to incident waves 1 — have meanwhile been explored for making cloaking devices against microwaves 2 or acoustic waves 3 . Nature might seem a less likely place to find inspiration for such highly engineered systems.

But we should never underestimate nature’s ingenuity. Optical metamaterials that refract and scatter light in adaptive ways are already familiar in the living world, for example in the photonic crystals found on strongly coloured, microstructured insect cuticles or butterfly wings 4 , 5 . Now it appears that acoustic stealth technology too was discovered first by natural selection. Neil et al. report evidence that the intricate array of scales on some moth wings acts as an acoustic metamaterial to reduce echoes from ultrasound 6 . This, they say, is probably an adaptive property that reduces the visibility of moths to the sonar searches of their predators, bats.

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Ball, P. New lessons for stealth technology. Nat. Mater. 20 , 4 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-020-00887-z

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Issue Date : January 2021

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-020-00887-z

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