Night Stalkers - America's Stealth Bombers; F117A, SR 71 Blackbird & B1B

the history of airpower is the history of attack and defense the struggle between the need to get to a target and the need to protect it it's a battle the defense has been winning until now radar detecting in rain back to chain understand anything lock it was the king the royal it came every cosa 1903 letting the Luftwaffe win the air war over Germany the Cold War that pump was another story the United States wanted intelligence about the Soviet Union massive suppression of Russian fighters the result was the Malvinas you toons fine play a design was an outstanding success until one piloted by Francis to a redoubled effort to find an offensive solution the same group which earlier had designed the f-104 starfighter came up with a secret supersonic reconnaissance aircraft the a12 which subsequently evolved into this group sr-71 blackbird commissioned this big black monster can maintain a phasing speed of 2,300 miles an hour and at a height of 95,000 feet it holds all the current aircraft speed altitude and speed over distances for years it was one of the tightest held secrets in the Western world an immensely powerful blindingly fast super plane it was designed to be flown against the most sophisticated air defenses in the world as proof of its capabilities the sr-71 repeatedly over flew North Vietnamese and Chinese airspace without being successfully attacked between 1967 and 1972 the sr-71 blackbird flies so high and so fast it can theoretically only be brought down by the Soviet Union's monstrous Griffon si five surface-to-air missile traveling at Mach five and only then if it uses a nuclear warhead as it gently Bob's on subsonic air take a close look at the world's fastest airplane the reason it's so fast is the same reason a Formula One race car is fast it has an incredibly high power-to-weight ratio weight has been kept down by building the sr-71 almost entirely out of titanium one of the lightest metals on earth the strength comes from its two unique Pratt & Whitney engines each rated at 35,000 pounds of thrust enough to drive the world's largest ocean tankers you can see one reason they're unique in the month of each engine the two cold-like objects or spikes have a crucial role up to about 1600 miles an hour each engine acts as a normal turtle jet then as the speed increases they become Ram Jets with their afterburner providing practically all the thrust station to do this the spike is automatically moved forward and back as the speed changes so the shock wave just hits the leading edge of the inlet maximizing the amount of RAM pressure the whole effect is so mean-looking it's sometimes hard to really see the shape of the sr-71 note that it's made up of a few long straight lines and a great many curves see how the sides of the body are flared out into broad shines and the same treatment is applied to the outer edges of the engine the cells note that the wing is basically enlarged Delta and that engines are partially shielded by those cones note to that the two vertical fins lean in and finally note again that the whole outer skin is painted black all of these elements came as the result of testing its predecessor the a12 on a special radar test site and making changes accordingly the location of the engines for example was designed to make the aircraft as small as possible from the side and from the front the direction of the potential acquisition radar the chime and the angled wing and fins eliminated vertical surfaces so radar would be reflected at an oblique angle and the aircraft was painted with radar absorbent material or RAM to further weaken the return de Jong was dead lousy buck 3 Shawn 81,000 chicks and take back 3.0 at this time well objects in what said now let's check that now looks like about 3,000 low in the field Roger can't escape problem Glendale hoard 2,000 pounds they go flat tire it okay No now we have a primary we got a premier situation he may be the board okay I'll start deficit let's take a little closer look at it gorgeous sensitive area about weapon it out of the sensitive area this time Chiklis is complete and fuel trend is positive it's no shot as 2500 pounds low not enough to do much that I'm gonna have transferred gonna see to more efficient room got your monitoring enter Butler click to the mixture point stepanak ready ready Hank 15 seconds to go got it fuel that's very close check it out the decision point that's at Roland stem honey I gotta look good got a cheese grocery don't just be slightly to give me a split apart Roger oh yeah at the decision point regards ago - skin' you holding attention tells low that's been acceptable answer another ragged edge we do not accept any definition as long as attempts a letter temperature hold something in it stammers ejaculation conscious coming on now row five for flight raw 1801 through once past the two ramjet engines with their brilliant exhaust and titanium and steel nozzles would present an enormous radar and infrared target but from the rear an sr-71 is virtually impossible to catch meanwhile things were starting to go from bad to worse for jet fighters in the real world closer to the mud in Vietnam losses were rising from SAT misses and radar-guided guns by 1972 fewer than half the aircraft in a major strike against North Vietnam carried weapons most carried jammers then in the 1973 Mideast war Egyptian forces used the Soviet Union's gainful si6 missiles in action for the first time these rocket ramjet combination sands used a different tracking radar in previous Russian missiles and Israel's jamming equipment proved ineffective the result was a near disaster for the Israeli Air Force the writing was finally on the wall without a miracle manned air power was at the end of the road the answer to the radar challenge lay in a dusty century-old set of equations formulated by Scottish physicist James Clerk Maxwell engineers tried working with the equations using the rounded shapes of then-current fighters no matter what they did they couldn't find a theoretical way to reduce a real radar cross-section because the computers simply couldn't handle all the possible numbers finally skunkworks designer bill Schroeder had a brainwave if the shape was too complex to compute perhaps the shape could be simplified simplified a lot his solution a plane with no rounded surfaces from any angle the plane he drew up would present a finite number of edges or facets to the radar way in effect they had stopped trying to design a plane with a low RCS they were going to design a low RCS and then make it fly the f-117a for more than 10 years this aircraft was America's best-kept secret designed as a demonstration project in 1976 and codenamed have blue it was so good so invisible the Carter Administration immediately transferred the project to the US Air Force Systems Command and placed it under special access rules testing went on through 1978 before a test even the gaps around the canopy and fuel filler door had to be filled with paint type ran and allowed to dry one thing they found out was that every crack and slot mattered attention to detail even one so far is designing new screws because conventional slot headed screws showed up like barn doors to more things tensioner base at Tonopah Nevada by no coincidence these squadrons were all night fighter units in World War two that leaves one big stick right up in the air question why on earth is the pilots compartment so high you'd know just as soon as you got ready to land the f-117a comes in nose high real high and unlike the concorde that nose isn't hinged to get out of the way the only solution was to put the pilot up higher to make landing possible so far all but three f-117 A's lost in testing and training have landed safely the f-117a it's almost ghost-like but there are even stranger craft being tested today at secret air bases throughout the United States the 1960 barrage of Silvia sa to misty to cut down Gary Powers you too had another effect if put the US strategic bomber force of b-52s down on the deck to avoid detection and it put the various replacement programs for the b-52 into a kind of strategic and financial never-never-land one after another the alternatives were measured argued over and compromised first ago was the b-58 program a relatively small Mach 2 bomber and even more obvious casualty was the b70 program a 2,000 mile an hour bomber could hardly hide among the treetops the result was the b-1 bomber in its original form the perfect compromise between speed and low-level attack looks like the b1 doesn't it no this is the b-1b the second version of the b1 resurrected by the Reagan administration in 1981 and here at last we see some stealth characteristics design ideas by then proven by the a12 and the f-117 a but ironically two of its basic ideas are now in conflict the engine intakes almost certainly have made its subsonic while the swing wings that let it fly low our best kept swept back to reduce its radar cross-section beautiful and mixed up looking curiously like a dinosaur as it crosses the desert at cactus height instead of a compromise what was needed was a bomber designed from scratch to penetrate the thick as possible radar defenses Oh bomber incorporating the latest advances in stealth technology what was needed was this unbelievable aircraft the b-2 stealth bomber there is no question this is a strange beast at first glance the b2 seems almost organic like some giant manta ray come to live on the desert that's from the side from above or below it has no curved lines at all just 12 straight edges five parallel to the front left five to the front right in this respect the bomber resembles the f-117a but from the side or front the b2 is all gentle curves not at all like the fighter the reason is both complex and simple the analysis that was impossible for bill Schroeder in 1976 because it was too big for his computer was possible when the b2 was designed because Northrop used a Cray supercomputer the Cray allowed engineers to compare radar reflections on curved surfaces and juggle them with traditional aerodynamics in this way the b2 is a lot more of an airplane than the f-117 eh it doesn't fly in spite of its design it flies because of it 1/3 1/3 the contact position 8 force ready there's a contact position 45440 4:30 420 four and ten for three contact taking fuel sir okay you're taking six thousand pounds a minute imagine the b2 coming toward an enemy radar none of its surfaces will reflect directly back towards the transmitter all the leading edges are covered in thick radar absorbing material the engines are buried inside the hull special efforts have been made to ensure that there are no 90-degree corners that could bounce the signal through to right angles and straight back down the attack cone a stabilized back and free contact the armaments are all inside out of sight but not out of mind this is the plane the Soviet Union feared the most at one swoop it put the majority of Soviet radar defenses in the trashcan they have been designed for typical frontal aspect RCS figures so 10 square meters for fighters and as much as a thousand square meters for a strategic bomber like the b-52 they were not designed for a bomber with an RCS of point zero 1 square meters there is an argument made by some experts that these two planes the f-117a and the b2 played a part in ending the Cold War the Soviet Union's economy was already stretched to match America's military might when Russia discovered it had a new problem fighters and bombers that could not be seen and thus could not be stopped these experts say it was the straw that broke the camel's back that Russia in effect said uncle Uncle Sam if that's true there's one man who deserves some credit at long last his name is Jack Northrop the creator of the n9m the xB 35 and the YB 45 the flying wing it's all in these planes the thin cross section the absence of engine pods or tail fins or runners and for the jet-powered YB 45 the low RCS figure it was his company that kept the dream alive that nurtured the flying wing for 40 years it's almost uncanny in fact it's the most remarkable thing about the entire stealth story that the b2 and the Y b49 have exactly the same wingspan 172 feet as a mark of respect to this great American the Air Force granted Jack Northrop a high-level security clearance just before his death in 1981 and told him about the b2 you were right jack while the United States developed its stealth fighter and bomber it still faced the problem of how to protect its strike aircraft from intense ground fire and marauding enemy fighters one solution was to build an aircraft that could fight its way to the target alone bomb with pinpoint accuracy then fight its way back home the f50 a dual role fighter was designed to do just that and became Tactical Air commands newest Night Stalker in the 14 years that have passed since first flight the f-15 Eagle built by Mac Air has dominated the skies of the world as the air force's air superiority fighter and in this role the Eagle will continue to defend the United States and our allies for many years this new breed of Eagle the f-15e will retain that capability but it is also designed to strike high-value ground targets in night and import whether its new mission long-range interdiction requires large payload capability as well as outstanding air superiority characteristics let's look at some of the changes that have been made to the Eagle which is being displayed here 60% of the airframe has been changed to make it stronger giving the f-15e the ability to take off with a gross weight of up to 81 thousand pounds and sustain a 9 g load factor throughout its flight envelope the same structural changes will extend its life expectancy to 16,000 hours of flight or twice that of the earlier f-15s and it will be able to carry up to twenty four thousand five hundred pounds of weapons the low drag conformal fuel tanks will add about 9,000 pounds of fuel these tanks will carry weapons and stubb pylons rather than on conventional carriage racks reducing drag and not stretching the range of the Eagle that's just the airframe the f-15e as well as some recently delivered seasoned DS will be powered by two new pratt & whitney f100 - 220 engines which incorporate the latest and digital technology to provide better performance and better maintenance those of you who have seen the f-15 performin air shows may find it hard to believe that it can accelerate faster or better but that's what will happen with these new engines for example with a digital electronic control system the f-15 pilot can accelerate from idle power to maximum afterburner in under 4 seconds 40% faster than they could with the previous engine control system faster engine acceleration means quicker takeoffs and crisper response while maneuvering the new engine is more maintainable as well the digital system's components were designed with externally mounted modules that can be changed without removing the engine this modular system has reduced the number of man hours required to maintain the powerplant by more than 50% a system that automatically trims the engine will eliminate costly trim runs and result in a 6% savings in fuel costs in addition the 220 engine has an engine monitoring system that records engine data and false eliminating the need for manual tracking it will substantially simplify engine troubleshooting and repair and for the future the f-15e has a new technology engine bay designed to accept other engines which may be desired to meet developing requirements mac air has blazed a trail for the aerospace industry in developing a very sophisticated process called super plastic forming and diffusion bonding to help make this new engine bay the process allows us to form larger parts from single pieces of metal which reduces the number of fasteners and overall weight of the airplane at a lower manufacturing cost to help guide the f-15e screw over long distances in darkness and poor weather several new avionics systems have been incorporated the new inertial navigation system bell apply honeywell uses a highly reliable ring laser gyro to continuously determine the aircraft's position and provide that information through the computer to the various systems and displays in the cockpit including an ood moving map this new system will feature reliability on the order of 10 times that of its forerunner the hughes APG 70 radar will find the target at long ranges for example from more than 80 miles away at low altitude the crew will be able to pick out bridges and airfields on the radar display nearing the target the resolution becomes greater and smaller targets such as vehicles are easily detected the high-resolution radar is designed to create and freeze the maps during quick sweeps of the target area so that it may be shut down for much of the penetration portion of the mission thus minimizing the opportunities for detection from enemy enemy defensive systems the e model pilot will fly the aircraft with a new digital flight control system created by Lear Sigler this system will feature an automatic terrain-following mode which will use information from the lantern radar and at the pilots option control the Eagle without pilot input at low altitude and at high speeds for increased safety the system will be triply redundant the addition of these improvements will enable the f-15e to deliver weapons at night and employers accurately as today's best attack aircraft can in the daylight these new systems will be manageable thanks to a complete update of the f-15e pilots cockpit but the most important addition to the f-15e is the new rear cockpit designed specifically for a weapon system operator on 4 cathode ray tubes the operator can display information from the radar electronic warfare or infrared sensors monitor aircraft or weapons status and possible threats select targets and use an electronic moving map to navigate to hand controllers are used to select the new displays and to refine the targeting information displays can be moved from one screen to another and are chosen from a menu of display options in addition to the three similar tubes in the front seat the pilot has a transparent glass screen called a heads-up display or HUD in front of him at eye level that displays vital flight and tactical information as in all earlier f-15s the pilot can select his weapon options and displays with switches mounted on the stick and throttle and without having to look into the cockpit already to safe this fighter in the United States Air Force history the new version of the eagle will provide a long reign ground attack capability without sacrificing its ability to survive since it will retain all its air-to-air weaponry as well as its speed and maneuverability protection from ground-based threats is enhanced by the triply redundant digital flight control system self-sealing fuel feed tanks and fuel lines fire retardant foam in the fuel tanks and voids and a strengthened structure electronic protection is provided by an integrated internal tactical electronic warfare system the system includes a radar warning receiver and active electronic systems designed to deceive enemy sensors to confuse enemy infrared missiles flares can be released and chaff can be expended to deceive enemy radars and disrupt radar guided missiles major changes have been made in the f-16c cockpit these are designed to improve operational capability and flexibility directly in front of me is a new wide-angle heads-up display it provides the pilot with all the flight information and weapons aiming cues he needs to keep his head out of the cockpit and on his target the new HUD also has a resto capability for displaying a 25 degree field of view of infrared image with an appropriate sensor the pilot can navigate and deliver weapons by using the infrared imagery displayed on the hood directly below the hood is the integrated control panel its place for easy upfront access to the navigation computer radios and the forward-looking infrared system on both sides of this are two independent multifunction displays they provide weapon and sensor control and large format displays of air-to-air and air-to-surface radar information various sensor imagery weapons and stores management data as well as built-in test data prior to flight all of the mission navigation communication and identification data plus target and weapon information are loaded onto this cassette the pilot then inserts the cassette into the console receptacle and all of the mission information is automatically loaded into the onboard systems of course the pilot can modify that information at any time by using the up front control panel as in the f-16 a key controls are arranged so that the pilot while in combat can operate with his hands on the stick and throttle for example if while navigating or attacking a ground target the pilot sees an airborne threat he can switch to an air combat mode automatically obtain a radar lock destroy that enemy aircraft with an air-to-air missile or the gun and then return to the original mode all without moving his hands from the stick or throttle well now let's get in the air it's time to see these systems in operation just like the f16 a the f-16c is easy to start no external support equipment is required we only use one switch to turn on the battery and another switch to start the jet fuel starter thirty seconds later the engine is up to idle speed and the pilot begins is to flight checks and aligning the inertial navigation set the entire process can start to take off and take less than one minute but today we'll take it a little bit easier with the data transfer equipment the entire mission can be loaded into the aircraft systems and only five seconds cars will tarragon in time to take off five cars will power went one seven zero at Camp cleared for takeoff darn it by Roger the excellent field of view from the f16 cockpit is one of the first things a new pilot notices there's no Canon Thibault frames and a low canopy rails he has an unobstructed view of the world outside sixty to 0-7 time tides of 175 72 miles at the flight of two angels 1025 course our first charge it down how do modern strike aircraft penetrate deep behind enemy lines elude enemy radar and air defenses the answer is as old as the American Revolution if you don't want to get shot get behind a tree this means flying behind the hills and that means getting low real low down the weeds at the speed of heat these pictures show what it looks like at 550 miles an hour at 300 feet what they can show you is the way it feels banging against the harness your stomach in your mouth with death a seconds misstep away in combat of course it wouldn't eat the seat mantra developed by Martin Marietta corporation stands for low altitude navigation and targeting infrared systems for nine it combines forward-looking infrared imaging terrain-following radar precision pointing and tracking laser designation and ranging and automatic weapons hand offs to minimize pilot workload pilots of the 4th Tactical Fighter Wing say they can drop their bond within 10 meters some say 10 feet of a target this activation can be achieved using the radar and infrared navigation pod as the pilot goes into an attack he maintains his overall situation awareness he finds the target and positions himself with the infrared or FLIR sensor of the navigation the final approach is then set up with the targeting part after target Marco the attack is flown heads up with all weapons delivery calculations and functions performed automatically but for all its capabilities it's really only a stopgap measure from the moment the RCS number became significant both the Navy and the Air Force knew they had to have a better solution the f-117 a played a part in finding that solution by showing stealth technology could hide an aircraft from hostile radar but the f-117 a has none of the high-speed cruise capability of the b2 none of the complex computer cron curves that both vector away incoming radar and cut a clean aerodynamic profile what was wanted what was specified and what has been designed in complete secrecy until now is the next generation of American fighters the Advanced Tactical Fighter the ATF this is the northrop yf-23 one of two prototypes competing to be the atf master model to have the right to take over the leadership of the f-14 tomcat at f-15 eagle the other is the Lockheed Boeing General Dynamics yf-22 a these fighters have been set an almost impossible goal they must first incorporate the hard learned lessons of stealth technology to be difficult or impossible for radar to identify second they must be highly manoeuvrable to out hustle an opponent like today's high-performance intercept simply have that much more powerful most haven't adequately something similar to the f-15s you or Sparrow missiles for Sidewinders and 940 rounds of 20-millimeter and imaging and finally as if invisibility maneuverability speed and strength are enough the ATM will have to have sufficient range for all world view 20s radio has like a racist gets its genes parents a good as to look too in this case because it comes to Norfolk also build my own this fighter play it world affairs beyond the year 2001 mission under one of will it undertake through what gonna be Scott the future he is when that book is written when the paramount importance of commanding the high ground has been driven home yet once again this Stark aircraft will have been one of the major players the ATF's is gone the lockheed yf-22 prototype flying here and many of the other aircraft you've seen in this presentation other design and capabilities - one man Kelly Johnson a legendary aircraft designer who found it and for more than 30 years led Lockheed advanced development projects known as the skunk works the skunk works was a small but dedicated team of selected specialists who under kelly's leadership worked on the cutting edge of technology and beyond of some 40 aircraft which can libre to life in the skunk works the sr-71 blackbird was probably his greatest achievement this presentation is dedicated to his memory you you

Channel: Italianoboy UK

Views: 187,735

Rating: 4.4337077 out of 5

Keywords: Stealth Aircraft (Aircraft Type), Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird (Aircraft Model)

Id: W56Ljd09dRE

Length: 43min 27sec (2607 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 15 2014