Message posted by Eagle Scout on May 23, 2011 at 22:13:09 PST:
Hi Thud, I have some connection to the RCS measurement biz, and I'm more familiar with the measurement techniques than the LO materials & shapes, etc, themselves; most of that stuff is outside my "need to know." But for general info, a suggestion would be to look at the F-16 and the Have Glass program. The program's purpose was to lower the forward aspect RCS, and they managed to get it down by something like 15%. If you look at photos of F-16 canopies, it's fairly common to see examples of the tinting I mentioned. I'll put in a few links. The aft transparency, the little conical bit behind the main canopy, was not much of a problem with respect to frontal RCS, and so the general practice in all or most of the Have Glass iterations had the tinting treatment on the main canopy but left the aft transparency alone. So you can see "RCS tinted" plexiglass right next to "plain vanilla" and make out the tinting. There were/have been a number of different recipes for the tinting, (I presume) to find a good balance between RCS reduction and pilot visibility. Peter Merlin can tell you lots more about it, I'm sure. http://www.airliners.net/photo/Belgium---Air/SABCA-F-16BM-Fighting/1897513/L/
BTW, I was around Dobbins AFB when the ANG unit there was flying F-105Gs. Nice plane. Big engine.
http://www.airliners.net/photo/Belgium---Air/SABCA-F-16AM-Fighting/1861664/L/
http://www.airliners.net/photo/Belgium---Air/SABCA-F-16BM-Fighting/1832527/L/
http://www.airliners.net/photo/Portugal---Air/Lockheed-F-16A-Fighting/1830554/M/
http://www.airliners.net/photo/USA---Air/General-Dynamics-F-16C/1824363/M/
http://www.airliners.net/photo/Belgium---Air/SABCA-F-16AM-Fighting/1774966/M/
http://www.airliners.net/photo/Poland---Air/Lockheed-Martin-F-16CJ/1745252/M/
In Reply to: Re: Another Stealth Chopper in the Osama Raid? posted by OldThudMan~!!~ on May 23, 2011 at 17:11:43 PST:
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