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Stealth fighters are widely seen as the pinnacle of modern tactical aviation technology. But in terms of both sheer performance and operating cost, they often fall short of older, more dated platforms like the F-15 Eagle, F-16 Fighting Falcon, and Su-35 Flanker-E.
While fighter design is an incredibly complex process, a fair portion of the blame for both underwhelming performance figures and seemingly untenable operating costs can actually be attributed to a single technology: Radar Absorbing Materials, or RAM. But that's all about to change.
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Further Reading: Adding stealth to 4th gen fighters: https://www.sandboxx.us/blog/how-much-stealth-can-you-add-to-a-4th-generation-fighter/ Radar Absorbing Materials: https://www.sandboxx.us/blog/what-are-radar-absorbent-materials Why the F-35 is so expensive: https://www.sandboxx.us/blog/what-went-wrong-how-the-f-35-got-to-be-so-expensive/ Why stealth is so hard: https://www.sandboxx.us/blog/why-is-it-so-hard-to-develop-stealth-aircraft/ China's real defense spending: https://www.sandboxx.us/blog/how-does-chinas-defense-spending-really-stack-up-against-the-us/
Citations: “Introduction to Aerospace Materials” - https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/materials-science/radar-absorbing-material Ram absorption rates: https://news.ncsu.edu/2021/05/tougher-skin-for-stealth-aircraft/ RAM maintenance: http://www.hill.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/2001886/maintainers-help-the-f-35a-remain-a-stealthy-beast/ F-35 sustainment costs: https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-21-439 RAM temperature limits: https://www.asminternational.org/web/tss/news/-/journal_content/56/10180/44584804/NEWS F-35 Flutter Tests: https://www.defensenews.com/air/2019/06/12/supersonic-speeds-could-cause-big-problems-for-the-f-35s-stealth-coating Cheryl Xu: https://www.mae.ncsu.edu/people/cxu-research/ Ceramic Ram paper: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsami.9b16475 Cheryl Xu quote: https://www.jeccomposites.com/about-jec-group/