Deadly Chrome: The Insane New Look of Navy's F-35C Lightning

[@Rob_F8F]

The "Flying Circus" that was led by the Red Baron was not painted bright colors to taunt the enemy, but, in an age before radio communications, to better identify each individual squadron plane.

[@mcamp9445]

This is correct

[@flechette3782]

And even after radio the Allies' planes had colorful tail markings, etc so other pilots could identify them and not shoot their own comrades down.

[@yfelwulf]

Incorrect they were given orders to CAMOUFLAGE the aircraft they objected hiding was not honourable especially to Cavalry officers. They made no mention of Colour Scheme or Pattern so they rounded up every brightly coloured tin of paint they could initially the High Commadnd was upset it was later accepted as the Joke it was intended and allowed.

[@michaelfrench3396]

I mean this is kind of correct. The flying circus is aircraft or painted normal colors. Browns beiges tans I think some might have experimented with some polka dot camouflage. But the only aircraft in the shiftstoffel that were painted red were leaders aircraft. And the section leaders aircraft was painted red so that all of the people following him could see him. I know where the Heck he was going because they didn't have radios and I'm pretty sure semaphore flags don't work real well in 100 mi an hour wind

[@michaelfrench3396]

​@@flechette3782no, the colorful tier markings and stuff had nothing to do with not being shot down by their friends. Because the Germans also had colorful markings on their tails and noses. Remember all them yellow ones? Anyway, the only identifying marks that were painted on aircraft specifically to prevent them from being shot up by allies where the invasion stripes on D-Day.

[@octonoozle]

They wanted to avoid a Firefox incident so they made the planes use Chrome.

[@jeffk412]

"tell me you're a dad without telling me you're a dad" 😁

[@davidz5740]

@@jeffk412 No way: that joke is cutting Edge!

[@NoneofyourBusiness-gy9yw]

damn you guys crack me up 🤭😂🤣

[@darthwiizius]

@@davidz5740 Careful now, the CIA might send in a PTSD stricken operative to steal such an advanced joke.

[@litesaber54yi3]

This needs more thumbs up

[@erichahn5665]

Bright shiny surfaces have low emissivity. This means they emit very little radiant heat. This would make an adversary's IRST much less effective in seeing the shiny plane. If you've ever purchased high performance windows with Low E glass, it is the same principle.

[@peceed]

Additionally shiny surfaces reflect environmental IR directionally, like mirror and not like white paint. It helps a lot.

[@danielsnook7362]

Really?! Thats fascinating I need to do more research 😅

[@alphagt62]

Back in the Gulf War, they used lasers to target tanks on the ground. I thought then, why not cover them with mirrors? To bounce the lasers elsewhere?

[@ANelsonViolin]

And yet I still have the scars on my butt from sliding down that stainless-steel slide baking in the sun at the park as a kid… But seriously, I figured as much that these mirror coatings were to somehow deal with IRST. My limited understanding is that IRST capabilities in near-peer arsenals are significantly more acute than a few decades ago, so this must be a multispectral approach to stealth.

[@erichahn5665]

Just look up Low E glass for the quickest research. @@danielsnook7362

[@henrymann8122]

Late in the war the in European theater, a great number of aircraft went w/o paint . By not painting the aircraft, it made them lighter. Plus with the air dominance, paint probably wasn't really necessary.

[@mcamp9445]

It started with p-47s in 1943 far before air superiority was achieved. It was simply faster, cheaper, lighter to produce.

[@SonShines1]

The in

[@xyz-hj6ul]

And uhhh, 800 bombers with 400 fighter escorts, flying through the heart of the contrail band at 20-25,000ft... Not subtle. The sky has an 'ambient temp' which can be measured using millimeter wave radiometry and act as a baselining (think contrast and gamma on your video screen) threshold for multi (2-5) and hyper (more than 10) spectral notch IRST. When you apply QWIP technology to FPA megapixel or more array sizes you can literally stack photons in time by which trap they fall into. And then sort those which arrive in a common direction by rapidly electronically scanning the array, the same way you would an AESA radar. Once you are sure that all light from a particular source on a set of cross doped detectors is from one bearing and not 'bent' by various diffractive/absorbative optical effects; you can begin to look for smears of common characteristic. Such as tip shock on a supersonic nose and in front of the wing LEs. Vortice flow over those wings, hot metal shining through the fuselage skin from the engines and the jet pipe and of course the exhaust plume which, however diffused by mixing systems like square nozzles, is still a lot of very compressed air expanding in a very cold volume, causing it's own turbulent wake patterns. Any smear of multiple overlapping key signatures, corresponding to an airframe gets mapped against that cold-mapped sky and bam. You can suddenly sweep entire regions of airspace, out to dozens of miles, rather than suffer soda straw effects. Stealth is particularly subject to this kind of tracking because it is already using Pythagorean Theory to A2+B2=C2 max the slant range from any given radar and thus will be very high up, beyond the trashfire. The Chinese combine their quantum computing leads with these hyperspectral capabilities as a function of tuned, machine learning, optronics systems and stealth is dead. They already have something they call 'Cat's Eyes' which can see a jumbo jet at 300km, a B-2 at 150km and an F-22 at 90-110km. The big issue then becomes how much these systems cost as an adjunct or replacement for AESA radars and how vulnerable they are as 10-15in apertures to both destructive laser illumination and RCS compromise.

[@larrybuzbee7344]

It's about deflecting near future offensive lasers as well I believe.

[@Justanotherconsumer]

Glitter Boys from Rifts?

[@ramonpunsalang3397]

There are reports of a Ceramic stealth coating that protects against high temperatures and is applied similar to ceramic protection on cars. I'm not sure this is related, though.

[@ciphergalm1174]

Its for lasers and infrared

[@BV-fr8bf]

Agreed ceramic stealth coatings.

[@s3p4kner]

Yes. It's not a coating like paint, but it is a ceramic. Developed at the University of North Carolina, co-developed with China - they also conducted gain of function viral research with Dr Shi Zhengli, later made illegal in part off the back of these tests, who took the info she learned back to China, to a place called W u ha n a couple of years before - that - happened. IMO the board and President of that Uni need replacing and comprehensive tightening of the defense research industry. Imagine if the USA in the 1930s had invited the Japanese to participate in their most sensitive, secret research and testing. Truth IS stranger than fiction.

[@watcher63034]

@@s3p4kner She was not the one working on the stealth coating.

[@alphagt62]

The Batwing Bomber uses ceramics around the engine exhaust ports to prevent heat signatures.

[@Turboy65]

You may be assured that the new coating gives worthwhile stealth advantages. Beyond that you'll probably learn nothing for years.

[@HB-C_U_L8R]

The RAM coatings on the F-117 were not black. It was painted black to help it attract pilots. It was nearly painted a shade of dark blue because it was harder to see than black in the the dark of night, but to quote one of the F-117 engineers, "An Airforce general told me that real men don't fly midnight blue airplanes." Edit: I am not talking about the Have Blu Program. The engineers at Lockheed wanted to pant the F-117 a shade of dark blue because it was less noticeable than black. The Airforce Brass overrode them and made them paint the plane black.

[@RKZX2]

The British experimented with different shades of pink at night in Africa at night in WWII

[@johanlarsson7566]

In general red and blue dyes are much more sensitive than white and black pigments. I can imagine that the blue paint simply did not perform in endurance testing.

[@Frankie5Angels150]

I was in the initial cadre of Black Jet testing and the blue thing was part of a program name (Have Blue), NOT in reference to a color. The first prototype was gray. All production F-117s were black - but it wasn’t paint. ITV was such an honor to be selected fit a TS program that no one needed a certain color to “attract them” to the program. You were selected and you showed up for work. Period.

[@RogueBeatsARG]

This paint/material was tested on thee F-22 first and it looked insane

[@CHNISD]

F-117

[@RogueBeatsARG]

@@CHNISD no, the chrome material was tested earlier this year, a Chromed F-22 was spotted in Edwards air base I think

[@trunkmonkey9417]

@@RogueBeatsARG He is correct. We did testing in 1993 under "Senior Spud" where the reflective metallic finishes were applied. So, it was "first".

[@RogueBeatsARG]

@@trunkmonkey9417 fr? Damn that tech is old

[@CHNISD]

@@RogueBeatsARG f-117 was the first one decades ago. It's not chrome. It's like a mylar space blanket material to stealth the jets infrared signature.

[@ScoutSniper3124]

Fun Fact: During WW2 the matching of background color and lighting was experiments with by the U.S. Navy, using a series of lights on the leading edge of aircraft that were adjusted to match the light produced behind the plane. Amazingly, it worked, rendering the aircraft much harder to visually acquire at various ranges to the observing aircraft or ship. It took another 75 years (not counting what DARPA and Skunk Works knows that we don't) to integrate it "Predator" Style.

[@Lontracanadensis]

This was my thought too. As shown in WWII, with ships as well as planes, matching the brightness of the sky by reflecting the sky itself is better camouflage than just trying to be dull against the sky.

[@bluemarlin8138]

@@LontracanadensisAgreed. And these mirrored finishes are much more reflective than the bare metal used in some WWII aircraft. You’d think a reflected glare would be easy to spot, but I suspect it would actually be quite difficult to figure out what it was outside of a few miles’ distance, or to see it at all it you’re looking in the sun’s direction.

[@pauljs75]

If I had to guess it's a change from radar absorbing material to radar diffusion or dispersion material. Graphene and silver micro-printed film that uses a tech derived from the same process used to make RFID tags. Basically the idea is to take a strong signal on one frequency and break it up into a lot of weak signals on multiple frequencies. The goal is to dissipate the energy used to create a strong return signal. One thing is this new film coating is a lot more durable and lighter than an RAM type of surface treatment. The fact the new meta-material spreads out any kind of heat affecting IR signature is also bonus.

[@ScottSuhr-l8m]

The RAM coatings on current aircraft don't absorb the incident energy, they absorb the currents induced in the aircraft which get re-radiated when they hit discontinuities in the skin, or the opposite edge of the wing or control surface. The primary stealth of operational aircraft is about the shape and orientation of edges and discontinuities. Surface RAM works on the second-tier effects.

[@pauljs75]

@@ScottSuhr-l8m Even if the silver material isn't quite that, the concept I describe may still be interesting for this kind of application. If the return can be shifted in frequency or delayed, it's still going to cause issues with a radar's effectiveness. Regardless of how the radar works, there's a narrow range of expectations in what it is looking for on it's receiver end. If you have hundreds of little transponder circuits per square inch applied on a surface, it seems they could certainly be designed to fuzz any return signal that comes off of it. However there's probably more magic in the tuning of each little circuit in the printed pattern as well and done regarding the profile of the surface it's applied to. Moire or noise patterns vs. how stuff would normally scatter at incident angles, etc. Might be something that could screw with the profiles used to achieve lock or path prediction on guidance. There's probably more than one path to achieve an ends, so why wouldn't that be one of them?

[@normanmadden]

The gasoline clan; "You will arrive shiny and chromed" /s

[@ScoutSniper3124]

If you can combine the advantages of the haze gray in a finish that would also reflect the colors of the sky and sea around it, that might be a winner in and of itself.

[@jballaviator]

Reminds me more of the century series scheme. It's gorgeous.

[@jballaviator]

Agreed that canards are inherently non stealthy. Thrust vectoring, aeroelastic wings may be more likely. They are designed in neutral position to be stealthy and used only when stealth is compromised or in takeoff/landing situations.

[@Miss__Understands]

FASCINATING I didn't know most of this!

[@kevinrogers7650]

Presumptively, these new skins may also deflect directed energy weapons (laser, etc) as well.

[@andraarya6969]

I like the F-35. I see it with a beautiful design. Now I see it with a mirror coating. You may call me weird, but I have a crush on that jet now. ❤

[@chriss-nf1bd]

Is it just stealth or protection from lasers, guidance tracking or weapons?

[@somedude1841]

Amazing work as usual.

[@brandonradke4379]

Good info! I kind of thought this was as a defense against directed energy weapons? Like shooting a laser at a mirror. I wonder if it helps there as well?

[@appa609]

So this doesn't really work if you have an all-chromed airplane. The shiny skin is highly conductive and if you want to avoid edge diffraction and creeping waves you have to continuousy blend the edges to a higher impedence material (colloquially RAM). That's why all the shiny stealth planes still have non-shiny panel edges.

[@mcamp9445]

I agree with what you’re saying, but it’s extremely unlikely that it’s actually chrome that that would be hard to believe just because it’s some shiny paint or something doesn’t necessarily mean that it gives up its stealth properties, but you may be onto something. Another reason certain parts aren’t painted, maybe such as the radome and the leading edges all have antennas or radar there.

[@randalc6118]

Love your work, and I will have to say my 3 month old kitten loves to watch them as well

[@Nwflbeachbum2]

VFA 125 used to be the west coast Rag squadron where we all trained prior to going to our prospective fleet squadrons, we transitioned from A7’s to F/A-18s being trained by 125, wonder how many f/a18 squadrons are set to switch to f35s?

[@paradiddlesixix7530]

all of them? if not by the ngad. f18s are subjected to salt water and carrier landings, they wont be around forever, and i dont think they are making anymore.

[@MH5XXXX]

I like the coatings

[@warwickEDF_jets]

Well done on the animations ! I know its a lot of work as I do a lot of 3d modeling myself (professionally (and aircraft for fun) . Not sure if there is others here that do the same ? Keep it up its a great visual aid when we may never see the real thing.

[@AdAstraOnYafro]

i do! use lightwave 3d and model tons of aircraft. this has nice models and some great lighting and reflections.

[@warwickEDF_jets]

I just had a look very realistic rendering ! I am modeling jets to fly RC @@AdAstraOnYafro

[@MrGregforshort]

October 21st 2023 in Golden Valley Minnesota - I watched an Aircraft go across the sky with a surface so reflective it looked like you were seeing the clouds behind it, and it was LARGE. It resembled Harry Potters invisibility cloak with the slight shimmer only on the very edges of the outline of the vehicle. The whole thing last about 10 seconds, and 2 of my friends watched it with me. My thought was the new variation of the blackbird.

[@joenieves4033]

My closest friend (retired Navy Master Chef) said that RAM is a pain in the backside to keep up with during extended operations. Corrosion control is given a priority on the mechanical aspects of aircraft because it’s easier to wash the skin. Hopefully this new RAM is easily applied, and also easily maintained. Like to through in the the advanced external steal drop tanks for F-22 would be a great application to a carrier F-35 and could get it the range of Tomcat. Not to mention the external stealth weapons pods for its BEAST mode would give greater teeth as a Fleet defender. NGAD is still years away from being a reality and if we know anything of Raptor, there is always a risk of a program getting shut down before the ideal number of units are manufactured because someone looked into a crystal ball and said the risk is not worth the price per unit,, aka, the defense congressional committee. That is a topic for another time.

[@grider421]

They shit down production of f 22 years ago.

[@milklover4253]

looks like the same coating those test f22s have

[@dangingerich2559]

I have to wonder if this might be a crystalline vapor depo coating, able to still scatter radar but be more durable and cost effective.

[@ScottSuhr-l8m]

You want to reflect the radar, not scatter it. If you scatter it, you cannot control what direction it chooses to go and some will inevitably go back to the radar. . .

[@sjsomething4936]

NGAD will likely not feature canards as it is intended to eliminate control surfaces altogether, employing high pressure bursts of air pushed out of tiny holes in the critical sections of the wings. This lack of traditional control planes will permit them to be ultra stealthy.

[@brucequam7416]

Would there also be a benefit for defense versus laser weapons soon to be seen in the battlespace?

[@nimaiiikun]

kinda reminds me of some aircraft in the 50s, where it was all chrome looking. like the b-29, some p-51s, f-86, etc

[@kdrapertrucker]

That was bare aluminum

[@kylobear7991]

Beautiful and intriguing at the same time! Thanks for the outstanding content!

[@MultiCconway]

I am in agreement with your observation about canards. When on approach to the carrier the low probability of stall by 'tail on the front' kind of aircraft is a good thing.

[@Frankie5Angels150]

Yet no country with carriers uses them…

[@ScottSuhr-l8m]

It is a misconception that having a horizontal "tail in the front" is less stable that a conventional tail. You can design it either way.

[@MultiCconway]

@@Frankie5Angels150 Now there is a relevant observation (tongue in check). Most aircraft with canards are more STABLE particularly on approach to landing. Now let’s see . . . most challenging time in Naval Aviation.

[@aamerjamal]

@@Frankie5Angels150 French rafale

[@rezadaneshi]

Defense Research and development is behind all the technology our leaps in science that our kids take so for granted

[@MichaelKelley-m5s]

G.I. Joe had this in the 80's :)

[@ppipowerclass]

The IRST actually makes sense. Get one of those infrared thermometers that are popular now, and point one at a really shiny piece of metal. It won't give you an accurate read. I am wondering if the coating that has something to do with that.

[@normalpizza1567]

Pfff my jet is already chrome in gta5

[@ChristopherSloane]

If the surface is reflective it will be spotted in visual range when hit by the sun, while it might be "rare" it could happen and could cause problems so I hope this is worth the risk.

[@GetTheFuckOutofH3re1]

Bvr

[@_baller]

True…..visually stealth

[@RightWingNutter]

There seems to be a disconnect between mirror finishes and radar absorbent coatings. A shiny fighter will get all its stealth from the shape rather than the coating.

[@bluemarlin8138]

The aircraft could still have RAM under the mirrored coating. All you’d have to do is make the mirrored coating reflective only in the visual spectrum, not to IR or radar.

[@kevintaylor1928]

Nice work dude!

[@miguellogistics984]

On of Rutan's test bed airframes was flying in the chrome over the past year or so. Looks like this is a go for Air Wing Trials. Being that these craft are supposed to be active BVR, it seems that even an AI trying to interpret a visual signature will have to have ever more memorized possible visualizations to match to in order to positively identify the craft. By the time that calculation is done, the US Systems could have a missile on the way. 15-30 seconds, and even 15-30 milliseconds is still an advantage in a fire and forget A2A Missile.

[@infinitytothepowerofinfini8216]

Have you considered the finish coating is a defense against Directed Energy Weapons? Thank you

[@jessevanderhamm]

I think it’s pretty obvious what the mirrored coatings are for. If you need to be able to deflect laser based weapon systems, what could be a better choice for protective shielding than a mirror? You can’t use a laser or directed energy to blow up a fighter if its surface is so reflective that the lasers just bounce off

[@I-02]

GTA players were like 10 years ahead of the trend.

[@wheelwrightpl9429]

So how does the mirror finish reduce the infrared signature ?

[@JSFGuy]

Reflects the heat generated on the surface much like dark clothing compared to light. A black t-shirt vs a white T-shirt on a warm day on any day.

[@appa609]

Mirrors reflect light. Including IR. The same way conductors reflect radio. This is effectively an extension of EM stealth shaping into NIR (and even visual). The mirrored surface also has a lower emissivity and the spectral emission is more directional, meaning very little emissions end up directed to certain directions (forwards)

[@tyrellarson]

Does the reflective coating have anything to do with directed energy weapons protection/counter-measures?

[@NoobNoobNews]

Visible light and aircraft radar are both electromagnetic waves. This means that if you shine a flashlight at the F35, you will not see a reflection even though it has a mirror finish. This means that if you look at one of these jets flying with a mirror finish, from some angles, you will not see it at all. These angles are the same angles that make it invisible to radar.

[@simonrobins4316]

the colour of an a/c may have some effect on stealth from the point of view visual detection methods - against computer detection i would say not, as some mil cams see in multi-spectral in real-time, plus they do not have to see directly, just the delta changes between different images to see something may be there - thats why straight on pentration (the arrow effect) to target will always be hardest to see and thus detection (the idea being an arrow flying directly towards a target - very small aspect - very few changes) as to IRST, have you heard some next gen UCAVs now fly with 360 deg / +-90 cams over a/c - they can see everything in and around the a/c for fews km, factor in the multi-spectral element and they should be able to detect the exhaust from an incoming local missile even when engine is facing away - the biggest weakness in such systems is the human element as quick and fast manaevoures are limited, not at all for future unmanned (the F16 is rumoured to have body capable of 15+G sustained turn rates, whilst human element has issues at 9G) interesting research being done by UK is in electronic camo - a few years back on the BAe web-site it stated a Typhoon was being used for such a programme and the results were outstanding, before the web-page was taken off 2 to 3 days later - BAe demoed a land version (IR) on their next gen tanks and then they had a spot the APV in a field for normal day visuals (APV was moving across the field - you could just see something different slightly but just not quite sure what it was - when it was turned off it stood out completely) next gen ai on UCAVs will not be limited to human level visuals for detection - using multi-spectal tech and fusing such images together to make a new image will make it very difficult to hide in plain view

[@WasatchGarandMan]

Its like 1950 all over again

[@stuartdavies5927]

Could it be a defensive capability against lasers? Kind of like a mirror reflecting it away???

[@rudolphmarchand9644]

Now I don't know! What do these new coatings actually do to provide a less visible aircraft?

[@phillm156]

If the coating is a metallic hi-temp ablative application, it could make it much more durable both to supersonic flight and salt water environments.

[@mig1nc]

A lot of early jet fighters were also left unpainted. Think of images of the F-86 Sabre in Korea. Up to the century series you still saw F-104 Starfighters unpainted.

[@ErnieRomero-c2m]

Su57 has small flafs on the front of its big wings which is why it can manuver so well

[@gordonprice695]

One question from the animations. The note about IRST says it provides "all around situational awareness", but as I understand it the limitation is it only provides information on what is to the direct front. Am I missing something, or was that note incorrect?

[@ScottSuhr-l8m]

it can only see what it is pointed at.

[@Chuck8541]

Gotta watch this vid at 1.5x speed. At normal speed, it sounds like this dude is having a stroke.

[@tr1k716]

Could have something to do with Boing testing plasma for magnetic wave absorption ?

[@tennesseehomesteader6175]

I always thought that those shiny Coatings were to reflect directed energy weapons, to put it simply.

[@phlogistonphlyte]

OK Chaps, I'm onto this, we'll put this on the blimps and become invisible...

[@johnkennedy6431]

Super 8m, to stop animation, 16m, 32m, digital , even CNC 3d cad, Now lifes older, so what do I think, well ammo, toons, us animation, all great , So be proud of you're self , I am proud of your creative level ... 🍁

[@killman369547]

Huh, a unique skin from an ace combat game becoming legitimately useful IRL is the last thing i expected to learn about today.

[@WolfeSaber]

Guess the reboot for Battlestar Galactic having a stealth ship with mirror like coatings was a ahead of its time.

[@Echo4Sierra4160]

The F-22 got that a while ago as part of the air forces $11B upgrade which included NGAD tech

[@OFallons]

Also the reflective surface will reflect any high intensity light (Laser).

[@LeoH3L1]

It's not just about stealth, it's also a defence against energy weapons, which everyone is developing, as time progresses stealth will be overcome, which makes the risk of being attacked with laser weapons in the future more likely, and it makes sense to look at how to defend against that, if you can reflect 99% of the energy away from the aircraft you have an effective defense.

[@marksanney2088]

Interesting video on a new level of aircraft protection. 👍🏻🇺🇸🦅🇺🇸👍🏻

[@ShootBlueHelmets]

I have been hoping this is the ceramic based coating, said to be for the 6th generation, capable of taking much higher heat. That opens up the speed window, if so.

[@JamesMiller-lq5rd]

Bright shiny chrome... Ever get blinded by the chrome rear doors on a Semi or those chrome mud flaps on RV's?

[@pezpengy9308]

they were left unfinished because it was thought that the weight of the paint would affect the performance of the aircraft. NOT to be bold.

[@berubejj]

I was part of VX-9 in NAWS China Lake. We did a lot of IRST testing and development on many platforms.

[@Uncle_Neil]

opsec

[@Likeaworm]

Shut up bro don’t spill the beans

[@vwbora26]

IRST has a much less detection range than radar, you can defeat it by flying low or into clouds, bad weather will also affect it, by the time you detect annaircraft with IRST, you might have been already tracked by radar

[@ScottSuhr-l8m]

Only if you are a non-stealthy (radar) aircraft. And to do an air to air detect with conventional radar, you have to transmit -- which makes you very detectable at a much greater range than you can detect your target.

[@nunabiz]

I think the coating is only part of the camouflage. Add cameras top and bottom and projectors then it will almost completely disappear!!

[@brealistic3542]

There was a brilliant camo idea that came out of ww2 that seems to have been lost over the years. The allies developed a system of small lights placed all over a plane that made it near invisible from the ground because it simulated the constant background light of the sky. With modern led lighting this would be even better now.

[@michaelgriffin3010]

CIA has entered the chat

[@JamesMBC]

You missed an opportunity of explaining how the mirror coating could work, which, although secret, can be deduced from other mirror camouflage from the recent past: Hunters using mirrors to replicate the foliage behind a prey, aiming the mirror towards the prey but not totally perpendicular as to not show the prey's own reflecttion to them, only the foliage to the right or left of the prey. Same here, the mirrors can reflect the signature visual and IR pattern of the sky or sea, hiding from those passive optical targeting systems you mentioned.

[@appa609]

The animations are cool and all but it'd be great if there were more photos and videos so we can see what the real thing is. Otherwise a lot of this stuff can just be speculation

[@brealistic3542]

Its pretty well know in air racing circles polishing aluminium adds to speed because it helps cut down on the DRAG of the stagnet boundary layer of air that every high speed aircraft has.

[@ScottSuhr-l8m]

You are confusing surface smoothness with color. The boundary layer isn't affected by color.

[@svartmetall]

Wondering if this was inspired by the silver hatchet fish, which is basically mirrored all round to reflect the surrounding colours...

[@andrewmorke]

Anti-corrosion coating for salty conditions.

[@nastywolf6964]

Mirrored image camouflage stealth coating. Last longer than the old stealth coating also, supposedly. Canards that move for directing the air craft would be picked up on radar as they move positions on the FX. They would have to blend into the front of the airframe like the elevators and ailerons.

[@bluemarlin8138]

I very much doubt that NGAD would have canards. It will likely have traditional rear control surfaces, possibly supplemented by (or replaced entirely by) strategically placed thrusters to provide great maneuverability. These thrusters are already used on the Patriot PAC-3 missile.

[@csventura6607]

That’ll be incredible for the maintainers 😅

[@mogusaurelius4541]

Invest in Windex®

[@JSFGuy]

​@@mogusaurelius4541😁

[@JSFGuy]

Not bad, patchwork won't notice, it only gets better.

[@AerospaceMatt]

Funny how the phrase “the more things change, the more things stay the same” plays into this discussion. As discussed in the video, reflective surfaces were used in the past. Ironically, this mirror coating was used by the P-38, P-47, and P-51 back in WWII. The technology was further developed by the F-86 and F-104. Ok, it’s not really the same, but they did have bare metal finishes which look similar to what’s being tested on F-35. So in this modern age of flying supercomputers and stealth, we see a return to shiny airplanes.

[@coffeeisthepathtovictory1290]

One step closer to Starcraft Protoss looking carriers and corsairs 😮

[@extraordinarytv5451]

Laser deflector?

[@googlechicken]

Cool that this stuff gets put on KZbin for all our enemies to see 😂

[@AdamPNelson]

Thermal imaging systems only see about 2-8% of reflective metal surfaces. Making them reflective protects against thermography type sensors.

[@DreamMonster7X]

Very exciting. Always searching. Always learning. Always evolving. This is the strength of the American Military. We are America!

[@bennysoper1517]

Skyrim predicted it: Everyone becomes a stealth mage assassin. 😂😅😊

[@calibaba2739]

does laser attack reflect off the mirror surface?

[@airvlad777]

After Serbs shot down F-117 in 1999, realizing what they did, they said:" We are sorry, we didn't know it was stealth".

[@kwisatz_haderach1445]

Chrome is just cool. Next we lower the landing gear and have 'Low Rider' playing during take off and landings.

[@DZimmer000]

The mirror coating is a new meta-material coating that makes the planes it’s applied to virtually invisible to radar in the lower bands. The “vaunted” S-400 can no longer even detect the F-22s that this is applied to.

[@starbase218]

Ok, I’m convinced. It should go very well with my new iPhone. Where can I order?

[@bipolarspock6145]

The nighthawk was also covered in this chrome color all 3 have been seen with it

[@jeromedamian5740]

Could it be to protect from new Laser warfare..

[@keithhoward4069]

Didn't they also use this special finish on an F22 earlier on?

[@aardque]

I am going to insist reflective surfaces are _defensive,_ for directed energy weapons, because IRST is _infrared,_ meaning it sees "exhaust plumes," not reflected solar radiation.

[@PatrickCamblin]

In WWII the bare, shiny, aluminum was never meant to make them more visible. From that period, the statistics emerging from pilots who survived being ahot down said that 75% of them never saw the enemy, never saw the threat, and ergo took no defensive action. There was even a truism that is still integral in today's air warfare doctrine: "The plane seen is first to die." Even Chuck Yeager attributes his very high kill scores in WWII to his keen eyesight, allowing him to see the enemy before they saw him and set up the kill, still unseen. The aluminum finish was left unpainted only because painting slowed down production delivery. And it was only after the allies gained unchallenged air dominance with an airborne enemy no longer a threat that they stop painting planes to speed up delivery. No pilot tjen or today would accept an aircraft broadcast their presence and position under any circumstance. The idea that we intentionally adopted a doctrine of visibility to scare the enemy from the sky is preposterous (which is not to say it didn't occassionally happen as a happy side effect). The silver per say must be for other unknown (so far) reasons. One possible reason is that the aircraft skin can reproduce the visual background from the detected perspective of the enemy, making it easier and more likely to get in close without visual detection. All that said, great production values on this vid.

[@rogerstephens8019]

I would give up cussing ,almost to see an F-14 Tomcat in stainless x-37 aluminum skin !