The biggest leap in stealth tech since the F-117

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.
Check out the incredible work of Rodrigo Avella on his website! rodrigoavella....
Or follow him on Instagram here: / rodrigo.avella
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Further Reading:
Adding stealth to 4th gen fighters: www.sandboxx.u...
Radar Absorbing Materials: www.sandboxx.u...
Why the F-35 is so expensive: www.sandboxx.u...
Why stealth is so hard: www.sandboxx.u...
China's real defense spending: www.sandboxx.u...
Citations:
“Introduction to Aerospace Materials” - www.sciencedir...
Ram absorption rates: news.ncsu.edu/...
RAM maintenance: www.hill.af.mil...
F-35 sustainment costs: www.gao.gov/pr...
RAM temperature limits: www.asminterna...
F-35 Flutter Tests: www.defensenew...
Cheryl Xu: www.mae.ncsu.e...
Ceramic Ram paper: pubs.acs.org/d...
Cheryl Xu quote: www.jeccomposi...

[@eddyaruda486]

I used to work in Aerospace. Your content is original, educational, and the best on the subject I've seen so far. Thank you for your excellent content!

[@alexdunphy3716]

Look up millennium7*, he is better

[@Kenny-yl9pc]

@@alexdunphy3716 No he is not "better"! They both are different in their approach but very much entertaining nontheless. So stop that childish silly game of who is better!

[@wpnexp336]

@@alexdunphy3716 Not, guys a hack promoting Russian equipment which never stands up as advertised.

[@newguy954]

@@wpnexp336 he has one video dedicated to su-57 and that is it,the rest of the videos are about the f-35,j-20,fc-31 and several other jets like the recently upgraded j-11 which he claims is the best flanker variant.

[@jimnaz5267]

the SR71 and A2 were low observable aircraft flying at Mach 3 more than 30 years ago.

[@SparkBerry]

It's crazy how fighter aircraft maintenance is overlooked by the man on the street. It's takes a couple hundred hours to train a pilot, yet it takes thousands to train a technician. There's one pilot per plane, there are many techs per plane. It ain't the glory job, but a well trained mechanic is as important as any pilot.

[@justachipn3039]

👍👍

[@FoxtrotYouniform]

hear hear. _always_ get in good with your logistics guys was the golden rule for my 1s Sergeant back in the airborne. Maybe you can fight, kid, (he would say) but how you gonna get your bullets and food to do it?

[@gm2353]

You're correct for part of it. I think you're simplifying the training of fighter pilots. You're leaving out the college degree, training aircraft, and much more. But either way that aircraft isn't doing anything without the ground crew or the pilot. It's also not really crazy at all. That the average person on the street to over look the ground crew. Or to even want to know the significance of the role they play. It would be like the average person paying attention. To all the behind the scenes people involved in your favorite music album. Sound engineers, producers, managers, ect. Or the same reason there isn't a movie about Chris Kyle's spotter. A spotter is just as critical as the who's on the rifle.

[@janemf]

Are you serious?

[@Sethgolas]

A fighter pilot needs a thousands of hours. And those thousands of hours have to be supported by ten to twenty times the number of technician hours.

[@pastorrich7436]

The problem of the maintenance of coatings is an old story. Another Lockheed fighter was subject to the same issue leading into World War II. The Lockheed F-4 Lightning was the recipient of a special paint known as Cabot or Haze Paint. This paint was equally difficult to apply and maintain and subject to wear. Efforts to improve upon this yielded what was called Synthetic Haze paint which saw limited service on the F-5. In the end, the AAF switched to simply painting their photo-reconnaissance Lightnings with RAF PRU Blue which was often scrubbed off by ground crews to reduce the weight of the aircraft at the squadron level. Haze paint was such a problem that the AAF decided it was better to simply Shadow Shade paint their F-4 and early F-5 Lightnings in olive drab over grey. In the case of our squadron, 34th Photo Reconnaissance Squadron, all of our F-5's were stripped at some point to natural metal. A very messy job! So coatings to help hide and obscure aircraft are an old issue and one which Lockheed has dealt with before. It makes one wonder if the Lightning II was intended to receive a new type of coating in the future as part of its modular design? I certainly hope so! Thanks for the excellent reporting and safe travels!

[@dasch0und]

f4 lightning? aint it the p38 lightning?

[@pastorrich7436]

@@dasch0und in this time “P” denoted pursuit while “F” denoted photo reconnaissance. Lockheed Lightning fighters were P-38 while the reconnaissance variants were F-4 and F-5 depending on the model.

[@dasch0und]

@@pastorrich7436 I cant seem to find this prototype anywhere thats why i was asking if possible can you link me a video or a image? aviation has been my passion since early ages learn a new one would be a pleasure tho even tho is just a variant i would love to see the difference between them

[@TheJBerg]

@@dasch0und I Bing searched "F-4 Lightning" and got rewarded with a boat load of WW2 photos of p-38 looking but definitely altered aircraft.

[@JonathanDickson-w2g]

F35 coting peals off in the rain if you fire cannon cracks the plain riddled with problem s f35 is

[@williamzk9083]

The first use of RAM was by the Germans in WW2 for u-boat mast head stealth. The Germans used both Jaumann absorbers and ferrites as well as a combination. These are still in use today. This is how the German Jauman absorber worked. It was optimized for allied 10cm (96% radar absorption) radar but worked quite well at 3cm (80% absorption) and fairly well at 25cm. To deal with 10 (actually 9cm) cm radar its thickness was 2.5cm which is a 1/4 wavelength. The material consisted of 7 cardboard sheets impregnated with exponentially increasingly dense of semiconducting graphite. The sheets were joined and impregnated with PVC to make them water tight and wrapped around the periscope or snorkel. The energy of a wave would be gradually absorbed by the semiconducting graphite much as a sea wave hitting the slope of a pebble beach. (as opposed to reflecting of a sea wall). The greatly attenuated wave still hit the the snorkel underneath and reflected but was absorbed on the way out. The small reflection on the surface of the Jaumann coating then cancelled out the reflection on the incoming wave. -Ferrites were molded into PVC for odd shapes where the jaumann absrober couldn't be wrapped. Some 30% was absorbed. By combining Jaumann and Ferrites a 99% absorption could be obtained.

[@CaesarCassius]

Alright

[@sarge420]

Submarines is where it started.

[@SeedOfElijah]

The first couple generations of RAM had to do with disorganized lines of force getting oriented in a certain direction after being hit by radar energy and then being unable to return as strong as the energy being put in.

[@williamzk9083]

@@SeedOfElijah They were referred to as re-entrant structures. They tried to trap radar waves and absorb them. SR-71 had them.

[@SeedOfElijah]

@@williamzk9083 From what I have read those structures are built in to the airframe? If you can change the recipe and reapply then perhaps some combination is being used now. Ideally you would be able to change the characteristics without reapplying anything.

[@jameswalker7899]

The usual, outstanding analysis, well supported by detailed evidence. Warmest compliments. Thank you. :)

[@vladimirgollumputin2166]

USA is building a 6th gen stealth jet while Russia and China are STILL trying fix their inferior 5th gen fake-stealth SU-57 and J-20. 🤣

[@HailAzathoth]

u better believe it

[@meintingles4396]

Not just one, but two. The f/a-XX and the NGAD. And we are releasing the B-21.... our 3rd 5th gen aircraft.

[@meintingles4396]

@Pangolin Virtually every article mentioning the B-21 describe it as a 5th generation plane.

[@meintingles4396]

@Pangolin So the secretary of the airforce is wrong? "Then-Secretary of the Air Force Deborah Lee James stated that the B-21 is a fifth-generation global precision attack platform that will give the United States networked sensor-shoot capability, thus holding targets at risk."

[@meintingles4396]

@Pangolin Please reread my first post. I specifically stated aircraft, I did not say fighter. The context of the original post was indeed fighters, my point was expanding to it in regards to our technological advancements in comparison to other countries. This entire thread is absolutely ridiculous. I am unsure as to how such an innocuous and accurate remark has lead to this.

[@Scott11078]

My second ship was an Arliegh Burke class. Deck department would be slowly driven insane taking care of the ram coating the Burkes, the first class of stealth ships have. I remember my first encounter with it, "Oh wow it's kinda spongy..." Poke, poke suddenly "HEEEEY!!!!!!!!! NOOOOO!!! Do not poke the RAM, you better not be a picker!" At that point they felt the only way to keep it safe was an extra watch whose sole job was keeping people from destroying the RAM apparently really bored people became compelled to pick at the RAM. Allegedly someone managed to pick an entire surface clean and our radar signature exploded. Our creative captain used it to advantage stating well no one is gonna look at our radar return and think it's a Burke.

[@stevenhoman2253]

Hi Alex, so glad you're available to flesh this out for me in detail. I have been expressing my interest in the newest ceramic RAM, as an article of faith, without knowing fully what its properties were, apart from being harder wearing, and less prone to high speed ablation.

[@briancrane7634]

The J20 is not a stealth platform. An Indian Air Force colonel said that the Russian-made radar in his MIG picked them up easily at long ranges...nothing special...

[@HailAzathoth]

its chinese what do you expect lmao

[@hphp31416]

it's probably stealthier than su27 derivatives but nothing like f35

[@jan_phd]

I use those same coatings, underwater, to absorb ultrasonics and to build ultrasonic transducers. The major mode is total internal reflection, rather than bulk thermo conversion.

[@Two-Checks]

What's more important than the coating is the security of the server on which the formula is stored.

[@Ryuondo]

I could imagine that new ceramic coating being useful in making 4th gen aircraft more survivable in a modern near peer air war.

[@BravoCheesecake]

The SU-57 should not be considered a stealth fighter. Look at those exposed rivets. Those engines The "mighty" dragon has canards. Let's get real lol

[@justachipn3039]

🤣🤣👍👍 I know right... been saying that forever, and it's in your face "stealth" 🤣🤣

[@nfineon]

Agree it's 4.5 gen, not 5th. Their new su-75 is seemingly stealthier and might qualify for gen 5 status but is probably decades away from serial production. The su-57 is a failure given how few there are.

[@Ilyak1986]

By the time the Su-57 gets operational, assuming it ever does, it's going to be an absolute dinosaur in comparison to the various 6th gen programs. The F-22 raptor already outperforms it in just about every possible way except *MAYBE* WVR maneuverability, and that's being generous.

[@that.schamp]

Ssshhhhhh.... Let the Chinese and Russian leadership have their fantasy. Because they have a cultural and institutional inability to pass negative feedback up through their organizational hierarchies, their leadership can see everything wrong with us, and nothing wrong with themselves, so they continuously overestimate themselves and underestimate us. As long as their leadership embraces ideologies that bring us into conflict, it is best to keep it that way.

[@Bingbangohmigollygod]

The future of stealth is hard to see

[@820hurleyj]

Now it makes sense as to why there have been so many problems with stealth aircraft.

[@Architek79]

Alex - thank you for breaking down the costs and impact of RAM. General public complain about shortages and/or lack of specific combat capabilities. I like how you stated “stealth funding and development is truly rich country problem’s”

[@12345678sharad]

The advancement in RAM would be a game changer, great video, I have been playing DCS lately and I didn't yet the acronyms at all 5th generation stealth etc thank you for letting common people understand how these systems work

[@davids3905]

I can't be the only one concerned a prof named "Xu" has leaked this new tech to the CCP

[@gandalfff69]

J20 suddenly hits .001m2 RCS

[@Dasycottus]

You are. She grew up in China. Then she moved here to enjoy the benefits of a free and open society. She is a US citizen with a security clearance. Do you really think DOD didn't vet her?

[@ThomasLee123]

Excellent, as usual, Alex. Always enjoy your factual approach and your mastery of English which unfortunately seems to be lacking in most other venues these days.

[@randyrobey5643]

Discussion of the new material which is referred to in the video title begins at 14:28.

[@IvorMektin1701]

Thank you

[@Unpopularopinionbutitsok]

Lol appreciate it

[@georgehilario3544]

For real dude he talks way too much of nothing

[@georgehilario3544]

Talk about the new yellow Lego piece and he'll have to go through the history of Lego, the manufacturing process of the plastic, the story of the ceo of Lego, and the last 3 minutes will be about the actual yellow piece with fillers there too.

[@br4nd0nh347]

Thanks I was 12 minutes in and was about to close the video.

[@WynnofThule]

I love how you made the thumbnail look like a DoD PowerPoint

[@pro_gemer]

audio in your content has improved so much since i dmd you on twitter, glad seeing my favorite youtube series evolving!

[@ponchoremerize5508]

Making the F-35 the most expensive military program in history!

[@moonasha]

are you gonna talk about those mysterious mirror sheen F-117s and F-22s that have been spotted?

[@dirt_ripper8734]

I had a ceramic ram once but my wife was a steelers fan so she broke it and threw it away

[@MrTiti]

tahts my kind of humor, thanks!

[@RandomExitsJT]

It's like a variation on Occam's razor. The simplest explanation, the simplest solution, is usually the right one.

[@madbain79]

I hope they are watching Cheryl Xu like a hawk

[@johndoh5182]

One contention with this video and the issues with RAM along with failing at high speeds. As you said, operating above a certain speed is not allowed except for emergency. Well, that actually means fighting. You can actually train in aircraft where the coating is damaged or simply replaced with a coating that's durable. Then when you get into a real fight, you can move into position sub sonic which is the purpose of stealth. Once engaged it's one plane vs. the other, but even a plane with some damage to some surfaces is going to do better in a fight based on the weapons being used than a plane that has no stealth coatings or shapes. Yes, it will help to replace RAM as technologies allow, but the US military can train and fight with stealth in a way that isn't so financially draining, with the exception of aircraft on ships. Since pilots train from carriers, and a carrier needs to be 100% ready to fight when at sea in an operating theater, there's no way to train higher speed fighting without damaging materials. Having said that, you could shift Navy pilot training to shore facilities for high speed training and then once on ships, the training is about stealth.

[@wpnexp336]

Frankly, most “high speed” training can be conducted in a simulator.

[@frenstcht]

I think we've reached the point where 2011 assessments of the F-35 plus five bucks will get you a cup of black coffee at Starbucks.

[@billyruffian1426]

Wrapping a B2 in tin-foil would have precisely the same effect for a fraction of the price.

[@Steve_Hayden]

Showing off the SU-57 @ 6:56 , you can see the rivots in the plane (everywhere) , wouldn't that kill its stealthy capabilities?

[@dgour2004]

Su-57 is largely only considered stealth by Russian fan boys

[@Steve_Hayden]

@@dgour2004 Do you don't think it's as stealthy as the Russians claim? Rule 1: never ever believe what the Russians say.

[@dgour2004]

@@Steve_Hayden I believe India when they said one of the reasons they pulled out was lack of stealth. All the other obvious stuff just reinforces this is not a highly stealthy design.

[@m3talgame20]

Issue with ceramic is cracking. Rapid heating and cooling can crack it. Airframe stress can crack it. The cracks can be tracked and locked by high frequency targeting radars. It's like aerogel with nucleation sites that match the high band frequencies you want to entrap.

[@solarissv777]

that most likely what they are working on now

[@tonysu8860]

I don't know if what you say is necessarily true. We don't know what the bonding medium is and the ceramic is likely in particles, not a solid substance like a ceramic pot.

[@RahulDevanarayanan]

This is patently untrue, the F-35 has the best performance characteristics of any aircraft in the U.S. air force bar the F-22 (which lacks the dramatic sensor integration and cost benefits of the 35). Its thrust-to-weight ratio is second to none, and its maneouvreability is excellent thanks to thrust vectoring.

[@tonysu8860]

This aircraft ceramic coating sounds a lot like the newer ceramic and graphene coatings available commercially for both professional and home car detailing. This car detailing technology is pretty incredible, when applied it can mean not having to wash and wax a car monthly(recommended). Assuming that a visible "liquid look" isn't as important as application time and protection, I can see how coatings including even a spray application can work on aircraft... A change of formulation would be necessary to increase the amount of ceramic or graphene particles, and to increase the curing time as necessary (for cars typically 2 minutes between coatings, 24hrs to a week for full curing). For cars, the result is usually an expected durability of 6-12 mths for the cheapest coatings and at least 7 years for the more expensive (typically approx $100 for 10 oz). Although car applications typically are extremely expensive due to needing a full day's work of prep and application, if an aircraft was less concerned about looks I'd imagine the process could be automated enough to achieve at least the same kind of durability at relatively low manual cost per application with its special, more concentrated formulation. This is not rocket science and it worries me a bit that the basic concept and maybe even a good part of the needed formulation is so widely and publicly available, but it also means that this extremely expensive and necessary cost component to fly stealth aircraft likely can be brought down very, very low to the cost of relatively common car detailing.

[@mattnsac]

No, this is like ceramic header coatings used on exhaust systems. Applied like paint? Check. Handles extreme temperatures? Check. Looks like Chrome when sprayed and polished? Check. Everything about this looks like spraying jets with Cerakote exhaust coatings over some insanely complex system.

[@grahamrushall6044]

Keep up the great work Alex. You are one of the best at what you do.

[@59seank]

I'm surprised this discovery is being published in public journals.

[@craigkdillon]

Paraphrasing Sen. Dirksen, "A trillion here, a trillion there, pretty soon, you are talking about real money."

[@MiserableJosephson]

It was inevitable. After all, you can't spell ceramic without "RAM"

[@24tanksalot]

I have found your videos to be spot on one as well as they keep my full attention very Nicely done sir very well done indeed

[@Shrinkingviolett2]

I live right by the 388th. Love seeing the F-35’s taking off every day.

[@Ionizap]

1080p please, I dream of 4k from this channel.

[@chrissartain4430]

Always ahead of the curve, Thanks Alex for all your work in bringing us tomorrow news.

[@Chrischi3TutorialLPs]

Just in case any reformers come along and point out how China can track the F-35 anyway, so what? The F-35 is designed to be hard to shoot down. Knowing where it is and being able to guide a missile there are two very different things. Any civilian airport has the radar system to - in principle - locate an F-35. However, they can, owing to limitations of physics, only pinpoint the position to about half a kilometer. What you need to get a weapons grade lock is a high frequency radar beam with the accuracy to guide the missile towards the target until its internal systems can take over. That high frequence beam is what the F-35 is optimized against, not traffic control radar.

[@dgour2004]

Not to mention even that positional information is not available at the furthest extent of the radars coverage. Still holds true that stealth doesn't mean undetectable, it means delaying detection and targeting

[@mojothemigo]

@@dgour2004 But in REAL WORLD situations they will get targeted because...I'm sorry, I'm joking. I am as frustrated with those wackos as you are. I think the ones who say that wacky crap and believe it are "on the spectrum". I don't mean this against every person who is autistic, but I have noticed the hard to follow logic in very long posts trying that add up too goofy mathematical equations on why F 35 is bad while avoiding any real debate about stealth and blowing it off. As far as I can tell, they really just don't understand it because it is hard to measure the same was speed, turning angles, and the speed at those angles are turned. I am not kidding, I truelly believe this. I think a lot of other "reformers" just don't want military spending, particularly on offensive fighter jets and "it doesn't work" can be more affective then "we don't need to spend that money no matter how good the fighters are".

[@tonysu8860]

You've got it wrong. It's widely known that stealth aircraft are easily using low band radar. But, just knowing a stealth aircraft may be in a general area is not sufficient to and the aircraft which generally requires high band radar.

[@Chrischi3TutorialLPs]

@@tonysu8860 That's exactly what i said.

[@matchesburn]

"Just in case any reformers come along" "Anyone that doesn't think the F-35 is the greatest thing to ever take to the air is automatically a reformer with a Pierre Sprey altar in their garage. LALALALA! I CAN'T HEAR YOU!" "China can track the F-35" You mean detect. Tony Su was actually correct here, despite you brushing him off and saying, "That's what I said." You... actually didn't say that and he successfully corrected you. "What you need to get a weapons grade lock is a high frequency radar beam with the accuracy to guide the missile towards the target until its internal systems can take over. That high frequence beam is what the F-35 is optimized against, not traffic control radar." ...Is this a bad time to bring up that it's not 1973 anymore and the line between search radar and FCR is one very damned big blurred line? And how systems like SMART-L (which is labeled "L" for IEEE L-band designation but it's actually NATO D-band despite them technically both being the same band but using both systems... Thanks, Germany) exist which can search AND track and do so in a band that the F-35 is horribly optimized for? Yes, I know most modern systems that you're thinking of *_DO_* operate in the X/Ku band. Most, yes. But not all. And given how we've dedicated so much to optimizing radar cross section for X/Ku and some of E/F (S-band) bands it's only a matter of time before lower wavelength FCRs start getting proliferated. Hell, they're already playing around with making VHF more accurate for tracking and targeting with software processing and array transmission/receiving numbers. It will never replace or come near a FCR, obviously, but if you shot something like an S-400 which is more akin to firing a small bus at the offending target and having a warhead up to 400 pounds in size... You're also getting too close for comfort for being a threat if you can narrow down your accuracy even by several hundred yards/meters.

[@bowencreer3922]

This could increase the viability and longevity of the b2, f22, as well as the f-15 silent eagle.

[@onerimeuse]

I'm not gonna lie, it's kinda funny now that the Russian stealth fighter is called the "felon". Very fitting.

[@guitarninjarick8179]

I feel like the B-21 Raider has this RAM on it. The way they described that the maintenance on the Raider would b lower and that they could deploy it in theater seems to suggest a new type of RAM on it.

[@rickjames18]

Excellent content! Just hope this new ceramic RAM doesn’t fall into the wrong hands. Far too often adversaries get a hand on advanced research which could leave the US fighting against our own tech. I hope they are taking all precautions.

[@fortunatodeguzman8017]

Yes,while still in testing stage at Americas facilities,why the media like internet is carelessly leaking the info to the public?...Was there a media outfit which were a secret communist sympathizer?.. a subtle, meek mole in the midst of America and its Allied Forces?....

[@HubertofLiege]

I’m sure the Biden family won’t sell it

[@bronsondixon4747]

We’re screwed, Cheryl Xu did her undergrad in mainland China. Beijing got a copy of all of that research our federal government funded.

[@wolfgangjr74]

@@HubertofLiege Really? Dont you people get tired of all the Qanon nonsense?

[@bigviper64]

Problems will always exist, especially in the latest advances in technnology, however THIS is the way we learn, this is the way we advance..by overcoming those issues.

[@waynebynoe99]

HEY! THIS IS'NT THE TECHNOLOGY! THAT CAN LAUNCH!!! THIS CIVILIZATION BEYOND!! THE STARS!!!

[@dredriesen2827]

Balanced, up to date and very informative. My compliments!

[@JamesLaserpimpWalsh]

Goodness me, F-22 is such a pretty plane. Not as good as Spitfire. F-22 has no vertical lines, but Spitfire has no straight lines. It's all graceful curves and ellipses. lol. Cheers for the vid mate.

[@sunkistlbc]

Can we already drop the narrative that the SU-57 is a stealth fighter. It’s at best a 4.5 fighter with limited stealth capabilities.

[@salsuginusrex5196]

Thanks for the idea for my materials science report!!!

[@djoswald9128]

Excellent news cast

[@terminalarray1047]

I really hope that ceramic coating research from that university is secure and not in the public domain.

[@fn0rd-f5o]

should paint my car with that stealth stuff so the police can't catch me speeding ; )

[@plaigeous]

Awesome vid yet again. Congratulations on your success and look forward to seeing your next instalment.

[@kevinmccarthy8746]

I like the show. I love the subject, and you presented the information very well. No immaturity or weird noises.

[@davidwenger8502]

I've wondered if the hard points on jets and the missiles and weapons can be made steathy. So your not worried about loosing steath when weapon doors open. And your explanations of the maintenance of steath was very eye opening. I knew there was constant maintenance but wasn't aware of the speed limitations due to heat.

[@aphil4581]

Didn't you ever see pictures of the black bird's and exp f-15's coming back after making record breaking speed run's. Not much paint left on those brand new birds!

[@OLDMANTEA]

Crazy how this info if real, can be had on KZbin

[@jamesmetz5147]

Thank You.

[@lsaffron9752]

I believe the future of stealth coatings will be graphene, though modern ceremics are truly amazing, in so many totally different fields.

[@jamesdowell5268]

What does RAM feel like to touch? Fine sandpaper? Or perfectly smooth?

[@smig95]

So my car that was ceramic coated should just be eating police radar then! LOL!

[@Kenny-yl9pc]

If the professor has famliy in China Im pretty sure they will try something. Im really scared for her and her family. I hope we can protect her.

[@jerrybarrax5618]

Exciting stuff. Thanks for another informative vid!

[@eansmith4925]

Cheryl Xu? Does that mean China already has the technical specs?

[@grider421]

China owns all our politicians so yes they know what we know! Treasonous bastards!

[@bikescarsandeverythinginbe7309]

I didn’t see any fighters in this video. Oh! I guess that’s what stealth is.

[@j.benjamin3782]

Truncating the F-35 buy would be the greatest thing to happen to the Air Force in decades. Its lack of range and limited armament severely limit its utility as a lethal platform.

[@pauljs75]

There's a possible new tech based on the same material and process used to make commercially available RFID tags. It's more or less the same kind of laminated circuit sheets, but the individual transponder tags aren't stamped or otherwise cut out of such batch sheets. The idea is to take one incoming signal frequency and re-emit it at hundreds of different frequencies with thousands of little transponder circuits in the film. For instance if you had a radar looking for 100W return from a surface at a certain frequency its emitting, it's going to have problems finding less than 1W of power coming back at each of the split up frequencies re-emitted by the micro-transponders. Inverse square law could even make that worse at range. Such a circuit laminate material could be based on a silver-graphene film for instance, which might explain how some of the newer test-bed aircraft look without an overcoat of some other paint. There's probably some other tricks needed to make it more effective still, but sheets of that material could be applied quickly to a lot of things giving them some stealth characteristics even if not initially designed with it in mind. Any other info to prove this? No. But the technology and means are there if it happens to work. It's a novel application of something that could be considered off-the-shelf and would be relatively cheap in production given that it's already used for something else in commercial applications.

[@philoso377]

It doesn’t make sense to claim wing’s leading edge is subject to supersonic heating.

[@jaymacpherson8167]

“Polymers” are a widely varied group of chemicals. Regarding heat affecting polymers, the ceramic tiles on re-entry vehicles are affixed to the spacecraft with…a polymer. Polyimides can be very heat resistant, far above 250 C. Why don’t radar absorbing materials use polyimides? I’m not privy, but I do know they cost a lot more than most polymers.

[@udeychowdhury2529]

Another great video, would love to know more about active flow control

[@MardukTheSunGodInsideMe]

Love the badass new music!

[@watchthe1369]

A Thicc15-C straight out of ceramakote....... I expect the layering is a bit more than just a coating of paint, maybe more like the polymer tapes used on antenna leading edges. Even then a harder coating more durable than paint would be a big change escpecially if it is a primer layer under a regular paint coating.

[@garypease7414]

The greatest use of stealth aircraft will be the use of non stealth aircraft as decoys for enemy targeting. Most of the preliminary fighting will be done with stealth, but finished with older non stealthy, sledgehammers.

[@ponz-]

Thanks for another great video!

[@bits2646]

SU-57 has actually 5 delivered to date

[@Llyrin]

Mach 5. That was my favorite race car as a kid. “Here he comes, here comes Speed Racer, he’s a demon on wheels.” 😇

[@FoxtrotYouniform]

GO, SPEED RACER! GO, SPEED RACER! GO, SPEED RACEEER, GOOOOO!

[@Bob-sd7qr]

Thanks, you just made me sing the whole song. Now I can't get it out of my head! 😉✌️

[@Llyrin]

@@Bob-sd7qr LOL! I had that theme song in my head all day after I posted that. 😂

[@Bob-sd7qr]

@@Llyrin I'm actually still doing it! I'm going crazy ova here 🤪🤣

[@Llyrin]

@@Bob-sd7qr 😂

[@jellymop]

An awesome direction to take it is to develop a system that absorbs radar and releases it at a different EM frequency. Radar to heat, or radar to electrical energy. Basically stealing tiny bits of power over extended flights. Just gotta get the efficiency up. This is super cool.

[@pauljs75]

I picture it can be done. If you have some idea of how RFID tags are produced, this material may be rather easy to scale up in production using existing processes.

[@rab6453]

The problem with speed is the sonic boom which is easy to detect with acoustic sensors .So radar is a no problem as soon as the boom hits the sensor you know where they are no matter the radar signature.

[@wolfgangjr74]

True but you still cant get a lock on them until they get relatively close so its not as bad as it seems. Fighter interceptors would be more of an issue. If they can find you that is.

[@lamarkingram5320]

Alex does it again! Great video, brother!

[@StrongHarm]

"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" That's a surprising statement, when the F-35 achieved a 70:1 air-to-air kill ratio (with an equally impressive air-to-ground ratio), along with the highest availability rate of any aircraft in the inventory (maintenance level). As far as cost is concerned, the F-35 is the cheapest aircraft we have in the air. How can that be? Let me explain: $6k was the original cost PFH of new A-10s at 1970's inflation. You can't fly a 10 passenger business jet for $6k PFH today. The A-10 is now way beyond it's service life so it requires much more maintenance than when it was new. This is not to mention the SLE mandatory wing replacement program and out of production parts that have to be special ordered. The A-10 now costs $30k PFH and the F-35 is $35k PFH. However, let's say the A-10 was still $6k. The F-35 would still be cheaper to field. The A-10 requires about a dozen support aircraft to operate in any AO, denied territory or not. They require an AWACS with their fighter escort, 2 flights of fighters for CAP overwatch, and SEAD aircraft to take care of ground anti-air threats. Let's say those aircraft average $20k PFH each. That's $240k PFH to support A-10 operations. The F-35 on the other hand, was designed to operate with minimal support. It has better sensors than the AWACS, it's capable of a 70-1 air-to-air kill ratio so it can clearly fight it's own air battles, and the onboard AI can identify/target/prepWeapons for a ground threat in less than a second while still outside of its WEZ .. which is better than any SEAD dedicated aircraft in the inventory (not that they really care about ground threats..). The A-10 has to wait for the AO to be cleared by it's support aircraft before it can go in. That can take hours. This is why the A-10 has a long loiter time, because it's not built to fly in a contested AO. Once the AO is cleared, the A-10 can stay there for a long time and wait for CAS requests. However, what if your son is pinned down by an ambush and his unit is requesting CAS and the threat for air assets is uncertain? An A-10 isn't going there to help him, but an F-35 will have no problem. Let's say that it's an uncontested AO and the A-10 is flying to provide Close Air Support. That bird is only capable of 300knots, that's 20min for 100nm (typical size of grid). Once the A-10 arrives he gets 9-line talkon by the JTAC to start identifying his target, which takes 5min. He has to put his targeting pod on coordinates and slew around and visually identify the good guys and the bad guys; that takes 10 min avg. The A-10 is doing a gun run (yay, brrrrt.. :p ). He's carrying 1200 rounds of 30mm (which was meant to kill primitive tanks.. it's as long as your forearm). They do an average of 3 runs with 3sec bursts firing 70 rounds per second (at $140 a round that's $88,200 in bullets). It takes 10 more minutes to spend half his load blanketing an area the size of a football field to make sure the threats are all dead (can't see them after the first run due to the smoke and dust). Total time was 20min to get there and 25min to lay down the brrrrt. A dozen aircraft were tied up the entire time to support him. An F-35 is called in, contested or uncontested it doesn't matter. 5min to fly to the AO alone and invisible to radar. *Before* he arrives the JTAC on the ground provides grid coords via toughbook straight to the aircraft AI computer (which is even more powerful than Submarine computers). The AI (which is like a "digital RIO") has already zoomed the EOTS lenses many miles away and visually identified friendlies and enemies via tranceiver and optical recognition, cross referenced with ground based intelligence systems... within milliseconds. The pilot *looks through the cockpit floor* with augmented reality in his visor, at 5 red circles superimposed on the ground many miles away. The computer provides recognition profiles which the pilot validates casually marking the targets as fair targets. The pilot can also see several green circles on the ground for visualization of friendly positions. The computer has prepared a Small Diameter Bomb dialed in to create a cone of blast 100ft off the ground and in the proper direction to ensure only those 5 enemies will be eliminated with the lowest probability of collateral damage. This has all taken 3 seconds. The pilot decides that he's going to use guns (despite the superior performance of the SDBs and the AI's recommendation). He gets 10 miles from the target, nose level, and pulls the gun trigger on the stick. This trigger doesn't fire the 25mm GAU-22 cannon but rather says "OK computer, you can kill those targets" as long as he's holding it down (man-in-middle autonomy). The AI autopilot takes control of the flight surfaces and steers the nose onto the 5 soft targets. At 4nm the bird puts out 5 bursts of 5 rounds very rapidly, correcting between each burst and firing only at the exact millisecond when the highest probability of hit exists based upon thousands of sensors updating millions of times per second. This takes another 3min.. and 25 rounds total. Subsequent gun runs are not necessary. Total time was approx. 5min transit then 6min to perform like an electronically invisible aerial sniper. Zero additional assets required, except maybe a refuel tanker sometimes. Total cost F-35: approx $7,000 for 11min and ammo. Total cost A-10: $268,200 45min and ammo. Total value to Father with son on active duty: Take my money and support my boy with the F-35 please.

[@sabercruiser.7053]

👏👏💪💪👍👍

[@matchesburn]

"The A-10 requires about a dozen support aircraft to operate in any AO, denied territory or not." "Total cost F-35: approx $7,000 for 11min and ammo. Total cost A-10: $268,200 45min and ammo." ...This is some very badly written fan fiction. Would have to give it a 1/10. Would not read again.

[@StrongHarm]

@@matchesburn I'm a former military engineer and I've been used as a Subject Matter Expert... not that I'm interested in whether you think I'm an honest man or not... they're few and far between these days, so I wouldn't blame you.

[@matchesburn]

@@StrongHarm "I'm interested in whether you think I'm an honest man or not" 1.) People that "aren't interested" don't tend to make public comments. 2.) I *_know_* you're not an honest man, for claiming absurd horseshit like "a dozen other aircraft have to support the A-10 even in permissive environments" which is a flat out *_lie._* You had an agenda here. It was plainly obvious. I don't know *_why_* you're a shill, but I can only hope you're not doing it for free because that would be even more cringe than what you're already doing. Also, if Lockheed-Martin happens to be hiring paid shills to fluff the F-35 which it so desperately needs even I'll gladly do it for a check if there's enough digits in it.

[@StrongHarm]

@@matchesburn Heh.. no, it's just this one man's experience and opinions. You're kind of a prima-donna aren't you? To the best of my knowledge, everything I said is factual and easily verifiable, although I did use cost estimates rather than to the penny values, if you're desperately seeking a way to discredit me. You can educate yourself on the subject, or you can take the fast easy path and consume a few soundbites from CNN if you wish. Did you hear about the recent discovery where they found that nonsense repeated within an echo chamber won't eventually become fact, regardless of how often it's echoed? You question my word so violently because I've said something which lacks the comfortable anti-defense-spending / anti-US-military echo you're listening for. Carry on.

[@DaivoHelloworld]

30 • What are the non-negotiable data outputs and where should I focus after addressing them? Prioritizing user groups and their data needs identifies the most critical outputs to address first, typically for senior decision-makers. Thinking more long-term and holistically, public asset owners should map data needs against their mandates and business strategy. • What visibility do I really need into my portfolio? Speed can be more important than accuracy in certain circumstances. For example, many asset owners complain that data for alternatives is less up to date than for equities, but timelines may not impede a total portfolio view for real estate data. Similarly, data preferences can differ by user group: Some data consumers need raw data, others require it checked, while others need official released data. The transformation process is also critical. A data transformation is a journey whose conditions and objectives often evolve. While multi-year and multi-million-dollar programs focus on the initial data problems to solve, data needs change and new challenges emerge. • The baseline: Understand how processes, people and data intersect from end to end Public asset owners need a clear and holistic view of their processes and how multiple data user groups, inputs and outputs intersect. Creating this view helps the institution break down organizational silos. • The endpoint: Establish the end state and the transition state A typical path to designing the end-state data model is to establish a target information model (TIM), a target architecture model (TAM) and a target operating model (TOM), along with a transition systems architecture (TSA) that bridges the gap between the baseline and the end state. • The mindset: Be agile and focus on outcomes Successful institutions adopt an agile or outcome-focused approach to design and implementation instead of tackling the entire universe of data. They focus, for instance, on a specific security’s flow throughout the organization, identify problems and solutions from this analysis and apply these lessons elsewhere as appropriate. This approach also enables adaptation as an institution’s data needs evolve over time. 31 Finally, transformation initiatives require people engagement----from institutional leaders to end-users to service providers. Each of these groups plays an instrumental role. • Leadership provides vision Interviewees at several public asset owners emphasized the critical role of leadership in driving data transformation projects. Although there is no consensus among interviewees about the value of a single institutional data czar, it is clear the C-suite must be fully onboard, if not leading data transformations. • Cultural change is important While a central data function can serve as a helpful incubator of data initiatives, data should be integral to everyone’s work. Public asset owners that have successfully transformed data use in their organizations have invariably deployed purposeful initiatives that encourage and reinforce data-driven decision-making. • The right providers contribute to success A successful data strategy involves collaborating with the right external entities, from data providers to custodians to key technology vendors. Success often depends on selecting the providers that are willing and able to collaborate in building a data-centric future. In particular, the right custodian can play a critical role as the source of an institution’s most fundamental data. Recently, custodians have enhanced their business models by integrating deeply with best-of-breed technology to deliver data integration, harmonization, aggregation and analytics. Data Must Move to the Core Data Must Move to the Core Interview Perspectives “It’s not just about the technology and systems. We also need to transform our mindset and our teams’ level of engagement when it comes to data.” Central Bank “Eventually, we won’t have data scientists sitting alongside our portfolio managers: our portfolio managers will be data scientists.” Public Pension Fund3031Focusing on Fundamentals: Cloud and Cybersecurity A data-centric operating model must have an adequate technology stack at its heart. The most frequently cited technology challenge is not cost or vendors but integrating new technology and tools. While innovations such as AI and robotics have yielded benefits for the front office, they have yet to do the same in the middle office. Strikingly, a more mature technology, namely, cloud, is still capturing outsized mindshare. Cybersecurity, with the potential to scale up or down in response to the geopolitical environment, alsodrive.google.com/file/d/1dsjaJXPWgfmkMQkTmL4VmLgSHvJu-wqp/view?usp=drivesdk Charts Guide (where the data from this tab is used in Charts tab) Name of Chart Parameter 1 Parameter 2 Total Miles Distance Miles Avg Pace Pace Fastest Time Time Distance Over Time Distance Miles Time Pace Over Time Pace Time Histogram of Elevation Elevation Feet Time Total Runs Type Where are you running? City Functions Guide LOOKUP (used in column C) to create category "=LOOKUP(HOUR(cell),{0,12,18,21},{""Morning"",""Afternoon"",""Evening"",""Night""})&"" Run""" CONVERT (used in D and H) to desired unit "=CONVERT(E2, ""m"", ""mi"")" QUERY (used in Top 10 Runs tables in Charts tab) to ask a question and filter data from Data tab "=QUERY(Data!A2:I89, ""select A,B,D,F,I where (C = 'Morning Run') order by I limit 10"",0)" "=QUERY(Data!A2:I89, ""select A,B,D,F,I where (C = 'Evening Run') order by I limit 10"",0)"

[@ShabazzTBL]

I literally was wondering, and googled, if ceramics could be used for stealth coating right before I started watching this video. I’m just not a materials scientist so I couldn’t actually make it happen 😂

[@The_ZeroLine]

C-RAM, but I’m not talking about close in anti-air guns.

[@briantaylor8197]

I had a guy just outright call me a liar when talking about stealth coating wearing off, especially leading edges, and other places. Hope they watch this.

[@user-py9cy1sy9u]

Ceramics in that paper were made by high temperature...

[@istvansipos9940]

this seems to be so good, it should not have reached the public in any form. My guess: it became news because it was started at a civilian university? idk.

[@dougkennedy4906]

My question would be. Would the ceramic coating bennift a 4th generation aircraft? Like the F16, F18,and F15.

[@whatdoesntkillyoumakesyous6707]

Nope,its not only about RAM its the shape as well

[@tonysu8860]

IMO probably yes, but limited because the basic design of the aircraft reflects back to the source so well. If the coating is inexpensive enough I would agree that we will see these coatings on 4th Gen aircraft as well since every little bit would help

[@mikeharvey9184]

And this is why the F-15EX (and Block III Super Hornet) makes so much sense as a supplemental/companion aircraft to the F-35 and F-22. It's like taking your new Corvette to get groceries all the time... if you don't need the speed, maybe save the wear and tear and take your old, reliable Toyota for that.

[@ChucksSEADnDEAD]

No, it's a jobs program because otherwise Boeing would have to close the St. Louis plant. Look at procurement numbers. The USAF has 144 but proposed cutting to 80. The Navy asked for Super Hornet production to stop and it's lawmakers and lobbyists that want it to continue. The Corvette comparison makes no sense. The F-15EX is a very expensive 4.5 gen with twin engines. Its operational costs are on par with the F-35. It's a Corvette too!

[@joelbell9082]

Stealth what I find concerning is the fact that there are new radar systems field testedby our enemies That can detect and possibly destroy stealth aircraft

[@alienbutcher666]

I have already known how to mix ceramics with metal,layers are the key,because i worked it out 4 LO

[@patrickwelsing3308]

I loved it. You did great. Thank you.

[@HailAzathoth]

Lol you better believe the NGAD fighters are already using this.

[@tonychen1062]

If those “details “are extremely crucial to these stealthy fighter maintenance then don’t worry about China. If Japanese culture is all about details then Chinese is in the opposite directions. This is my personal observation after close work with these two different people and you can also observe the huge difference between these two countries by visiting them which I’d done before.

[@ericclausen6772]

America has to make sure that any jet that gets hit and crashes that every other jet with that craft instantly bombs it till it's dust so we don't loose anymore technology

[@NaturalTreeHugger]

10:48...wobbly wobble

[@joshm3484]

If RAM get inexpensive, effective, and durable enough, I wonder if it would become worth it to paint all aircraft and missiles with RAM.

[@cturdo]

It was surprising to see F-35s with peeling vertical tails on display at an airshow a few years ago.