Why are stealth planes black? Not blue like sky or even mirrors lol?

[WihGlah]

The paint is Radar absorbent. The original versions (F-117 / B2)  were actually very dark purple, and defined by the chemical composition and application method. Most of the early photos taken in specific lighting conditions to hide this.

 

The modern versions (F22/F35) are variations of grey. Most of the designs have a disruptive pattern.

 

Fun fact - radar systems can detect stealth planes, you just need to program the computer to detect a bird flying at 500 Knots on the right frequency. Gives a lot of false positives though.

[harryk]

I don't know if is the real reason, but it is a good justification.

 

You can easily see a black plane against a blue background. Its like putting a black dot on a blue piece of paper. But the atmosphere is nothing like a blue piece of paper. Its more like a blue fog. 75% of the atmosphere is below 36,000 ft. Stealth planes fly at 60,000 - 90,000 ft and nearly all the atmosphere is below them. The sky at 60,000 ft is dark. Above is space which is black. So really its more like looking at a black dot on a black piece of paper with blue tissue paper on top. Very hard to detect.

[mr moose]

2 hours ago, Captain Chaos said:

Hang on ... are you telling me I'm not fashionable?

 

 

  Hide contents

 

No, you're fine...

[ravenshrike]

On 6/13/2019 at 3:24 AM, Jurrunio said:

Definitely not mirrors, that's just seeking attention. These planes arent meant to be baits

In theory if you had an advanced enough computer and aerial control systems on the top of the plane you could use "randomly" changing surface geometry mirrors* on the underside to spoof radar. In practice that would probably never work though.

 

 

*Specifically, a material that mirrors radio waves really, really well.