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

[WolfLoverPro]

I mean..... I can see black in the sky easy 

 

however if it was blue like the sky then I wouldn’t ................ or put mirrors ?? Why black?????? 

 

 

Also what can can detect a stealth plane? I know radars can’t as the shape so like what could? And if it’s the shape why is it black lol?

[myselfolli]

That's pretty far off topic.

 

Also stealth planes are usually designed to not be detected by radars, they're not meant to be invisible to the naked eye

[lewdicrous]

At the altitude they fly in, it's pretty difficult to see them with your naked eyes.

They're covered in a coating/layer to make them invisible to radars, as @myselfolli mentioned and sometimes make them harder to detect using thermal sensors, etc.

Also, they're not always black.

13 minutes ago, WolfLoverPro said:

or put mirrors ??

I like this idea, so you can see yourself while getting stalked. /s

[Sauron]

Nobody cares if you can see them with the naked eye, by the time they're close enough for that it's too late. They only need to be invisible to radars.

[IntMD]

The older ones tend to be black (F117 & B2), however the newer F22 & F35 are usually painted more like standard grey. Pretty sure the older ones were specifically black, because they were generally to be flown in attacks at night as they weren't fast enough to not be caught be fighters if observered during the day and had no air-air weaponry e.g missles, butt they did have jammers etc..

[dgsddfgdfhgs]

black & dull is best colour to absorb radiation (all sorts of radiation, eg heat / light / UV etc)

[Jurrunio]

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

[GoldenLag]

51 minutes ago, WolfLoverPro said:

Also what can can detect a stealth plane?

Radar can detect a stealth plane, it is just more difficult. if you know the radar signature of the stealth jet it can be a lot easier to track it down. they are stealthy, but unlike Solid Snake under a box. you arent completely invisible. 

 

thermal signature is also a very common way to track down planes. though only effective in direct line of sight, it makes it easier for missile to tag on to it. 

[Stormseeker9]

Think mirrors would be uh, attention seeking.

 

most of us know that governments have been working on ‘cloaking’ devices to use in these aircrafts. 

 

That will be the next step, totally invisible until the bomb drops ...

[MrPoopyButtHole]

Its pretty crazy to think about the technology that exists in the world. I wounder about the stuff that is not public knowable yet.  

[AHaskin14]

commercial planes are white and you still see those right? With the brightness of the sky, any underside will appear much darker.

[cluelessgenius]

1. missions at night

2. high altidute makes color irrelevant

3. they are trying to absorb as miuch radiation as possible not reflect in all direction like a freaking beacon 

4. radar and heat signature are more important than cloaking for line of sight

5. im sure if some situation should break out and every country fletches their teeth again theyll have something ready pretty quickly thats virtually invisible. its just that right now theres no need

[Guest]

delete

 

[Norwegiantweaker]

3 minutes ago, Mr. horse said:

This is exactly why stealth planes are a tight nit secret and not sold to close allies a regular plans and what not.

If the fighter falls into the wrong hands its radar signature might be found and leaked making it not as useful as a stealth air craft.

probably why they have self destruct no ? 

[Guest]

delete

 

[Norwegiantweaker]

Just now, Mr. horse said:

Part of it, that and its safer to have a plan self destruct in the air then crash land in a city. The space shuttle has a self destruct for that very purpose.

depends what city eheheh. didnt know that space shuttles had it, neat 

[Guest]

delete

 

[GoldenLag]

27 minutes ago, Mr. horse said:

This is exactly why stealth planes are a tight nit secret and not sold to close allies a regular plans and what not.

If the fighter falls into the wrong hands its radar signature might be found and leaked making it not as useful as a stealth air craft.

It also make stealth planes awful peacetime intersceptors. 

 

By repeatably probing using recon and bombercrafts like the TU-95 you can test Radar against it as it approaches. 

[RejZoR]

It's a particular matte black. The idea behind it is to reflect as little radar signal as possible (aborbing) back to the emitter (radar unit). Using mirror would do the exact opposite. It's why yachts often have a highly reflective star shaped "ornament" somewhere high. So radars easily pick them up on sea where it's often problematic.

 

Sky blue and ground colors were used during WW2 when most of detection was visual. So, if you viewed the plane from above its upper half was in ground color so it blended with ground. Bottom half was usually sky blue to make them harder to see when looked at from the ground. No one does this anymore because today it's all radar detection.

[YaBoiWill]

The altitude that they fly makes it irrelvent, I think the U2 flew at some ridiculous altitude of like 70k ft. Seeing anything that far up with the naked eye is impossible. 

The paint is also designed to help absorb incoming radiation to try and make it less obvious from the ground.

The shape also helps to deflect radar to a different direction, along with cowlings over engines and exhausts to minimise the heat signature. 

[jdubya421]

It isn't only the color that makes them hard to detect, but the shape. They design them in such a way that only a small amount of the EM radiation is reflected back towards the generator. This means that to the radar it looks like something with a small cross-section, like a bird, and it might not even show up on the instrument. There are treatments that can be applied that absorb the radiation, but the shape is very important. This is why cops can use radar guns on your car, there is a large relatively flat surface that will bounce the radar back to the cop. If your car was made of sharp edges that were not flat to the cop, the car would reflect the radar signal in a different direction and the radar gun wouldn't see it.

[dalekphalm]

4 hours ago, Mr. horse said:

Very true.

Yeah, It was used on the Challenger mission.

Just to clarify, the orbiter ("Challenger" proper) did not have a remote destruct. The SRB's (as do basically all rockets) did. The SRB's were remotely destroyed by the safety range officer.

 

The Orbiter itself disintegrated. The crew section, which was a hardened container within the orbiter, actually survived the Main External Fuel Tank explosion, and subsequent Orbiter disintegration. It wasn't destroyed until it hit the ocean surface at over 200 MPH - that's likely when the crew died.

 

The Space Shuttle had no real abort system - under tightly controlled circumstances, the crew could bail out and use parachutes, but that wasn't practical in 99% of situations - no less an actual emergency like Challenger had.

[mr moose]

Because black is fashionable.  when was the last time you saw a biker wearing sky blue?

[dfsdfgfkjsefoiqzemnd]

5 minutes ago, mr moose said:

Because black is fashionable.  when was the last time you saw a biker wearing sky blue?

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

 

[mariushm]

Absorbs radiations better and has other properties people care more about ... being visible with your eyes is least of the worries.

 

And if we are to joke about it, easier to hide the fuel and oil leaks and keep them looking pretty 

 

No joke though, for example the Blackbird plane was designed on purpose to leak fuel on ground - as the plane goes to Mach 1 and above it heats up so much the titanium metal expands and seals the leaks ... if they designed it leak proof on the ground, the metal would expand and break

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_SR-71_Blackbird#Airframe,_canopy,_and_landing_gear