- MOSCOW -- The Russian aircraft
industry has developed and will soon start producing stealth aircraft which
will radically differ from existing U.S. models. The Russian version uses
plasma screens to cushion and disperse radar waves, the Novye Izvestia
daily reports.
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- The newspaper quoted Anatoly Koroteyev, the head of the
Keddysh Research Center as saying that the plasma screen technology can
be used on any vehicle " from automobiles to combat aircraft. However,
it is most effective at high altitudes and thus is best used by the air
force.
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- Koroteyev said that "the new technology employs
a different physical principle than the one currently used by existing
U.S. stealth aircraft" the F-117 and B-2. Instead of reflecting the
radar wave the Russian technology completely disperses it by means of a
plasma screen created by a mobile plasma generator.
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- The generator is small and light. The device emits powerful
electron beams that ionize the air around the aircraft effectively creating
a plasma cloud around it.
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- The head of the Russian research institute said that
initially the plasma generator disrupted the work of on-board electronic
systems and prevented radio communication with ground control, but the
problems have been solved and the system has already passed tests set by
a Russian governmental commission.
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- Koroteyev added that the new technology can be used on
any aircraft, including older models and that it is radically cheaper than
the technology employed by U.S. stealth planes while being just as effective,
if not more so. He said that the aircraft equipped with the Russian system
will also be far superior to U.S. models in their flight and combat capabilities
"as the use of the plasma screen makes it unnecessary to alter the
shape of the aircraft."
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- The newspaper writes that similar research is being conducted
in the U.S., but the Russian version is so far the only plasma screen technology
in the world.
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- http://www.mosnews.com/
- news/2005/10/19/stealth.shtml
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