Below were the bony ridges of the chains of the great Hindu Kush range, the "killer of the Hindu." Rows of rocky treeless mountains are strictly parallel to the main ridge. Artsybashev looked at the horizon. There, ahead, the main ridge of shining peaks should rise, and the onboard radar, glowing green, showed this great wall.
"Hannibal is at the gate!" This meant that the group was already in place and the object was in sight. Artsybashev moved the lever on the remote control, and only his instinct told him that a hundred-kilogram plasma generator in the nose of the car had started working. A few seconds later, the MiG was enveloped in a bluish haze.
At that moment, his mark disappeared from the radar screens of the Kabul air hub and even from the indicators of the powerful A-50. Four planes at once melted in space, as if disappearing in the next "Bermuda Triangle" …
It is difficult to say who is the author of the idea of plasma stealth generators, but Maxim Kalashnikov (whose excerpt became the epigraph to the article) was far from the first. The idea quickly penetrated the masses and firmly seized the minds.
To understand how "plasma stealth" works, you need to travel back a hundred years in the past.
1919 year. J. Hettinger receives a patent for a plasma antenna. A device for emitting and receiving radio waves, which uses ionized gas instead of metal conductors. Hettinger's invention was not immediately applied. Only today, with the advent of plasma solid-state antennas, has it become possible to create high-speed data exchange networks (WiGig).
The military, on the contrary, was interested in the possibility of forming plasma antennas in open space. The main task is to increase the secrecy of military equipment. Such a system has better noise immunity and is capable of inertialess change of its parameters.
What do we end up with?
Like any metal containing free electrons, ionized gas (plasma) has excellent electrical conductivity.
Now let's turn to the basics of radar. Everything here is determined by the principle of changing the direction of movement of radio waves when passing through an inhomogeneous medium. And the higher the electrical conductivity of the reflecting medium, the stronger the reflection of radio waves from the interface between the two media.
The high reflectivity of the plasma is confirmed by the reflection of radio waves from the Earth's ionosphere.
Someone may be confused by the mention of a decrease in the visibility of military equipment. But the visibility decreases not due to some effects during the operation of the plasma antenna, but at the moment of its shutdown. Unlike metal structures, a plasma antenna exists only when the generator is running. And then she disappears without a trace.
There is also the effect of a temporary loss of radio communications during the descent of spacecraft from orbit. But the connection is lost not because of the invisibility of the spacecraft. This is a banal interference created in the antenna devices of the descent vehicle itself, caused by strong electromagnetic fields. The descent capsule can be seen from the Earth, but it is impossible to contact the astronauts sitting inside. If necessary, this problem can be solved in an original way. The engineers propose to use as an antenna … the very cloud of plasma that enveloped the descent vehicle.
Physics lesson. 9th grade. Topic: "Plasma"
The fourth state of aggregation of matter is partially or fully ionized gas. According to modern calculations, plasma is a phase state of 99.9% of baryonic matter in the Universe.
Distinguish between low-temperature (less than a million K) and high-temperature (over a million K) plasma.
1,000,000 K = 999,727 ° C.
It's hard to imagine.
Suppose the creators of the "stealth generator" chose a low-temperature plasma similar to that used in plasma cutters (torch temperature ~ 5000 to 30,000 ° C).
FOR ADMINISTRATIVE USE
The first (and last) flight of a top-secret "stealth aircraft" with a plasma generator installed on board
The luminosity and infrared signature of the "plasma cloud" will be similar to a meteorite, and the "stealth" itself is noticeable at a distance of thousands of kilometers.
Finally, a simple and well-known fact. Meteorites bursting into the Earth's atmosphere at a speed of 11 … 72 km / s (as well as ICBM warheads) are well detected by the radar, despite the plasma cloud enveloping them.
The methods of creating and maintaining a "plasma screen" around an aircraft are of no less interest. How to create plasma? How to apply for cladding? How, in this case, to protect the aircraft skin from heat?
These problems are so great that it is impossible to get rid of the “100-kg generator under the nose cone” (hello to M. Kalashnikov).
Finally, none of the proponents of plasma "stealth screens" think about where to get the energy from for a plasma cloud the size of an airplane!
Modern combat aircraft hardly have enough electricity to support the operation of avionics, electronic warfare systems and EDSU.
The power supply system for Su-27 fighters consists of two DC and AC systems. Two GP-21 integral drive-generators (2 x 30 kW) and two brushless DC generators (2 x 12 kW) are used as power sources.
As an example of a typical load - a powerful radar N035 "Irbis" (Su-35). Average radiation power - 5 kW, max. peak power - 20 kW.
For comparison: the simplest plasma incineration plant (plasma torch in a limited volume of the melting chamber, t = 1500 … 2000 ° C, productivity 250 kg / h) has an installed power of the plasmatron of 150 kW!
As a result, to create a plasma screen the size of an airplane, an entire nuclear power plant will have to be lifted into the sky.
Then the question will arise about the safety of the aircraft equipment and about the threat to the pilot's life due to the effect of high-intensity electromagnetic fields. However, thermal heating will put an end to this issue much faster.
Output
Before you rush to drill thousands of holes in the skin and put a nuclear reactor on the wing, you need to answer the question: FOR WHAT?
All attempts to find at least some information about the development and creation of "plasma stealth", as a rule, lead to the same fictitious interview with specialists of the Research Center. Keldysh.
“We made a decision to make“invisible”using technologies based on fundamentally different physical principles,” said the director of the Research Center. Keldysh Anatoly Koroteev. According to him, if a plasma screen is created near the aircraft, the aircraft becomes invisible to radars.
A simple example: if you throw a tennis ball at the wall, it will bounce and come back. Likewise, the radar signal is reflected from the aircraft and returned to the receiving antenna. The plane was found. If the wall has angular edges and they are inclined in different directions, then the ball will bounce anywhere, but will not return back. Signal lost. American stealth is based on this principle. If you cover the wall with soft mats and throw a ball at them, then it will simply flop on it, lose energy and fall next to the wall. Likewise, the plasma formation absorbs the energy of radio waves.”
- Legend from the Internet, 2010.
Dear scientist, Doctor of Technical Sciences Anatoly Sazonovich Koroteev, would hardly begin to talk like that about the properties of plasma. Obviously, some illiterate journalist came up with the "duck" about the stealth generator. Plasma education, by its nature, is not capable of absorbing radio waves, as described in the quoted “interview”.
Due to its high electrical conductivity, plasma cannot contribute to a decrease in radar signature. When turned on, such a “cloud” will shine with the brightest mark on the screens of all radars, and its visibility will become even higher than that of an all-metal aircraft. In all spectra without exception!
To say otherwise is like claiming that the earth is flat.
And it is rather alarming that the inhabitants of the most reading country in the world with a universal 10-grade education so easily believe in various nonsense.
In the meantime, the angularity of the forms, the parallelism of the edges, the use of radio-absorbing paints and composites. Sukhoi T-50 with stealth technology. The future of domestic aviation without plasma generators.
