Stealth Aircraft: Secrets of Future Airpower

by Bill Sweetman

"Secrets of Future Airpower". Illustrated with black-and-white photos and sketches.

Genres: Science, Aviation, Military Fiction

96 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 1986

Reviews

[Andrew Ives · Rating 4 out of 5]

Published in 1986, this fairly lighweight hardback with a slightly teenage/tabloid feel to the front cover art and back cover blurb, with "our's" and "their's" written wrongly with apostrophes, didn't look too promising at first glance. As it turns out though, this is actually a pretty technical and scientific book, well-written and apparently well-researched. All the interior photos are black & white, coming from Northrop, Lockheed, Boeing etc, along with a few graphs and diagrams that I didn't always find particularly easy to fathom out. 'Stealth' means that the aircraft aims to avoid being detected in all manner of ways - visually, audibly, infra-red, radar, giving out much of its own radio and radar noise - which inevitably leads to discussions about its shape, its 'glint', its visibility from every angle, materials, electronic warfare, electronic counter measures, and how these affect its weight, speed, drag, lift, stability and performance. As one might imagine, even during the 1960s-80s era, this was quite a complex business. I dread to think what it would entail nowadays. For all the science and military jargon involved, the author manages to keep this book fairly accessible to the any layman with an enquiring mind, although the acronyms start to come a little thick and fast in places. Probably a great book in 1986, but feeling a little dated nowadays. 4.25/5

[Curtiss · Rating 3 out of 5]

A look at the development of the incremental technologies involved in building and flying stealth aircraft.