russia produces cheap stealth aircraft technology

Russia Develops Stealth Aircraft Using Plasma Screen Technology

Created: 19.10.2005 12:10 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 12:10 MSK

MosNews

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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