"I believe that the British have already figured out a way to detect stealth bombers and fighters." -- soopakrn ---- Everybody has already figured out many ways to detect stealth aircraft. Stealthy aircraft, just like all objects in the atmosphere are detectable. But that is not the issue, anyway. It's not sufficient to merely detect a stealthy aircraft, or any aircraft. The sir defense network must then identify and track the targets, decide how to engage them, prosecute the engagement, and then destroy the targets. Stealthy aircraft, like all aerial objects, are also trackable, engageable, and destructable. The whole point of stealth technology is to reduce the level/distance/capability/likelihood/etc. at which enemy air defense networks can detect, track, engage, and destroy the low observable aircraft. Typically, current air defenses rely on long range radars for early warning detection and tracking of ingressing aircraft. A typical EW radar is affected by reduced radar cross section of the target in approximately the following way (these are just rough, representative numbers, not actual data): Target...Target RCS...Tracking Range F-15.....10m2.........250km F-16.....3m2..........175km F-18E....1m2..........125km Typhoon..0.5m2........100km Rafale...0.1m2........85km F-117....0.001m2......60km B-2......0.0001m2.....40km Yes, one way to detect LO aircraft at longer ranges appears to be to use lower frequency radars (down in the VHF or even lower frequency range). However, that only gives you the ability to detect and track small RCS targets at longer ranges than the higher frequency radars could; low frequency radars aren't useful as target engagement radars. Thus, while detection and tracking may be more likely, and thus the probability of being able to engage and destroy the LO target should be improved, the actual engagement and destruction capability itself still has not been improved, and so LO still affords an overall increased capability over non-stealthy aircraft. There are other radar techniques and non-radar techniques that also should improve each of the parts of the kill chain as well, and thus if they're all assembled in the same air defense network, then theoretically in those areas defended in that manner, they should be more likely/better able to destroy LO aircraft. When such a network is actually in operation years from now somewhere, then with regard to that specific network in that specific country, if we need to engage targets defended by that network, then we can plan accordingly and make adjustments for the possibility our stealth aircraft may be less invulnerable against them. Don't hold your breath waiting for that to happen. Stealth isn't going away or being rendered obsolete any decade soon. Displacedjim

None of You mentiones good oldfashioned visual observation.

IR? I know stealth aircraft now have heat reducing properties but how ggod are they compared to the latest detectors?

There is a pertinant artical in the recent issue of the Naval Institute Proceedings. In short: the PRC has accquired one or more sets of old Soviet long wave radars. These are set along a coast and use the ionisphere and sea to form a conduit for over the horizon detection. The author claims that the Soviet operators were able to detect US type stealth aircraft and ships at ranges of 250 & 150 nautical miles at a very high rate with accuracy suitable for vectoring in interceptors to visual detection range. I'll leave it to the gentle reader to decide how valid the writers claims are. Note that a Serbian AA comander did nail a stealth aircraft without any special equipment. He just used carefull analysis, a little inovatived thinking, and stupidity of the USAF mission planners.

Roke Manor Research in the UK has developed a system to do this. Here is a page that explains it: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2001/06/20/stealth_detection_system_disappears/ and here is a discussion of the pros & cons http://www.theregister.co.uk/2001/06/21/readers_turn_searchlight_on_stealth/

To do "this"? To do what? Air surveillance detection and tracking does not equal being able to intercept. These are necessary first steps but are not sufficient in themselves to "counter" stealth. Stealth also reduces the ability of weapon systems to acquire the target and guide weapons to destroy the target. Furthermore, the degree of capability of a cell-phone or other distributed, bi-static or multi-static transmitter-receiver array to detect and track stealth aircraft is by no means proven or even demonstrated. And on top of that, to the extent that such a network is effective at detecting and tracking, that is only a threat to stealth aircraft to the extent that the enemy has such a system and it remains operationally networked into the adversary's IADS. Even in the face of some degree of air surveillance detection and tracking, this does not necessarily nullify the advantages of stealth even against that target nation, and still leaves all potential adversarys who lack such capability just as vulnerable as today. Displacedjim

The first thing that comes to mind would be dont get in a war with the US. ;)

Massive attack to destroy all their stealth aicrafts, ships etc :)

I don't think any old radar/radar processor would do.  It sounds like you'd need a radar system capable of terrain mapping resolution on the order of close to the size of an aircraft so that you could process the effect on the signal return of the terrain being blanked out by the aircraft, and some sort of modified GMTI to account for aerial movement ("AMTI") at some unknown distance closer to you than the apparent distance to the aircraft's radar shadow on the ground  But on top of that, if by "range it" you mean actually illuminate the stealth aircraft with a laser, then that means you need resolution on the order of less than the size of an aircraft so you can effectively aim the laser at it.  And then there's the effective range of a laser in atmosphere:  probably a few tens of miles, but I bet not a whole lot more than that.  As for undetectable, since you're illuminating the stealthy aircraft with both a radar signal and a laser--while that may or may not be detectable now--it certainly wouldn't be impossible to equip the aircraft to be able to detect that the blimps are looking for them.  Didn't you suggest this idea a while ago?