Israel Matzav

Smart Jews: Nanotech company figures out how to make planes invisble to radar

Sometimes the ingenuity in this country is just awesome.

A nanotech company here in Israel has figured out how to coat plane skins to make them invisible to radar. No, it's not perfect like stealth, but it's a heck of a lot cheaper (Hat Tip: Gershon D).

An Israeli company called Nanoflight is currently developing a special paint that makes drones, missiles, or war craft simply disappear. Or, to be more precise, they become very difficult to detect.

The critical stage in developing the paint, which was developed in a nanotechnology lab, has recently concluded, and a successful test run was conducted this week. For the test run, a thin layer of the material was painted on dummy missiles, and radar waves aimed at them had a difficult time registering them.

The paint particles don't make the missile's detection on the radar disappear completely, but make it exceedingly difficult to positively identify the object as a missile. In the future, this development will allow any missile or jet significantly decreased radar detection.

Even though they may not entirely disappear from radar screens, this technology is a considerably more cost-effective method to evade radar detection than purchasing an American stealth plane for $5 billion.

How does it work? In order to locate objects, the radar transmitter sends out electromagnetic waves. When these waves hit an object, they are scattered in all directions, with some of them being bounced back to the radar itself. Regular signal reception indicates the existence of an object.

The nanotechnology developed envelopes the object, absorbs the radio waves emitted by the radar, and releases them as heat energy scattered in space. In doing so, the material disguises the object, making it difficult to identify by radar.

"We are only at the beginning and are discovering new worlds everyday," said Eli Shaldag, a former senior Israel Air Force official who worked on the Arrow missile project. He currently is part of the military applications department of Nanoflight.

"This is a breakthrough with the potential to change the rules of the game in the battlefield," Shaldag said.

Awesome. Do they need a lawyer to represent them? Hmmm.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 5:15 PM