Interesting facts about the venerable stealth F-117. It turns out that it has such a faceted shape because, at the time of its invention, they couldn’t calculate an effective scattering surface for more complicated shapes. Due to this, it has no aerodynamics to speak of—so much so that it’s completely unmanageable manually. Essentially, it’s a rocket with wings, controlled by a computer, since its flight must be constantly adjusted. It’s covered with “iron ball paint” — microspheres of carbonyl iron or ferrite. The coating is capable of absorbing radio waves in a certain range of radar frequencies. When exposed to radio waves, the ferrite molecules within the coating come into oscillatory motion under the influence of an alternating magnetic field, transforming the energy from high-frequency radiation into heat. This heat is transferred to the aircraft’s structure and dissipates. That’s why it’s invisible on radars. Moreover, this is so crucial that after each flight the aircraft was inspected for any scratches or chips. The cost of flying the aircraft is $135,000 per hour, and the aircraft itself costs two and a half billion dollars. The tail is covered with small pyramids that repeatedly reflect the radar signal to either fade it out more quickly or deflect it sideways.
Hi, I'm Rauf Aliev. 