How Soviet Math and Pyotr Ufimtsev Created the First Stealth Aircraft
Recreating the math behind the first stealth aircraft
I explore how Pyotr Ufimtsev's 1971 Soviet paper on electromagnetic scattering was ignored by the West but later used by Lockheed Skunk Works to design the F-117 Nighthawk. As a software engineer, I break down the complex physics of Radar Cross Section (RCS) and the Physical Optics method, showing how simplified math made stealth technology possible when computers were too weak for exact solutions.
The F-117 strived to be completely invisible, using a technique pioneered by physics rather than engineering.
- quanto
The whole mirror analogy for angular facets breaks down when you realize airplane is a moving object and at some point in its trajectory, one of the facets is likely to be facing the radar (maximum cross section).
If I remember from my numerical analysis days, it was the ease of numerical computing that necessitated the facets. Think 3D graphics from the 90s. All polygons.
- King-Aaron
It makes me sad, and to some extent offended, that so many people want to use AI to replace the human element in art. It dilutes what makes art impressive.
- elictronic
The instant I realize it's an LLM generated piece. I'm out. Thanks for adding all the animations to make it abundantly obvious.
- dmwood
Not an average software engineer--beautiful page (imperfect spelling)!
Why does detection scale as the 4th root of the RCS? Nice problem for the radiation theory part of a graduate electrodynamics class.
- MinimalAction
A random professor's academic website is usually barebones, no CSS, only HTML, mostly text. But the value one finds there is incredible.
As opposed to this, vibe coded slop which neither explains the stuff that's already there, nor is pedagogical. Why use AI for this?