Czin
Active member
The F-35 is almost certainly a lot more visible, giving how exposed it's singular, very large engine is. I'm not so sure about the F-22, but I'd say an infrared missile could catch it if you shoot at it while it's back is turned.Yes, and the shoot-down of that F-117 was as close to lucky as a person shooting a mouse with a pistol at 100 yards away. That is what I am saying. They pretty much blind-shot it, which shouldn't be enough to hamper stealth aircraft's reputation.
More visible to thermal detectors? The question is, how much more visible? Stealth is to decrease the chances of being detected dramatically, not make them impossible to be spotted. There will always be chances of being spotted.
As far as we know, no heavily stealth aircraft have been shot down except that one F-117. The F-22 and F-35 have electronic warfare capabilities, I am sure they have some counter to the major threats that SAMs pose.
It all depends on how it will be used; smartly or stupidly. Any active SAM have the chances of being detected and destroyed by anti-SAM equipment (like Desert Storm 2) the mobility only make it hard to find.
However, I believe the future of stealth will lie in Metamaterials, why be merely hard to detect with Radio waves, Microwaves, and Infrared when you can be more or less invisible to the entire electromagnetic spectrum?