If stealth bombers are invisible how do the pilots find them ?

Question

Are the always invisible or do they use some form of cloaking device like I once saw in Star Trek ?

Answer 1

Invisible to radar, they aren't actually invisible.

Answer 2

Haha...thats like the funniest think ive heard

Its Radar Invisible!

Answer 3

They are not "invisible".  What this means is that the radar signature is very small and so it appears on radar screens to be something on the order of a large bird.  There is no cloaking device; that's pure science fiction.

Answer 4

We use hound dogs to sniff them out.

Answer 5

"Invisible" doesn't mean visually invisible (if that makes sense).  It means that the construction of the craft is such that conventional radar does not pick it up.  If you are on the "business end" of its flight, by the time you see it, it's too late.

I've heard that they are already experimenting with light bending technology (i.e. "cloaking"), so Star Trek was on to something (again).  But it's still years away from any practical application.

Answer 6

They are made of a clear plastic, and glass

Answer 7

It's like going to the store and trying to find camouflage pants to buy.

Answer 8

they are invisible to radar, not eyesight.  

Answer 9

People can see them. RADAR can't. There are rumors that we are working on a cloaking device, but who knows...?

Answer 10

They are totally visible, they are only invisible to radar. ONLY Wonder Woman can fly an invisible plane. Jeez, thanks for RIPPING OFF MY ANSWER MAN!!!

Answer 11

JUST SHAPE AND DESIGN TO FOOL RADAR

Answer 12

All the stealth aircraft like the B-2 Spirit, F117 Nighthawk and the F-22 Raptors, among others are not invisible at all. Their made with a classified material and there designed to reduce their in fared signatures and their exhaust to make them almost invisible. If they did get picked up on radar it would appear as a fly instead of an aircraft. Heat-seeking missiles wouldn't be able to lock on because of the reduced signatures; hence, is why there so durable. At 2 billion dollars (for the B-2) they better be. In addition the military usually flies the Stealth's at night because although the appear to fool radar they get picked up by GPS Satellites because its imagery not in fared. So their not invisible at all.

The cloaking device they use in Star Trek has to deal with actually cloaking the ship from sight that's why you can't see it. I don't think I need to get so technical in the Star Trek thing. A stealth you can and they even fly them at Air Shows so, they can't be invisible, if the audience sees them.

Answer 13

This question is right up there in the Dumb Question Hall Of Fame.

Stealth aircraft are not invisible, they only present a very small radar, and heat signature.

Answer 14

sry but stealth bombers r not inmvisible there r staelth they use flat sides and high teck peint lol to prevent them to be seen on radar not be invisisble they can be seen but not on radar hope this helps

future pilot

Answer 15

They are not actually invisible. The shape and materials of the aircraft do not reflect radar much, so it's very hard to detect by radar. They are also quiet and the engine exhausts are much cooler than an average aircraft. These qualities combine to make the aircraft very hard to detect electronically. And they're painted black and operate at night so you can't see them easily with the naked eye either.

Answer 16

The term "low-observable" might help the confusion.  Low-observable is much more accurate than "stealth" which implies what you suggest in your question.

L/O aircraft (or ships, vehicles) are specifically designed to scatter incoming radar signals; this makes the return energy very faint.  In the infra-red side of the spectrum, they have suppressors to distribute the engine heat, and the heat from the canopy and leading edges, so IR detectors can't easily find them.  

Bottom line is, they aren't impossible to find, there's specific radar techniques like spread-spectrum which means transmitting simultaneously on different radio frequencies, and "Bi-static radar".  This is a radar transmitter and receiver in different geographic locations.  

L/O's real function is to give the aircraft a few extra minutes to launch its weapon(s) and escape.

Neither of these counter techniques are classified: any undergrad EE student will know of them.

Finally, the F117, B2, F22, and F35 were almost entirely designed through CAD.

Answer 17

Stealth bombers are composed entirely of planes that are not at right angles to one another.

Airplanes are located, or "seen", by technology that shoots sonar into the sky, somewhat like a bat.  And the sonar bounces back, the machine collects the data, and interprets it to know what's out there and how far away it is.  Since there are no flat services on the stealth bomber, the sonar bounces off, but it doesn't bounce back towards the machine.  It bounces off in some weird direction.  Since the machine never gets the data back, it assumes the sonar didn't hit anything and so nothing is out there - rendering it "invisible" to the machine.

Likewise, in the dark, it would be more difficult to see them with our eyes, because the light is not going to reflect off them as it normally would.

They are not invisible, though, in the daylight or when they are parked.  It isn't true "invisibility" like you are thinking.

Answer 18

They are only invisible to radar. Not the eye.

Answer 19

special stealth glasses! (shhhhhhhhhhh...its a secret!)

Answer 20

To cute of a question, They they just reflect radar waves, In-fact, they were the last military aircraft to be designed, with out a computer.

Answer 21

some stealth bombers are just painted a certain color to appear invisible to the naked eye while in the sky. but the radar can still pick up alot of them.

Answer 22

wonder woman had the same problem. her airplane was invisible.i guess stealth plane pilots find their plane as wonder woman did. they stumble until they sit on the joystick right next to pilots seat.