An Introduction to RF Stealth
2nd Edition
David Lynch Jr.
The Institution of Engineering and Technology
Published by SciTech Publishing, an imprint of The Institution of Engineering and
Technology, London, United Kingdom
The Institution of Engineering and Technology is registered as a Charity in England &
Wales (no. 211014) and Scotland (no. SC038698).
† The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2021
First published 2004
Second edition 2021
This publication is copyright under the Berne Convention and the Universal Copyright
Convention. All rights reserved. Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research
or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act 1988, this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any
form or by any means, only with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in
the case of reprographic reproduction in accordance with the terms of licences issued
by the Copyright Licensing Agency. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside those
terms should be sent to the publisher at the undermentioned address:
The Institution of Engineering and Technology
Michael Faraday House
Six Hills Way, Stevenage
Herts, SG1 2AY, United Kingdom
[Link]
While the author and publisher believe that the information and guidance given in this
work are correct, all parties must rely upon their own skill and judgement when making
use of them. Neither the author nor publisher assumes any liability to anyone for any
loss or damage caused by any error or omission in the work, whether such an error or
omission is the result of negligence or any other cause. Any and all such liability is
disclaimed.
The moral rights of the author to be identified as author of this work have been
asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this product is available from the British Library
ISBN 978-1-83953-159-0 (hardback)
ISBN 978-1-83953-160-6 (PDF)
Typeset in India by MPS Limited
Printed in the UK by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon
Cover image: Sukhoi Su-57, 5th Generation Jet Fighter. Source – Sukhoi Design Bureau,
Author – Anna Zvereva, Tallinn, Estonia.
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic License
Contents
About the author xiii
Preface xv
1 Introduction to stealth systems 1
1.1 Introduction 1
1.1.1 Introduction to survivability 1
1.1.2 Brief history of radar and ladar 4
1.1.3 Brief history of signature reduction 7
1.1.4 Great thoughts of stealth/LO technology 8
1.1.5 Brief history of LPI systems 10
1.1.6 LPIR program accomplishments 10
1.1.7 LPI modes demonstrated through test 10
1.1.8 LPIR program results summary 11
1.2 The stealth design challenge 13
1.2.1 The stealth approach 13
1.2.2 Balanced design 17
1.2.3 RCS and power management summary 18
1.3 Low probability of intercept systems: an introduction 19
1.3.1 Great thoughts of LPI systems design 19
1.3.2 Passive detection and intercept probability 20
1.3.3 Reduced detectability: effective radiated peak power 21
1.3.4 Reduced detectability: maximum signal uncertainty 23
1.3.5 LPI performance example 24
1.3.6 LPIS typical technology 25
1.3.7 LPI maximizes uncertainty 26
1.4 Basic LPI equations 27
1.4.1 Radar and beacon equations 27
1.4.2 Intercept power relations and LPIS figures of merit 29
1.4.3 Detection range versus intercept range equations 30
1.5 Introduction to RCS 36
1.5.1 Mathematical basis 36
1.5.2 RCS phenomenology 38
1.5.3 Estimating RCS 42
1.5.4 Edge diffraction 49
1.6 Introduction to signature balance 52
1.6.1 Radar threat 52
viii An introduction to RF stealth, 2nd edition
1.6.2 Infrared threat 55
1.6.3 Visual threat 59
1.6.4 Intercept threat 60
1.7 Exercises 67
References 68
2 Introduction to materials and shaping 71
2.1 Introduction 71
2.2 Detailed RCS calculation 82
2.2.1 Plates or facets 84
2.2.2 Edges 88
2.2.3 Wedges 92
2.2.4 Dihedrals 96
2.2.5 Ogives 102
2.3 Radiation absorbing materials 106
2.3.1 Bulk RAM 106
2.3.2 Circuit analogs 113
2.3.3 Metamaterials 115
2.4 Blending 116
2.5 More complex shapes 118
2.6 Exercises 120
References 121
3 Interceptibility parameters and analysis 123
3.1 Interceptability parameters 123
3.1.1 Interceptability footprints 124
3.1.2 Interceptor time response 127
3.1.3 Receiver sensitivity versus intercept probability 128
3.1.4 Power management 133
3.2 Interceptibility analysis 135
3.2.1 Intercept receiver sensitivity 135
3.2.2 Sidelobe intercept range 138
3.2.3 Interceptor detection probabilities 139
3.2.4 Interceptability time constraints 140
3.2.5 Interceptability frequency constraints 143
3.2.6 Antenna gain mismatch 144
3.2.7 Cumulative probability of intercept 146
3.3 Example mode interceptability calculations 148
3.3.1 Data link mode interceptability example 156
3.4 Footprint calculation 157
3.4.1 “Cookie cutter” footprints 157
3.4.2 More accurate footprints 168
3.5 Bistatics 172
3.5.1 Bistatic properties 172
3.5.2 Bistatic threats 179
Contents ix
3.6 Exercises 181
References 182
4 Intercept receivers 185
4.1 Survey of current and future intercept receivers 185
4.2 Receiver types (similar to Schleher) 186
4.2.1 Crystal video receiver 187
4.2.2 Instantaneous frequency measurement 189
4.2.3 Scanning superheterodyne receivers 191
4.2.4 Channelized receivers 192
4.2.5 Transform intercept receivers 195
4.2.6 Hybrid or cueing receivers 200
4.2.7 Software-defined radios 202
4.2.8 Intercept receiver processing 203
4.2.9 Cross correlation processing 213
4.3 Interceptor measurement accuracy 221
4.3.1 Frequency measurement 223
4.3.2 Pulse amplitude and width measurement 224
4.3.3 Time of arrival and PRI measurement 224
4.3.4 Angle of arrival measurement 225
4.3.5 Range estimation 238
4.4 Intercept receiver threat trends 244
4.4.1 Typical response threats – elastic
threat (after Gordon) 246
4.4.2 Corresponding specification of LPIS emissions 249
4.4.3 Typical response threats—radiometric 250
4.4.4 Typical response threats – correlation 261
4.5 LPIS versus interceptor 263
4.5.1 Screening jamming 263
4.5.2 Spoofing 264
4.6 Typical deployed intercept receivers 265
4.7 Exercises 267
References 267
5 Exploitation of the environment 271
5.1 Atmospheric attenuation 271
5.2 Clutter 274
5.3 Terrain masking 289
5.4 Electronic order of battle 300
5.4.1 Radar and EW intercept EOB 303
5.4.2 Radar emitter EOB 306
5.4.3 Electronic countermeasures EOB 309
5.5 RF Spectrum masking 310
5.5.1 Example ambient spectra 310
x An introduction to RF stealth, 2nd edition
5.5.2 Estimating ambient spectra 314
5.5.3 Estimating ambient pulse density 331
5.6 Example scenario analysis 332
5.6.1 Classification usable sensitivity 332
5.6.2 Monte Carlo simulations 336
5.7 Typical deployed emitters 346
5.8 Exercises 346
References 347
6 Stealth waveforms 349
6.1 Waveform criteria 349
6.2 Frequency diversity 350
6.2.1 Simultaneous transmit and receive cross talk 351
6.2.2 Low noise adaptive multifrequency generation 357
6.2.3 Detection by multifrequency waveforms 362
6.3 Power management 365
6.4 Pulse compression 367
6.4.1 Linear FM/chirp 367
6.4.2 LPI performance loss incurred by use of chirp 369
6.4.3 Stretch processing 371
6.4.4 Pulse compression waveform sidelobe measures 372
6.5 Discrete phase codes 374
6.5.1 Barker codes 374
6.5.2 Frank and digital chirp codes 388
6.5.3 Complementary codes 390
6.6 Hybrid waveforms 409
6.6.1 Hybrid spread spectrum stretch (S-cubed) 409
6.6.2 Hybrid spread spectrum stretch processing 410
6.6.3 Waveform and processing parameters 414
6.7 Noise propagation in pulse compressors 416
6.8 Waveform summary 417
6.9 Analog to digital conversion 418
6.10 Exercises 426
References 427
7 Stealth antennas and radomes 429
7.1 Introduction 429
7.2 Antenna parameters 429
7.2.1 Fundamental definitions (adapted from
Skolnik and Silver) 429
7.2.2 Antenna radiation pattern and aperture distribution 432
7.3 Single radiators 436
7.3.1 The electric dipole (adapted from
Radiation Laboratories) 436
7.3.2 The magnetic dipole or small loop 440
Contents xi
7.3.3 Slot radiators (Adapted from Blass) 441
7.3.4 Broadband radiators 444
7.4 Antenna arrays 446
7.4.1 Simple apertures 446
7.4.2 Sidelobe reduction functions 451
7.4.3 Error induced antenna pattern degradation 457
7.4.4 Arrays of elements 459
7.5 Electronically scanned arrays 462
7.5.1 Single beam antennas 462
7.5.2 Multibeam antennas 470
7.5.3 Active electronic scan antennas 472
7.5.4 AESA antenna example 473
7.5.5 AESA bandwidth and pulse compression 476
7.5.6 AESA exciter 478
7.5.7 AESA unique noise contributions 479
7.6 Multichannel receivers 480
7.6.1 Receiver noise sources: thermal noise 482
7.6.2 Thermal noise example 484
7.7 Antenna scattering 484
7.7.1 Basic notions 484
7.7.2 Estimating antenna RCS 494
7.7.3 Estimating AESA RCS 501
7.7.4 Estimating errors due to circuit variations 505
7.8 Low RCS radomes 510
7.8.1 Introduction 510
7.8.2 Antenna and radome integration 510
7.8.3 General formulas 513
7.8.4 Composite radomes 514
7.8.5 Thick frequency-selective layers 520
7.8.6 Edge treatment 523
7.8.7 Coordinate rotations 527
7.8.8 Radome and antenna RCS 529
7.9 Exercises 534
References 536
8 Passive observables testing 539
8.1 Introduction 539
8.2 Indoor ranges 539
8.3 Inverse synthetic aperture radar (ISAR) 544
8.4 Typical RCS range performance 548
8.5 Ground to air RCS testing 550
8.6 Air to air RCS testing 552
8.7 Ship ISAR from aircraft 557
8.8 Exercises 559
References 560
xii An introduction to RF stealth, 2nd edition
Appendices 563
Appendix of Chapter 1 563
Appendix of Chapter 2 564
Appendix of Chapter 3 566
Appendix of Chapter 4 567
Appendix of Chapter 5 569
Appendix of Chapter 6 572
Appendix of Chapter 7 573
Appendix of Chapter 8 576
Glossary 577
Index 591