F-19 Stealth Fighter
This project is build No. 43 by DJFERRISBUELLER

The ability to detect objects in the sky by bouncing radio waves off the object reached a high level of reliability early in World War II. By the end of the war aircraft were finding other aircraft in the blackness of night and the obscurity of bad weather. And with the success of radar also came the need for radar countermeasures, more commonly known as ECM – Electronic Countermeasures.

The ultimate countermeasure, of course, would be an airplane that did not bounce radar back to the radar source. Because the high frequency radar waves act very much like light, radar can be reflected away and can also be absorbed - just as light is absorbed by a dull black surface. The shape of stealth is important. Its edges are sharp, and its surfaces covered with difficult to manufacture skins which absorb radar in a multi-layered structure filled with bubbles and tiny fibres in predictable alignments, spacing and density. The manufacturing techniques for this material is, perhaps, the most secret element of stealth technology.

Several U.S. aircraft have flown with stealth technology and for years. Lockheed's U-2, A-12, SR-71 and D 12 drone all utilized techniques which gave small amounts of radar countermeasure success. The successes were important enough to cause specialized development to take place and by 1977-'78 actual stealth aircraft were flying. While Lockheed appears to have been most successful with its design(s), it is common knowledge designs of a number of manufacturer's have flown.