Refuelling probe can be RAM coated but cannot be radar transparent. It needs to have a conducting material in it, like copper, for grounding purposes. Otherwise the static electricity generated by the fuel flow can spark-up and destroy the aircraft and tanker.

except signature management doesnt work like that, you cant just splash ram around or all planes would just be covered with the stuff

@ jessmo24
another thing to consider is that sticking ya naked but out would act as an attractant to some airforces and you would receive more attention than i think you would like

The refueling probe is probably made of radar transparent material or covered with RAM, I don’t think it’s an issue or else it wouldn’t even be there in the first place.

Nic

i think you will find that this is wrong and it is a reflector, as shown in several topics on sites
its said the probe was an afterthought in the rafale design and there wasnt room to have it retractable

Thinking about it over lunch, I can understand your confusion over ‘active’ and ‘passive’. For example, a computer graphics card that cooled by a just a giant heatsink is termed passively cooled, while one with a smaller heatsink and a fan is not. But in the aerospace world ‘active’ means deliberately emitting RF or other energy, while ‘passive’ means not doing so.

So the AIM-120 uses active guidance (at least in the end game), the AIM-9 uses passive guidance, while the AIM-7 (which needs its target to be illuminated) is considered semi-active.

I hope you are not seriously suggesting that I phone some engineers I know at MBDA France and tell them that they have got their stealth terminology wrong? Were you to offer to buy them a two-hour lunch at Maxim’s in Paris, they might be prepared to hear you out, but I doubt that they’d agree with your claims.

i could google and give examples of non emitting active signature management, but you could do the same

yes, active can be used in lots of ways

mbda engineers wouldnt use the term stealth with each other as its a nothing term, only PR guys to the public

wow, so you got active cancellation out of what Chaltiel said or was it influenced by a non answered question by bill
with that logic, if bills question was does the rafale have pixie dust and Chaltiel didnt answer, we would be discussing pixie dust

you must be new to this thread, i have said mbda has been on it for years
i have said france is one of the world leaders in submarine ‘stealth’ and active cancellation is used

serves me right for trying to back up a poor point, if its considered passive
but to say active stealth means active cancellation is simply wrong

i’m typing as slow as i can for you, try and understand
he is saying the air&c said active cancellation, THEY DIDNT

Originally Posted by arthuro View Post
Quite some news in A&Cosmos today…

A “stealth rafale demonstartor” will be funded (according to the very official 2010 french defense budget) to increase its stealth capabilites. According to air&Cosmos the solution that will be adopted is active stealth and will be developed by the CEA and the DGA. This capability should be operational with the 5th batch of the rafale program and is independent to other spectra developments. They also mention other techniques but unspecified. I’ll try to scan the article this week end.

scan in post 266
http://forum.keypublishing.com/showthread.php?t=96119&page=9

@ Prior Lancey
how can bill get this so wrong without an intent ?

Simply because the system use the incoming signals (through DRFM) – whatever they are – treat them a certain way and spit them back. So it never emit a stronger signal than the one it recieve. That’s why it’s stealth AND ‘active’.
It’s also necessary because in spite progresses in RWR, we can never be certain that very modern radars (and ‘special’ modes) won’t be discrete enough for a while.

you are right, that is what it is doing and it is very effective
only that isnt AC its deceptive jamming, spoofing

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radar_jamming_and_deception
* Digital radio frequency memory, or DRFM jamming, or Repeater jamming is a repeater technique that manipulates received radar energy and retransmits it to change the return the radar sees. This technique can change the range the radar detects by changing the delay in transmission of pulses, the velocity the radar detects by changing the doppler shift of the transmitted signal, or the angle to the plane by using AM techniques to transmit into the sidelobes of the radar.

* Deceptive jamming uses techniques like “range gate pull-off” to break a radar lock