Stealth aircraft

Stealth aircraft are designed to avoid detection using a variety of technologies that reduce reflection/emission of radar, infrared, visible light, radio frequency (RF) spectrum, and audio, collectively known as stealth technology. The F-117 Nighthawk was the first operational aircraft explicitly designed around stealth technology. Other examples of stealth aircraft include the B-2 Spirit, the F-22 Raptor, the F-35 Lightning II, the Chengdu J-20, the Shenyang J-35, and the Sukhoi Su-57. While no aircraft is completely invisible to radar, stealth aircraft make it more difficult for conventional radar and radar-guided weapons to detect or track the aircraft effectively. Stealth is a combination of passive low observable (LO) features and active emitters. LO features encompass the geometric stealth shaping of the aircraft, often using a lambda wing or trapezoidal wing, and radiation-absorbent material. Active emitters consist of low-probability-of-intercept radars, radios and laser designators. These are typically combined with operational measures to minimize the aircraft's radar cross-section (RCS), since common hard turn maneuvers or opening bomb bay doors can more than double a stealthy aircraft's radar return. Stealth aircraft are sometimes complemented by reduced heat, sound, and other emissions. Countermeasures to stealth include infrared search and track systems to detect even reduced heat emissions, long wavelength radars, which counter stealth shaping and material focused on shorter wavelength radar, or radar setups with multiple emitters to counter stealth shaping. Full-size stealth combat aircraft demonstrators have been flown by the United States (in 1977), Russia (in 2000) and China (in 2011). As of 2025, the only crewed stealth aircraft in service are the Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit (1997), the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor (2005), the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II (2015), the Chengdu J-20 (2017), the Sukhoi Su-57 (2020), and the Shenyang J-35 (2025) a number of other countries developing their own designs. In-development aircraft include fighters such as the US F-47 and China's J-36, as well as strategic bombers, China's H-20 and Russia's PAK DA. There are also various aircraft with reduced detectability, either unintentionally or as a secondary feature. Stealth aircraft first saw combat when the F-117 was used in the 1989 United States invasion of Panama. Since then U ., UK, and Israeli stealth aircraft have seen combat, primarily in the Middle East, while the Russian Su-57 has seen combat in the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In March 2026, during the 2026 Iran war, a stealth fighter first shot down a crewed fighter in combat, when an Israeli F-35I "Adir" downed an Iranian Yak-130 fighter jet over Tehran. As of 2026, there has been one confirmed shootdown of a stealth aircraft, during the 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, of a USAF F-117 by a Serbian Isayev S-125 'Neva-M' missile brigade commanded by Colonel Zoltán Dani, while a second incident damaged an F-117. Russia and allegedly China studied the relatively intact wreckage.