it is strongly believed as at press time,that western backed stealth ships may be heading towards the Korean Peninsualr as a result of the threats posed by North Korea to the rest of the rest of the world owning to several cases of nuclear tests recently which has put the rest of the globe on its toes.
A stealth ship is a ship which employs stealth technology construction techniques in an effort to ensure that it is harder to detect by one or more of radar, visual, sonar, and infrared methods. These techniques borrow from stealth aircraft technology, although some aspects such as wake and acoustic signature reduction (Acoustic quieting) are unique to stealth ships' design. Though radar cross-section (RCS) reduction is a fairly new concept many other forms of masking a ship have existed for centuries or even millennia.
In designing a ship with reduced radar signature, the main concerns are radar beams originating near or slightly above the horizon (as seen from the ship) coming from distant patrol aircraft, other ships or sea-skimming anti-ship missiles with active radar seekers. Therefore, the shape of the ship avoids vertical surfaces, which would perfectly reflect any such beams directly back to the emitter. Retro-reflective right angles are eliminated to avoid causing the cat's eye effect. A stealthy ship shape can be achieved by constructing the hull and superstructure with a series of slightly protruding and retruding surfaces[citation needed]. Furthermore, round shapes on the ship are eliminated or covered up, examples include smokestacks and gun turrets. Also cavities that present a horizontal face are to be eliminated since they act like a trap and are very visible to radar. To get around these limitations many ships use features such as panels that cover reflective surfaces or use alternate designs of hardware. Also every effort must be made to have the smallest gaps on the ship as possible. Common hull shapes include tumblehome hull designs which slope inward from the waterline, and SWATHhulls which allow for better stability when using a tumblehome hull. These RCS design principles were developed by several navies independently in the 1980s using work done on aircraft RCS reduction as the starting point. The currently developed U.S. Zumwalt-class destroyer — or DD(X) — is the US version of a stealth ship. Despite being 40% larger than an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer the radar signature is more akin to a fishing boat, according to a spokesman for Naval Sea Systems Command;[1] sound levels are compared to the Los Angeles-class submarines. The tumblehome hull reduces radar return and the composite material deckhouse also has a low radar return. Water sleeting along the sides, along with passive cool air induction in the mack reduces infrared signature.[2] Overall, the destroyer's angular build makes it "50 times harder to spot on radar than an ordinary destroyer.[1]
Visby is designed to elude visual detection, radar detection, acoustic detection, and infrared detection. The hull material is a sandwich construction comprising a PVC core with a carbon fibre and vinyl laminate.[3] Avoidance of right angles in the design results in a smaller radar signature, reducing the ship's detection range.
Britain's Type 45 anti-air warfare destroyer has similarities to the Visby class, but is much more conventional, employing traditional steel instead of carbon fiber. Like Visby, its design reduces the use of right angles.
Sea Shadow, which utilizes both tumblehome and SWATH features, was an early U.S. exploration of stealth ship technology.
No comments:
Post a Comment