The primary criterion for labeling a fighter jet as stealth is its low Radar Cross Section (RCS). The jet's geometry is specifically crafted to avoid 90-degree angles, aiming to minimize RCS.
Indian Military News, Reports, Data, etc.
- Thread starter bd popeye
- Start date
Erm, but that's exactly what they did?
Which 4th generation fighter jet has internal weapons bay ?
Well, according to the Indian Chief of Air Force ... there are 4th gen fighter jets with internal weapons bay.
I wonder why the Tejas missed this trick.
Unless ... the Tejas is 5th gen and internal bays really do SFA which means the F-22 and F-35 are barking up the wrong tree?
Damn, my head hurts trying to deal with the convolutions ...
4th generation fighters were designed before. It's impossible to add it to them.
But fighters designed after - 5th gen - were designed with an internal weapons bay.
PiSigma
"the engineer"
The J20
The 5th generation jet design philosophy prioritizes maximum stealth, evident in features like internal weapons bays and stealth geometry, albeit at the expense of some aerodynamic compromises. In contrast, 4th generation jets were designed for increased payload and maneuverability. However, even modern 4th generation fighters, such as Tejas, Rafales, and Eurofighter Typhoon, incorporate some stealth characteristics, like wing blending with the fuselage.
Examine these images of Tejas where the wings seamlessly integrate with the fuselage. In contrast, when you observe older 4th generation fighter jets like the F-16, you can see that the wings are distinct and separate from the fuselage.
TEJAS
F16
Internal weapon bays are just as important for aerodynamics(like supercruise) - fighter bays didn't appear on 5th generation, they were a thing before.
Aerodynamic compromise here is a fuller form(more volume, at the expense of fuel), which may or may not be very bulky, depending on the way it's done. It's mostly an efficiency problem, and is mostly solvable(can be compensated) simply through a better engine.
While 4th generation jets were indeed made for maneuverability (it's a broad term, there are so much to it - hornet isn't exactly a king of supersonic maneuvering, for example) - first of all, "true" 4th gens (not 4.5) were made before aerodynamic studies of 1980s (basically taking full use of computer design and flight control) could be applied.
And many of those were done later and were done by nations without sufficient experience for it.
The main aerodynamic (from maneuverability pow) sacrifice of stealth is a relative demise of delta canard(which is the most straightforward way to get maximum out of an unstable fbw aircraft), but it never meant that canard aircraft are the only way to do so.
?
Your photos show that Tejas is a high-wing aircraft.
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