Re: If I might be so bold...A discussion on the likely future of warfare.


Bill Gray wrote:
>Howard Brazee wrote:

>>How do you conceal yourself in a vacuum?

>How do U.S. stealth aircraft conceal themselves now?
>With electronic means, vacuum has nothing to do with it.

Yes it does. The biggest thing that stealth aircraft
have going in their favor is the existence of this
dense atmosphere of gas all around them. Besides
obscuring their thermal infrared heat signature, it
gives them an unlimited heat sink to dump waste heat
into.

In the vacuum of space, there is no such heat sink,
and there is no obscuring atmosphere. That means that
waste heat has to be radiated away, and the physics
of the situation ensure that this radiation will be
highly visible against the cold 3K background.

So, this suggests an obvious strategy--what if there
is no waste heat? Just shut down all your systems,
and coast your way to the target. Unfortunately,
the Sun exists. It bathes the Solar System in
radiation so a spacecraft can't help but have waste
heat.

>The lethality of modern weapons means that armor
>plating on ships is ineffective. They must strive
>not to be found, and if found, to neutralize the
>enemy's weapons (shooting down incoming missles, for
>example.)

With plausible interplanetary technology, there
might be anywhere between hours and months to
see incoming missiles and do something about them
(depending on the range). There isn't any horizon
for missiles to hide behind. But that assumes
hostilities break out at long range. If the opposing
forces started off right next to each other, then
the situation is radically different.

Isaac Kuo

.

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