诺思罗普-格鲁曼公司在自己的网站上吹嘘说,“精灵”B-2隐形轰炸机几乎是看不见的,因为该机的复合材料和蝙蝠形状的设计使其难以被雷达发现。
Vaunted1) Technology: Stealth2) Avionics3)
Northrop Grumman Corp.(NGC)boasts4) on its Web site the B-2spirit stealth bomber5) is nearly invisible.Because the plane’s composite materials and bat-shaped design make it hard for radar6) to pick up.However,in 1999,an F-117,which also has a stealthy shape and materials,was blasted out of the sky over the Balkans.Stealth technology is hardly a sham.It shrinks the radar“signature”of a plane.If a conventional aircraft makes a blip on radar screens at 200kilometers,a stealthy plane wouldn’ t appear until it was 34km away.The point is,radar does eventually detect the plane.Weather can also present a problem.The B-2’s materials were tested at Edwards Air Force Base,where it rarely rains.But when the high-tech bombers got drenched7) during missions in the Balkans,the tape used to fill seams in the composite skin often came loose.That en larges the radar signature.