Intelligence: May 24, 2005

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Is stealth technology booby-trapped? Developing new technologies to defeat American stealth aircraft has become a major business, outside the United States. Russian firms boat of having counter-stealth technology, as do a number of others in Europe and East Asia. But recently there has been some discussion about how some American stealth technology is not all it appears to be. No one wants to provide too many details, since stealth secrets can be big money in the counter-stealth industry, but some researchers believe American stealth technology, especially some of the recent stuff, is designed deliberately to not be as stealthy as it could be. This was done so that potential enemies would spend time and energy trying to defeat stealth as it is. Apparently, once we learn that someone has developed a way to defeat stealth-as-it-is, relative minor adjustments can be made to make things stealthier again. The source of some of this discussion may be coming from the many nations that will, for the first time, be able to buy an American stealth aircraft (the F-35). Then again, it may just be one of those intelligence deceptions meant to deceive and confuse potential enemies. If thats the case, its working.