Vehicle

A vehicle in free space or air, with external surfaces primarily fashioned from planar facets. The planar facets or panels are angularly positioned to reduce scattered energy in the direction of the receiver. In particular, radar signals which strike the vehicle are primarily reflected at an angle away from the search radar or are returned to the receiver with large variations of amplitude over small vehicle attitude changes.

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Claims

1. A vehicle including flight control means and propulsion means, comprising:

a fuselage and wings; and
a plurality of surfaces defining the exterior of said fuselage and wings, said surfaces consisting of a series of facets.

2. The vehicle of claim 1 wherein substantially all of said facets lie in a different plane.

3. The vehicle of claim 1 wherein substantially the entire exterior of said vehicle comprises said facets.

4. The vehicle of claim 1 wherein said facets are angularly positioned to be least reflective of electromagnetic radiation in the direction of radiation detection devices.

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Patent History
Patent number: RE36298
Type: Grant
Filed: Oct 5, 1995
Date of Patent: Sep 14, 1999
Assignee: Lockheed Martin Corporation (Bethesda, MD)
Inventors: Richard Scherrer (Nordland, WA), Denys D. Overholser (Carson City, NV), Kenneth E. Watson (No. Hollywood, CA)
Primary Examiner: Daniel T. Pihulic
Law Firm: Oblon, Spivak, McClelland, Maier & Neustadt, P.C.
Application Number: 8/539,789