China is developing a new stealth coating to blind anti-stealth radars

The Chinese military claims to have developed a new radar coating that can hide targets from stealth radars. The coating is capable of absorbing low-frequency electromagnetic waves (EM) and is the thickness of paper.

According to the Chinese military, the new coating can absorb electromagnetic waves from different angles, revolutionizing stealth technology. Current radar-absorbing materials for stealth aircraft are effective for some, but not all, electromagnetic waves used by radar equipment.

In fact, this is how the F-117A Nighthawk was discovered and shot down in Yugoslavia in the late 1990s.

Radar systems use a mixture of centimeter and meter wavelengths of electromagnetic waves to detect targets such as incoming aircraft. Modern stealth technologies can deflect or even absorb some of these waves, reducing the aircraft’s radar signature.

China’s new paper-thin anti-stealth coating

Interestingly, this is only the latest in a series of new “anti-stealth” innovations created by the Chinese in recent years. Back in February of this year, for example, it was reported that China had developed a new “plasma” stealth device that can effectively mask an aircraft from radar.

This is also not the first anti-radar coating China has developed to hide aircraft from radar. In August this year, China also said it had developed a new low-cost iron-coated camouflage to defeat radar and infrared detection equipment.

According to reports, the new material was developed by the National University of Defense Technology of China (NUDT). This material can supposedly convert electromagnetic waves between 70 cm (2.3 ft) and 20 cm in length into heat.

This range of wavelengths is important because they fall within the common P-band and L-band anti-stealth radar systems. This new material is reportedly lightweight, flexible and easy to produce in large quantities.

If true, this would make it suitable for covering aircraft or other weapons platforms that require stealth. Scientists involved in the project said their work “does not violate the fundamental laws of physics.”

“New artificial composite materials, through periodic or aperiodic structures, exhibit unusual properties and can achieve physical phenomena and applications that natural materials cannot,” wrote the project team led by Cui Kaibo, a researcher at the State Key Laboratory of Complex Effects of the Electromagnetic Environment on Electronics and Information System .

The researchers’ findings were published in a peer-reviewed paper published in the Chinese Journal of Telecommunication Engineering in October. According to the article, metamaterials are the “secret sauce” of the new stealth coating.

According to the research team, when low-frequency electromagnetic waves strike the coating, they generate currents at the surface of the metal foil layer. These currents can be converted into heat, which is then quickly dissipated into the air, effectively reducing the signature of reflected radar waves.

This is exactly how other existing radio-absorbing materials work, but it is the thinness of the Chinese coating that sets it apart. The thickness of existing radio-absorbing materials is not publicly disclosed, but the newly developed ceramic-based coating is reported to be 1.5 mm thick, which is significantly thicker than a sheet of paper (about 0.1 mm for 20-pound printer paper).

According to Chinese researchers, their new technology provides exceptional ultra-wideband low-frequency stealth capabilities without the use of heavy and expensive magnetic materials.

This makes the material economical and scalable for use on a variety of military equipment. According to Cui and his team, this new metamaterial technology could be “the key to China’s victory in future wars.”