Doesn't this mean anyone, including a terriost, could have a stealth plane come and drop a nuke on us. If its undetectable, then their would be no way to stop it.
2007-09-27 18:15:15 · 6 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Engineering
No,
Stealth technology is hugely expensive and only US allied nations have it and no nation has invested as much into stealth technology as the US has.
Now a terrorist could fly an ultra-light plane across the border from Canada and bomb Seattle Washington with a nuclear bomb, if they could get one.
Nuclear bombs are hugely complex and it takes an insane number of centrifuges to make enough radioactive material to create the bomb; just ask Iran.
Terrorist don't have the technology to make atomic bombs and probably never will, but that's okay Iran plans on making them and will "sell" them to terrorist organizations like Hamas, which Iran founded in 1982. One of Hamas's first terrorist actions was the truck bombing of the US Marine Barracks in Lebanon.
Until Iran makes nuclear weapons for the terrorists to use they will have to just satisfy themselves with dirty bombs. Those are conventional bombs that are lined with radioactive materials. The first bombing of the World Trade Center failed, but if it was a dirty bomb the building would still be uninhabitable and would remain so for several decades to come. A dirty bomb is a real threat and a very likely one.
If you breathe in as little as 1 gram of plutonium then you will have 100% chance of dying of lung cancer. But, getting that single gram of plutonium is hugely expensive and takes massive resources, unless it is part of the pounds of the stuff that the US has lost over the years.
The problem with terrorists is that they only have to get lucky once, the defenders have to stop each and every attack. So far we have been lucky and we have been doing it, thanks to help from our friends in England and Canada.
The UN is trying its best to stop Iran's nuclear program. They have now moved to uranium enrichment, which is a phase that is ONLY needed if you are creating nuclear weapons, but they haven't been very successful. Israel bombed Iran's last nuclear plant out of existence so the current one is deeply buried and may take a small nuclear bomb to get to it. Therefore I expect Iran to create a nuclear bomb in the next 5-10 years. They bought the technology form North Korea and a Pakistani scientist, but it takes years to build enough centrifuges to create the weapons grade material and the creation rate is pretty slow.
Our best hope is that the average Iranian comes to his senses (women can’t vote) and realizes that their President is a nut job on a suicidal course toward destroying their entire country. So far his is popular, and the people like the idea of being a nuclear power, but if they realize the cost (and their business men are starting to) then they may no longer support him. Of course the President of Iran is a figure head who rules at the whim of the religious clerics. Those are the people we need to talk to and they just aren’t listening. That’s why 40 years later they are still running the ‘Death to America protests.’
2007-09-27 18:24:13 · answer #1 · answered by Dan S 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
There are some that can fly pretty darn low and are practically undetectable by radar. We have them in the U.S. You do know that, right? The stealth fighter has been pretty much unstoppable in combat so far.
If somebody had one, and bombed us, then we'd have to watch out for that the next time. Planes give off a lot of heat, and that might be the best way to look for an invisible plane.
2007-09-28 02:40:28 · answer #2 · answered by Firebird 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well being the only 3 known full stealth aircrafts are owned and operated by the United States thats a long shot.
United States B-2 Spirit
United States F-117 Nighthawk
F-22 Raptor
2007-09-28 01:28:00 · answer #3 · answered by dark_x2000 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Stealth doesnt mean undetectable, it just means hard to detect. And so far it is only radar stealth claimed, no such go with optical. Several radar systems exist that can detect and even track all the known stealth aircrafts.
Only one aircraft comes close to being a real threat to the US if required and that is the B-2 Spirit. That is a 2.2 billion USAF aircraft. You can bet that the USAF will guard its high value assets with extreme prejudice.
2007-09-28 07:16:36 · answer #4 · answered by ? 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
A B-2 stealth bomber comes in at $2.2 billion US. If a terrorist organization had a nuke, there would be much simpler ways of getting it onto American soil.
They're not invisible, either - just hard to see via radar and particularly hard to target with a radar guided missile.
2007-09-28 01:29:28 · answer #5 · answered by violentquaker 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Yes, but they dont come that cheap... Besides, they'll be kept under the highest possible security
2007-09-28 01:24:05 · answer #6 · answered by Dark Knight 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋