Overview
As strange as this may seem in an article dealing with stealth systems, as far as naval vessels go there is one guiding principle which must be spelled out plainly: there is no true "stealth" in space.
The term "stealth plating" then is something of a misnomer — at least insofar as it refers to the technology used by the Imperial Combine, and all other known systems.
A better term for such systems would be "identification frustration technology". Both the Imperial Navy and civilian markets however like short, memorable names, and for many people the idea of "stealth plating" does the trick. As inaccurate as it is, the name persists.
The current generation of so-called "stealth plating" is actually a sandwich of different technologies, which forms a layer of the hull and integrates with onboard systems.
Each of the technologies in this sandwich layer is designed to frustrate enemy efforts to identify the craft in question, by removing or obfuscating the information which the enemy needs to detect for a precise identification.
The principal information factors are:
The term "stealth plating" then is something of a misnomer — at least insofar as it refers to the technology used by the Imperial Combine, and all other known systems.
A better term for such systems would be "identification frustration technology". Both the Imperial Navy and civilian markets however like short, memorable names, and for many people the idea of "stealth plating" does the trick. As inaccurate as it is, the name persists.
The current generation of so-called "stealth plating" is actually a sandwich of different technologies, which forms a layer of the hull and integrates with onboard systems.
Each of the technologies in this sandwich layer is designed to frustrate enemy efforts to identify the craft in question, by removing or obfuscating the information which the enemy needs to detect for a precise identification.
The principal information factors are:
- Electromagnetic emissions,
- Visible profile,
- Heat energy.
Electromagnetic Emissions
Electromagnetic emissions come from a wide range of devices and energy sources; from the actual communications apparatus of the craft in question, to the weaker but omnidirectional emissions of personal devices like links and holos.
In Imperial ships using "stealth plating", the outermost hull layer prior to the armour composites is designed to act as a Faraday cage, with multiple thin layers intended to screen against different wavelength ranges.
A sophisticated stealth system can often be instructed to temporarily power-down exterior mounts — such as defence turrets, comms masts, and active sensors — if those mounts are prone to releasing detectable electromagnetic emissions.
In Imperial ships using "stealth plating", the outermost hull layer prior to the armour composites is designed to act as a Faraday cage, with multiple thin layers intended to screen against different wavelength ranges.
A sophisticated stealth system can often be instructed to temporarily power-down exterior mounts — such as defence turrets, comms masts, and active sensors — if those mounts are prone to releasing detectable electromagnetic emissions.
Profile Modification
Profile modification systems fall broadly into two categories: skin-printing, and physical alteration.
Skin-printing is a versatile system which evolved from the same technology that created printwalls. It can be integrated into the hulls of space, aerial, and ground vehicles, and also into the outer armour worn by troops. Its purpose is to reduce the optical visibility of assets, and thereby reduce the likelihood of them becoming targets.
The basic system includes a sensor palette which samples the surrounding environment, and uses this data to create a visual template. The template is applied to electrostatically fixed pixels in a translucent skin-print layer, allowing the hull or armour to mimic the surroundings.
Both vehicular systems and personal systems allow environmental templates to be stored, so that they can later be selected manually prior to deployment into a matching environment.
A skin-printing hull can be obfuscated in various ways. One such way is printing to full black, which makes edges and contours more difficult to perceive by either direct observation or visible light sensor systems. This has limited use in a space environment, except at very close range, and its success depends heavily on the nature of the enemy's sensor technology. Some pilots take the view however that it is better than standing in plain sight and shouting "ta-daaa", and since skin-print capability is already present in the hulls of many Imperial Navy craft the full black function is often used when small ships such as shuttles approach or leave their parent craft during orbital conflict. This is believed to confer a psychological benefit, even if there is no practical benefit under the given circumstances.
For example, when Euryce Eilentes evacuated Elm Caden and Doctor Bel-Ures during the Battle of Meccrace Prime, she utilised a full black skin-print while navigating back to the ICS Disputer. While it is not currently known whether or not this would have had any effect on her shuttle's visibility to the sensor systems of the Shaeld Hrathan dreadships present at the time, the function did free her from some degree of worry and allow her to concentrate on retreating through a hostile and dangerous battle environment (→LOTD).
Alternatively, skin-printing may involve adopting the colouration and patterning features of a surrounding environment. During low altitude atmospheric operations, for example, the ventral half of the hull might mimic the sky above while the dorsal half mimics the terrain below.
Physical alteration systems use pivoted plating, movable baffles, and shape-configurable masts to literally alter the visible profile of the craft as it is viewed from different angles. Some complex systems also allow for high-energy machinery to be transported a short distance inside the craft, which gives a false impression of the shipboard mechanical configuration. Such systems can make military vessels appear to be modified civilian equivalents, or vice versa.
Skin-printing is a versatile system which evolved from the same technology that created printwalls. It can be integrated into the hulls of space, aerial, and ground vehicles, and also into the outer armour worn by troops. Its purpose is to reduce the optical visibility of assets, and thereby reduce the likelihood of them becoming targets.
The basic system includes a sensor palette which samples the surrounding environment, and uses this data to create a visual template. The template is applied to electrostatically fixed pixels in a translucent skin-print layer, allowing the hull or armour to mimic the surroundings.
Both vehicular systems and personal systems allow environmental templates to be stored, so that they can later be selected manually prior to deployment into a matching environment.
A skin-printing hull can be obfuscated in various ways. One such way is printing to full black, which makes edges and contours more difficult to perceive by either direct observation or visible light sensor systems. This has limited use in a space environment, except at very close range, and its success depends heavily on the nature of the enemy's sensor technology. Some pilots take the view however that it is better than standing in plain sight and shouting "ta-daaa", and since skin-print capability is already present in the hulls of many Imperial Navy craft the full black function is often used when small ships such as shuttles approach or leave their parent craft during orbital conflict. This is believed to confer a psychological benefit, even if there is no practical benefit under the given circumstances.
For example, when Euryce Eilentes evacuated Elm Caden and Doctor Bel-Ures during the Battle of Meccrace Prime, she utilised a full black skin-print while navigating back to the ICS Disputer. While it is not currently known whether or not this would have had any effect on her shuttle's visibility to the sensor systems of the Shaeld Hrathan dreadships present at the time, the function did free her from some degree of worry and allow her to concentrate on retreating through a hostile and dangerous battle environment (→LOTD).
Alternatively, skin-printing may involve adopting the colouration and patterning features of a surrounding environment. During low altitude atmospheric operations, for example, the ventral half of the hull might mimic the sky above while the dorsal half mimics the terrain below.
Physical alteration systems use pivoted plating, movable baffles, and shape-configurable masts to literally alter the visible profile of the craft as it is viewed from different angles. Some complex systems also allow for high-energy machinery to be transported a short distance inside the craft, which gives a false impression of the shipboard mechanical configuration. Such systems can make military vessels appear to be modified civilian equivalents, or vice versa.
Heat Energy
Heat energy is a serious issue for ships which wish to avoid detection. Not only do virtually all commonly used conventional thrust systems generate heat emissions to some degree, but the requirement for life support mandates that crewed craft have at least one major section with a heat signature which is ridiculously strong against the background of deep space.
The best which can be hoped for in terms of 'heat stealth' is a very, very temporary dimming of the heat radiated from the hull of the craft in question. The laws of thermodynamics have always frustrated efforts to perfect systems intended to achieve this effect. The solution favoured currently is inelegant, merely moving heat around in a controlled fashion, and its usefulness in different scenarios is influenced by a host of variables.
On Imperial ships fitted with the appropriate systems, the so-called "stealth plating" is a layer of the hull outside what is known as the "livable capsule" — inside the livable capsule it is assumed that crew may need access to any and all areas and components while the parent craft is in space, and thus no major attempt to redirect heat by design is made within that zone. Within the "stealth plating" layer however is a network of heat-absorbing conduits, which are able to absorb many thousands of times more radiated heat energy than the insulating layer 'outside' them. It is important to note that while the ship is running under normal operations, these conduits will achieve nothing.
In order for the conduits to have any effect, the ship's sink or sinks must be withdrawn and/or sealed within the primary hull. The sink is a dense, nano-porous composite which — under ideal conditions — is cooled to the ambient temperature of space during the normal 'non-stealth' operations of the ship. Once withdrawn inside the primary hull it is positioned on insulating mounts inside an evacuated, mirrored chamber, and it interfaces directly with the headers of the heat conduit network.
The sink will remove heat from the conduit network until the combined system of (sink+network) reaches equilibrium. Under ideal conditions, this equilibrium point is below the energy level found where the conduit network intersects the heat loss gradient of the livable capsule. Even if this perfect theoretical state is achieved, from the moment equilibrium is reached the usefulness of the system declines with every passing second.
This method of redirecting heat has several limitations:
Few systems can be used in isolation to gain the tactical upper hand, and so-called 'heat stealth' systems are no exception.
The best pilots will use this system in concert with other tactics or systems; not necessarily to improve their odds of avoiding detection, but to change a potential attacker's perception of the value or threat level of the craft in question.
The best which can be hoped for in terms of 'heat stealth' is a very, very temporary dimming of the heat radiated from the hull of the craft in question. The laws of thermodynamics have always frustrated efforts to perfect systems intended to achieve this effect. The solution favoured currently is inelegant, merely moving heat around in a controlled fashion, and its usefulness in different scenarios is influenced by a host of variables.
On Imperial ships fitted with the appropriate systems, the so-called "stealth plating" is a layer of the hull outside what is known as the "livable capsule" — inside the livable capsule it is assumed that crew may need access to any and all areas and components while the parent craft is in space, and thus no major attempt to redirect heat by design is made within that zone. Within the "stealth plating" layer however is a network of heat-absorbing conduits, which are able to absorb many thousands of times more radiated heat energy than the insulating layer 'outside' them. It is important to note that while the ship is running under normal operations, these conduits will achieve nothing.
In order for the conduits to have any effect, the ship's sink or sinks must be withdrawn and/or sealed within the primary hull. The sink is a dense, nano-porous composite which — under ideal conditions — is cooled to the ambient temperature of space during the normal 'non-stealth' operations of the ship. Once withdrawn inside the primary hull it is positioned on insulating mounts inside an evacuated, mirrored chamber, and it interfaces directly with the headers of the heat conduit network.
The sink will remove heat from the conduit network until the combined system of (sink+network) reaches equilibrium. Under ideal conditions, this equilibrium point is below the energy level found where the conduit network intersects the heat loss gradient of the livable capsule. Even if this perfect theoretical state is achieved, from the moment equilibrium is reached the usefulness of the system declines with every passing second.
This method of redirecting heat has several limitations:
- The system is expensive compared to the effect it produces,
- It hugely complicates the design of cross-hull interfaces such as airlocks,
- From the moment the sink is 'plugged in' to the conduit network, there is a period of time during which the emitted heat signature of the outer hull will barely change,
- Due to the large number of variables involved the actual time this system buys a ship is difficult to predict, to the point where its tactical usefulness can sometimes only be gauged at or after the moment of necessity,
- If the sink is not at or approaching 3 Kelvin, the system will have severely reduced tactical usefulness,
- Ideal conditions are rare. The system should be considered a means of disguising heat signatures, rather than hiding them.
Few systems can be used in isolation to gain the tactical upper hand, and so-called 'heat stealth' systems are no exception.
The best pilots will use this system in concert with other tactics or systems; not necessarily to improve their odds of avoiding detection, but to change a potential attacker's perception of the value or threat level of the craft in question.