science

Lockheed Have Blue

Lockheed Have Blue is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Lockheed Have Blue rather than just read about it. In short: Lockheed Have Blue was the code name for Lockheed's proof-of-concept demonstrator for a stealth fighter. Have Blue was designed by Lockheed's Skunk Works division and tested at Groom Lake, Nevada.

Key takeaways

Lockheed Have Blue belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Lockheed Have Blue to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Lockheed Have Blue from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Lockheed Have Blue was the code name for Lockheed's proof-of-concept demonstrator for a stealth fighter. Have Blue was designed by Lockheed's Skunk Works division and tested at Groom Lake, Nevada. The Have Blue was the first fixed-wing aircraft whose external shape was defined by radar engineering rather than by aerospace engineering. The aircraft's faceted shape was designed to deflect electromagnetic waves in directions other than that of the originating radar emitter, greatly reducing its radar cross-section. To design the aircraft, Skunk Works engineers used the mathematical theory and tools published by Soviet physicist and mathematician Petr Ufimtsev about the reflection of electromagnetic waves. A stealth engineer at Lockheed, Denys Overholser, had read the publication and realized that Ufimtsev’s work enabled finite element analysis of radar reflection. The eventual design had faceted surfaces to deflect radar waves away from a radar receiver. It had highly swept wings and inward-canted vertical stabilizers, which led to its nickname "the Hopeless Diamond"—a pun on the Hope Diamond. The first operational aircraft made its maiden flight on 1 December 1977. Two flyable vehicles were constructed. Both were lost due to mechanical problems. Nevertheless, Have Blue was deemed a success, paving the way for the first operational stealth aircraft, Senior Trend, or Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk.

Background In the 1970s, it became increasingly apparent to U.S. planners that, in a military confrontation with Warsaw Pact forces, NATO aircraft would quickly suffer heavy losses to sophisticated Soviet defense networks of surveillance radars, radar-guided surface-to-air missiles (SAM), and anti-aircraft artillery (AAA). Consequently, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) started a study on low-observability aircraft, seeking to design and produce an operational stealth aircraft. Five companies were invited, three of which bowed out early. The remaining two were later joined by Lockheed.

Design and development

Origins The Lockheed Have Blue was born out of a requirement to evade radar detection. During the Vietnam War, radar-guided SAMs and AAA downed many US aircraft, leading planners to accompany strike aircraft with support aircraft to perform combat air patrols and suppression of enemy air defenses (SEAD). The 1973 Yom Kippur War again highlighted the vulnerability of aircraft to SAMs; the Israeli Air Force lost 109 aircraft in 18 days. During the Cold War, the Soviet Union developed an integrated defense network around medium- to long-range surveillance radars. SAMs and AAAs would be set up around key locations to defend them from enemy aircraft. If the loss ratio of Israel during the Yom Kippur War was experienced by NATO forces during a military confrontation with the Warsaw Pact, NATO aircraft numbers would be depleted within two weeks. In 1974, DARPA secretly asked five aircraft manufacturers about two considerations. The first was about the signature thresholds at which an aircraft is virtually undetectable. The second point was whether these companies could design and manufacture such an aircraft. Fairchild and Grumman declined to participate. General Dynamics insisted on the use of electronic countermeasures and consequently left the discussion. The remaining two companies, McDonnell Douglas and Northrop, were each awarded $100,000 for further research.

Design effort and early testing Lockheed, having been absent from the fighter aircraft industry for 10 years, was not approached by DARPA in 1974. Ed Martin, Lockheed California Companies director of science and engineering, became aware of the research into stealth during his work at the Pentagon and Wright-Patterson AFB. Martin and Ben Rich, who at that time had recently become Skunk Works' president, briefed Clarence "Kelly" Johnson on the program. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) gave Skunk Works permission to discuss with DARPA the stealth characteristics of the A-12, M-21 and D-21. On behalf of the company, Rich and Martin formally requested permission from DARPA to participate in the program, but the agency initially refused because there were insufficient funds; after much debate, Lockheed was allowed entry, albeit without a government contract.

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Lockheed Have Blue

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Lockheed Have Blue claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Lockheed Have Blue before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Lockheed Have Blue ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Lockheed Have Blue

In research: Lockheed Have Blue appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Lockheed Have Blue in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Lockheed Have Blue is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1970s United States experimental aircraft, Aircraft first flown in 1977, Aircraft with retractable tricycle landing gear, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Lockheed Have Blue outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Lockheed Have Blue in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Lockheed Have Blue means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Lockheed Have Blue out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Lockheed Have Blue in simple terms?

Lockheed Have Blue was the code name for Lockheed's proof-of-concept demonstrator for a stealth fighter. Have Blue was designed by Lockheed's Skunk Works division and tested at Groom Lake, Nevada.

Why does Lockheed Have Blue matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Lockheed Have Blue?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Lockheed Have Blue.