# Wouldn't a "flying suacer" be stealth on radar?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wouldnt-a-flying-suacer-be-stealth-on-radar/183991>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 24, 2003, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wouldnt-a-flying-suacer-be-stealth-on-radar/183991 "2003-06-24T11:14:55Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\
**Post date:** [June 24, 2003, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wouldnt-a-flying-suacer-be-stealth-on-radar/183991/1 "2003-06-24T11:14:55Z")

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Worlds biggest skeptic BTW.

I’m asking this because the other day I was watching the tube (discovery channel or something of the like) and this old pilot guy gets on and says he saw three sauce like shapes on his radar then confirmed it with an actuall sighting. (So he claims.) But this got me to thinking I also remember seeing a documentary about the stealth bomber and basically what they said was the stealth bomber works because it doesn’t have any defining line on it… or something like that… anyway a “Flying saucer” would basically have the same effect on a radar wouldn’t it?

Pls help me call BS on this guys story.😉

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**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\
**Post date:** [June 24, 2003, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wouldnt-a-flying-suacer-be-stealth-on-radar/183991/2 "2003-06-24T11:28:45Z")

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Depends on the design of the saucer; stealth fighters work (largely) by having surfaces angled in such a way as to fail to reflect a signal back to the receiver, so a saucer like [this](http://www.screamingdreams.com/prints/archives/saucer2.jpg) might well be quite stealthy, whereas a saucer like [this](http://www.waldosworld.org/gallery01/flyingsaucer.jpg) probably wouldn’t.

(Not taking into account any electromagnetic emissions that the saucer might be generating)

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**Author:** ![Eleusis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Eleusis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleusis)\
**Post date:** [June 24, 2003, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wouldnt-a-flying-suacer-be-stealth-on-radar/183991/3 "2003-06-24T11:30:10Z")

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Not unless it specifically designed that way and covered in radar absorbing materials.

A sphere has no defining lines but will show on radar.

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**Author:** ![Declan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecae2f/32.png) [@Declan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Declan)\
**Post date:** [June 24, 2003, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wouldnt-a-flying-suacer-be-stealth-on-radar/183991/4 "2003-06-24T13:48:05Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by SHAKES \*  
> \*\*Worlds biggest skeptic BTW.
> 
> I’m asking this because the other day I was watching the tube (discovery channel or something of the like) and this old pilot guy gets on and says he saw three sauce like shapes on his radar then confirmed it with an actuall sighting. (So he claims.) But this got me to thinking I also remember seeing a documentary about the stealth bomber and basically what they said was the stealth bomber works because it doesn’t have any defining line on it… or something like that… anyway a “Flying saucer” would basically have the same effect on a radar wouldn’t it?
> 
> Pls help me call BS on this guys story.😉 \*\*

The Stealth bomber and fighter are low observable, not invisible. Get within 50 miles of a big search radar and it shows up , might be as a sparrow ,but a sparrow doing five hundred miles an hour.

Declan