Fighter painting: "surface effort" that can't be underestimated

　　Fighter painting: "surface effort" that can't be underestimated

　　In January of this year, the Egyptian army organized a large-scale military exercise of the "Kadir-2020", and its air force fighter aircraft's unique painting was impressive. The F-16, the main fighter of the Egyptian Air Force, used eye-catching red paint on the vertical tail, wings and back of the aircraft. The analysis of relevant experts believes that this kind of coating is designed to effectively distinguish the same type of fighter equipment equipped by the country and other countries, and partly abandons the low visibility of the fighter's coating.

　　Against the background that countries around the world have begun to pay attention to the low-vision coating of fighter planes, Egypt chose this special coating, which has obviously been carefully weighed. So, what exactly determines the type and style of fighter painting? Why is the painting of fighter planes so important? What types of paint do fighters from all over the world have? What kind of law does the development of fighter painting follow, and where will it develop? Let us pay attention to the topic of this issue together-

Coating types with different uses

　　The so-called fighter coating refers to coating some materials on the surface of the fighter to meet certain specific needs. These materials can be either paint or absorbing materials. Throughout the development history of fighter coatings, according to different uses, fighter coatings can be divided into three types:

　　The first is identification paint, which mainly refers to the paint that distinguishes the countries and troops to which the fighter belongs. This is the most common use for fighter painting. Normally, the nationality of a fighter is usually distinguished by spraying the national flag or military emblem of the country where the fighter belongs to the prominent position of the aircraft, such as the wing, fuselage, or tail. Not only that, this type of fighter painting can even distinguish specific troops. During World War II, the German Air Force adopted the alphanumeric coding and graphical logo system paint to specifically show the wing, squadron and squadron where the aircraft is located; the identification color system of the US Naval Air Force distinguishes each with 6 colors 6 teams of the flying squadron. In addition, the fighter's identification coatings also include personalized coatings and combat results coatings that reflect the personal characteristics of pilots. For example, during World War II, the German Air Force pilot Adolf Garland was allowed to use the Mickey Mouse "right-handed tomahawk and left-handed cigar" Mickey Mouse paint. During the same period, the Soviet Air Force pilot shot every enemy fighter in the cockpit. Painted a red star on the side. These paintings not only play a role in identification, but also can be used to encourage morale.

　　The second is camouflage painting, which mainly refers to the low-visibility painting that blends the color or signal characteristics of the fighter into the background environment. The role of this type of painting is to hide yourself and delay the discovery time of the other party. For example, during World War I, some pilots painted the surface of the aircraft green. When the plane is parked on the ground, it looks down from above. It is the same color as the green area, which greatly reduces the risk of detection and attack. In addition, this type of painting is also used to hide the truth. For example, the F / A-18C "Bumblebee" fighter and A-10A attack aircraft in some countries are sprayed with fake cockpits, which can make the enemy Fang's pilot misjudged the trajectory of these fighters in an instant. The stealth coating of modern fighters is also to a certain extent camouflage-type coatings, designed to deceive the opponent's radar, and achieve the purpose of making the fighter invisible by controlling the received radar beam. For example, most of the surface of the US B-2 bomber is covered with special elastic materials. The radar absorbing coating used by it can convert the radar wave energy into heat energy, thereby reducing the radar reflection surface of the fighter.

　　The third is demonstration paint, mainly referring to the high-visibility paint used for training, performance, rescue and experimental aircraft. This type of painting requires a significant color difference, a large contrast to the background, and a diametrically opposite purpose for low-visibility painting. Search and rescue aircraft usually use orange and white, and trainer aircraft generally use white, red and red wingtips on the fuselage. In some celebrations, the colors and patterns of the demonstration painting are more obvious. For example, NATO holds a "tiger meeting" every few years. The colorful graphics related to tigers may cover the entire fuselage either on the nose, fuselage, or on the wings and tail.

Or "yes" or "no"

　　From the perspective of the development process of fighter painting, it has also experienced different stages of ups and downs, or "yes" or "no". For fighter painting, "change" is an eternal theme, but the causes of various changes have always originated from serving "war".

　　Fighter paintings range from "none" to "yes", and "boom" due to war. At the beginning of the 20th century, designers usually applied paint on the warframes made of wood. The main role of these paints was to prevent insects from decay and to prevent decay, so as to maintain the intact rate of fighters. During the First World War, apart from the use of identification coatings, camouflage coatings became popular, because after multiple verifications, fighters with such coatings have certain advantages. At that time, fighter planes of various countries were generally painted and colored. For example, British fighter planes are painted with yellow and green as the standard background color, and a circular ring emblem is drawn on both sides of the fuselage and the upper and lower surfaces of the main wing. By the time World War II broke out, almost all military aircraft were painted with green or brown on the upper surface and white or light blue or gray on the lower surface, while aircraft used for maritime operations were generally painted white or gray. When the flames of war spread to Africa, desert color paintings appeared again, which can give a glimpse of the impact of different battlefield environments on the painting of fighter aircraft.

　　Fighter aircraft painting from "yes" to "no", "minus" for victory. As early as the first all-metal structure aircraft appeared in the early last century, due to the weight of the paint and uneven application, it was easy to affect the center of gravity and stability of the aircraft. There have been cases of exposed metal skins of fighter aircraft. Especially with the advent of jet aircraft, the paint on the surface of the fuselage sometimes affects the aerodynamic performance of the aircraft, and the coating of fighter aircraft gradually fades. At the end of World War II, the US nuclear strike against Japan further triggered the thinking about the future strategic bomber painting. Related research at the time found that unpainted or white painted fighters could better reflect the light radiation heat released by nuclear explosions. In the early days of the Cold War, many fighter planes represented by the United States and the Soviet Union adopted non-painting or white painting methods. For example, the B-47 and B-52 bombers equipped by the US Strategic Air Force are not painted, and the Miya-4, Tu-16, and Tu-95 strategic bombers of the Soviet Air Force Long Range Air Force have adopted a similar model. At the same time, with the advent of air-to-air missiles that can be used for long-range engagement and the development of airborne radars, designers in some countries once believed that the necessity of low visibility coatings for fighter planes was greatly reduced, so such as F-104, Mi Some jet fighters such as Grid-21 and "Lightning" did not show additional paint.

　　The painting of fighters ranges from "less" to "more" and "increases" due to war. As the Vietnam War broke out and continued, the US Air Force discovered that Vietnam ’s battlefield environment was significantly different from the nuclear war scenario previously envisioned. The small but highly flexible Vietnam Air Force MiG-17 and MiG-19 fighters, as well as the large number of ground anti-aircraft guns and the serious threat posed by the Sam-2 surface-to-air missiles, forced the U.S. Air Force fighters to lower their operational altitude. A series of combat missions such as air combat, bombing and close air support. Coupled with Vietnam's typical Southeast Asian jungle terrain, it directly contributed to the birth of the "Southeast Asian Camouflage" painting scheme adapted to this special battlefield environment. The most typical one is the AC-47 gunboat of the US Air Force. Its upper surface is painted with light green / dark green / brown camouflage camouflage, and the lower surface is painted with black to meet the needs of night warfare. Nowadays, different shades of gray have gradually become the mainstream painting of multinational fighters. The multi-color digital camouflage and irregular geometric pattern painting resumed by Russian fighters have further increased the optional styles of fighter painting.

From the table to the table, focusing on "connotation"

　　With the development of modern military aviation technology and the evolution of the form of air combat, at present, while focusing on "appearance", the coating of some fighters has embarked on the path of "connotation" development. Its purpose is to further reduce the possibility of fighters. Exploratory.

　　On the one hand, in order to adapt to actual combat needs, modern fighter painting began to pay more attention to details. More typical is the in-depth study and flexible application of silver and gray paint. Prior to this, some research results in this area have been applied. For example, the best coating for fighters in the mid-to-low-level troposphere is light gray, the stratosphere is dark gray, and the higher altitude is black. Nowadays, for the fighters of many countries, low visualization has been incorporated into the integrated design of the fighters, and began to comprehensively consider more factors such as the type of aircraft, active area, etc. to carry out the corresponding painting. For example, Russia painted a dark gray digital color block designed by the computer on the light gray background of the Su-57 fighter and the "Hunter" drone, which was used to deceive the infrared sensors carried by the opponent's fighter plane and induce the opponent to misjudge.

　　On the other hand, in addition to paying attention to changes in the details of paint colors, modern fighters pay more attention to paint materials and functions. There are many types of fighter coatings, such as aircraft skin coatings, camouflage coatings, stealth coatings, thermal insulation and noise reduction damping coatings, high temperature parts temperature resistant coatings, antistatic coatings, oil resistant coatings, fire retardant coatings, anti-skid coatings, etc. People are concerned about the use and efficacy of stealth paint. At present, fighter stealth coatings can be divided into various types of absorbing coatings such as radar, infrared, laser, sonar, etc. according to their different functions. The continuous improvement of the manufacturing and use of these coatings will make the fighters more concealed and launch attacks more suddenly and efficiently.

　　Objectively speaking, the painting of fighters of various countries is still in the process of continuous evolution, and the research and improvement of low-visual painting will continue. After all, it is still difficult for fighters to avoid being seen by the enemy. In modern wars, stealth fighters and electronic warfare aircraft need to penetrate into enemy airspace for a longer period of time, which means that they are still seen as the "life gate" of modern fighters. Therefore, it is necessary for the fighters to have visual stealth capabilities as much as possible.

　　However, from a higher perspective, the current fighter painting is only part of the camouflage of the fighter. In future wars, there is still much work to be done for fighters to have stronger low visibility and low detectability. The current fighter painting is essentially a "passive static camouflage". Perhaps in the near future, as new technologies and new materials continue to emerge, some "active dynamic camouflage" may appear, such as Adapt to camouflage, smart camouflage, etc. At present, relevant research in some countries has been partially launched. If one day it reaches a practical level, it may change the painting style of existing fighters. However, whether it will continue to appear in the form of "painting" at that time is unknown, at least for now it is difficult to draw this conclusion.

　　(Author: Air Force Engineering University)

Wang Peng

Wang Peng