The Science Of Stealth (the Movie)

Posted:
in AppleOutsider edited January 2014
An entertaining rant off torrentspy.com... some guy that sent it in...



SPOILER WARNING:

DO NOT READ THIS IF YOU PLAN TO SEE "STEALTH" or IF YOU HAVE NOT MADE YOUR MIND UP ABOUT WHAT YOU THINK THE MOVIE IS ABOUT















...........................quite hilarious, actually, i thought the "pulse detonation turbo scramjet engines" was the made-up part. apparently that's the plausible part WTF MATE? personally, i enjoyed the movie as a $11 theme park ride that could have been titled: "Top Gun 2005 Extreme Edition". i think it WILL be nominated for a visual effects oscar





"

There are three reasons why filmmakers distort science and technology: 1) to make things look cooler, 2) to make a story work, and 3) because they have no clue what they?re talking about, and they?ve chosen to ignore the advice (or pleas) of the film?s consultants. Although Stealth a hypersonically paced Top Gun update about an unmanned air combat vehicle (UCAV) gone amok gets correct some of the futuristic air-combat technology it depicts, much of it is dead wrong, and the film commits all three of the aforementioned sins. Set in the near future, Stealth follows three young Navy pilots played by Josh Lucas, Jessica Biel and Jamie Foxx who are, evidently, the only pilots capable of handling the Navy?s newest weapon: the ultrafast, ultra-deadly, ultra-sleek Talon fighter jet. The fourth star is Extreme Deep Invader, or EDI, a fully autonomous UCAV. As EDI returns from its first mission, things go downhill fast. It gets blasted by a lightening bolt, which rewires its artificial intelligence, contained in a very cool-looking but highly unlikely glowing sphere inside the cockpit. (Cockpit in an unmanned vehicle? We?ll get to that in a minute.) Now the vehicle suddenly has an alarming propensity to play indie-rock bootlegs illegally pirated from the Internet. Yes, moviegoers, the plane has turned evil so evil that it illegally downloads music.



I won?t bother with that particular idiocy; there are plenty of other ways to complain about the science and technology depicted in this movie. While its basic premise a future Air Force equipped abundantly with autonomous aircraft is absolutely true, the various deviations from valid military air-combat future trajectories are rampant. In no particular order:



1. The title: The movie is called Stealth, but there?s virtually no discussion of anything remotely stealth-related. This despite the fact that stealth both visual stealth, to conceal aircraft against a variety of backgrounds, and radar stealth, to hide them from missile batteries and other aircraft will be a vital part of most combat-aircraft designs in the future. In fact, the Soviet-era fighter jets sent up to intercept EDI and co. as they streak across Eurasia have no trouble at all finding them and getting a few good shots in before, predictably, they?re waxed by the high-tech adversaries.



2. The Talon?s cockpits are excessively complex. Lucas, Foxx and Biel are surrounded by hundreds of switches, lights and controls in giant, sprawling instrument panels. In reality, fighter-jet cockpits are getting simpler and simpler. Modern aircraft, both civilian and military, are increasingly using a single, dominant LCD screen that selectively displays information they need, but only when they need it. Most controls are multifunction and located on the joystick. (See sin #1 above.)



3. Speaking of cockpits, why does EDI have one? No UCAV in test now or being planned in the future has a place for someone to sit. The reason EDI has one, of course, is so that later in the film, Lucas can climb aboard and save the world. (See sin #2.)



4. The airplanes fly at hypersonic velocities, which is fine at high altitudes. But they also fly obscenely fast through mountain canyons and 20 feet off the ground. No human pilot, now or in the future, could withstand the G-forces that the Talon pilots are subjected to as they make hard lefts and rights at more than 1,000 knots. Nor could they actually do any of the flying at those speeds and altitudes only a computer could steer that quickly through the mountains. (See sin #3.)



5. The Talons and EDI have aeroelastic wings, which merely sweep back and forth based on how fast the craft is flying. Those have been around for decades, in the F-14 Tomcat and the B-1 bomber. A more imaginative designer would have given the aircraft actual morphing wings and fuselages, which could change shape to any number of configurations based on the type of flying needed.



6. The aircraft designs themselves: Bill Sweetman, a noted aerospace analyst and a Popular Science contributing editor, had mixed feelings about the imaginative creations. He says, Black-project buffs will recognize the swing-wing aircraft as first cousin to Northrop Grumman?s top-secret Switchblade fighter. But don?t even think about going supersonic with those tiny engine inlets. They?ll be breathing nothing except turbulence and junk at any speed above Mach 1. Also, the sharp bulges will send a fat radar spike dead ahead, just where you don?t want it.



7. Most of the combat action takes place at close range using machine guns. First of all, almost all combat action now takes place at long range using missiles. That will probably remain true forever. Secondly, the airplanes are moving so fast that any bullet hits can only be attributed to dumb luck, of which there is a lot in this movie.



8. Without giving away a crucial plot line, the most ridiculous fib comes when the Navy pilots finally figure out how to take EDI down. Let?s just say that you?ll never guess how they do it, because how they do it makes no sense.



Some elements in Stealth are pretty much on target. There is validity to the propulsion system, for example. The captain describes it as a pulse-detonation engine boosted by scramjet turbos. Both these engine types are in active development and will certainly propel aircraft to the kinds of speeds depicted in the film. And there is also substantial truth to the neural network used in EDI?s artificial-intelligence system. Designers of autonomous systems are striving to make them replicate human thinking and reasoning processes as much as possible. It is very unlikely, however, that a lightning bolt would turn them evil, especially to the tune of Internet piracy. Far more likely, though perhaps lacking dramatic potential, is that a lightning bolt would simply make them crash.

"

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 7
    andersanders Posts: 6,523member
    Ever seen "Air Race"? There is no way "Stealth" can be worse than that.
  • Reply 2 of 7
    sunilramansunilraman Posts: 8,133member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Anders

    Ever seen "Air Race"? There is no way "Stealth" can be worse than that.



    hmm... never heard of it... for the record, i really enjoyed Stealth. josh lucas is like a younger, cooler matthew mcconahey (cant spell his name), and jessica biel actually has some nice voluptousness on her, thank goodness it wasn't some skinny waif that would have all the air crushed out of her lungs at anything greater than 1.5Gs...
  • Reply 3 of 7
    dmzdmz Posts: 5,775member
    I think every generation has one of these movies. I remember seeing Iron Eagle when I was a teenager -- and thought it was the greatest thing.



    I rented it a couple of months ago and attempted to watch it, and found it to be unwatchable; it was a contest between technical inaccuaracies, bad dialogue and a plot in such bad taste that I couldn't finish it. An intellectual one-night-stand with no redeeming qualities.



    I wouldn't even let my kids watch it.
  • Reply 4 of 7
    sunilramansunilraman Posts: 8,133member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by dmz

    I think every generation has one of these movies. I remember seeing Iron Eagle when I was a teenager -- and thought it was the greatest thing.



    I rented it a couple of months ago and attempted to watch it, and found it to be unwatchable; it was a contest between technical inaccuaracies, bad dialogue and a plot in such bad taste that I couldn't finish it. An intellectual one-night-stand with no redeeming qualities.



    I wouldn't even let my kids watch it.






    heh... let's try watching Top Gun in 20 years time. We'll be, like, WTF MATE? Is this how real men in the 80's were supposed to be like?
  • Reply 5 of 7
    Top Gun was THE worst thing that ever happened to the Navy. My God, you have no idea how arrogant naval aviators are. It's sickening.
  • Reply 6 of 7
    hardheadhardhead Posts: 644member
    Not only that but how the hell does Ray Charles SEE what he's doing?
  • Reply 7 of 7
    sunilramansunilraman Posts: 8,133member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by hardhead

    Not only that but how the hell does Ray Charles SEE what he's doing?



    ROFLMAO
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