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America’s entire stealth program is built upon the principle of absorbing radio waves with special materials so they don’t reflect signals back to an adversary’s radar system. In that way, America’s stealth warplanes like the F-22 Raptor, F-35 Lightning, and B-2 Spirit can remain relatively invisible on most current radar systems.

Working as an active-duty airman in the U.S. Air Force, my primary responsibility was the repair and maintenance of the complex radar system onboard the E-3 Sentry AWACS aircraft. The radar lessons I learned in tech school, however, were exceedingly simple: a transmitter emits a radio wave that is reflected back when it comes in contact with an object.