Obamanite wrote:
Here's a thought: the Raptor has a lot of doors and what not, most notably the weapon bay doors (the gun door and the refueling door and so on), that are DESIGNED to open and close repeatedly - in the course of a mission - without the need to do LO work on the seams every time they open and close (as far as I know there isn't some little LO gnome that comes out of a hidden compartment while the airplane is in flight to apply a coating of LO stuff after the weapon bays open and close). Now, why couldn't they have designed ALL panels to work on the same principle. I get that this is probably, on the face of it, a really stupid question, but it does sort of still make you go hmm...
My understanding is that LM tried to put as many systems as possible which require frequent inspection / service into the weapons and landing gear bays. Other systems which require frequent access also have frequent access panels which can be open and closed without requiring reapplication of stealth coatings. The reason that the aircraft isn't covered in frequent access panels is that they are more expensive to develop and build and heavier compared with standard panels.
Mike
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