Golden canopy

s_ellebaut · by **s_ellebaut** » 19 Nov 2003, 16:06

I've seen some pictures of F-16's where the canopy had a golden color. Some people are talking about the golden canopy. What's its function? And why do you only see the gold color sometimes? I've even seen pics of a F-16 double seater where one part of the canopy was gold and the other wasn't.

habu2 · by **habu2** » 19 Nov 2003, 16:34

The canopy was 'tinted' for the same reason the F-117 canopy was tinted, and for similar reasons the EA-6B canopies were 'tinted' - does that give you a hint?

The 'tint' was also very fragile and was easily damaged by minor scrapes, requiring expensive repairs. It also caused a lot of problems with internal reflections during night flights.

GregD

s_ellebaut · by **s_ellebaut** » 19 Nov 2003, 16:37

The canopy was 'tinted' for the same reason the F-117 canopy was tinted, and for similar reasons the EA-6B canopies were 'tinted' - does that give you a hint?

Sorry doesn't give me hint. I thought because of stealth, but the F-16 isn't stealth and I don't think the EA-6B is either.

The 'tint' was also very fragile and was easily damaged by minor scrapes, requiring expensive repairs. It also caused a lot of problems with internal reflections during night flights.

Does this mean the new F-16's don't have that 'tint, because it causes problems?

Stefaan · by **Stefaan** » 19 Nov 2003, 16:44

EA-6Bs have this is well - it shields the cockpit and crew from radiation. Gold is a very dense material with high conductivity, so even an extremely thin layer (so you can see through it) would already be effective. The gold coating would create a "Faraday cage" effect.

On an EA-6B this was very useful since this aircraft could carry up to 5 jamming pods which emitted an enormous amount of energy in the form of radiation.

One would suspect it is mainly applied to F-16CJ/DJs since they would typically operate in a high-radiation environment, but I'm just guessing here.

<a href="f-16_photos_album10-photoakj.html"><img src="PhotoGallery/album10/akj.thumb.jpg"></a>

Click for larger image

Stefaan

s_ellebaut · by **s_ellebaut** » 19 Nov 2003, 16:51

The first part of the cockpit on this picture http://members.lycos.nl/macsgk/F-16--FB-22.jpg , is that also a golden canopy ir is it just a reflection of the light?

habu2 · by **habu2** » 19 Nov 2003, 16:55

The gold canopy prevents energy radiated at specific frequencies from passing through the canopy. Stefaan's comment about a Faraday cage is correct. On an EA-6B it serves to protect the crew from the radiation emitted by their own jamming pods. On an F-117 and F-16 it prevents radiation (from other sources) from reflecting off the interior cockpit structure.

habu2 · by **habu2** » 19 Nov 2003, 16:58

s_ellebaut, on two-place cockpits the front and rear sections can be repaired/replaced independently. Also the radiation source you are concerned about is often in the front hemisphere so the rear canopy shielding is not as important.

Stefaan · by **Stefaan** » 19 Nov 2003, 17:01

habu2,

should've figured that one out myself :-)

So this would also explain why the coating is applied to any F-16, not just "Wild Weasels".

So the gold coating would in effect reduce the Radar Cross Section - are there any data available by how much ?

The link to the Belgian F-16B indeed shows the coating on the front canopy only - presumably the coating hasn't been applied yet to the rear of the canopy.

stefaan

habu2 · by **habu2** » 19 Nov 2003, 17:12

So the gold coating would in effect reduce the Radar Cross Section

Yes.

are there any data available by how much ?

No public data.

presumably the coating hasn't been applied yet to the rear of the canopy

Or was not replaced after being damaged.

Habu · by **Habu** » 19 Nov 2003, 18:25

Now wait a minute, on many a pics I've seen shows the rear, cone shaped part of the canopy with no tint. You're telling me all of these were having their canopy sections replaced or fixed?

**Guest** · by **Guest** » 19 Nov 2003, 19:38

All I know is that if you ask a pilot or anyone who know about it, they answer with a funny response so they don't have to answer you, or they say it is for the sun... But that is also to not answer you, so it has to be something special ( like the above is).

habu2 · by **habu2** » 19 Nov 2003, 20:12

The gold canopy mod is only one part of the Have Glass mods, there are many others - some you can see, some you can't, and some that 'look' the same.

elp · by **elp** » 19 Nov 2003, 20:14

You mean it isn't yellow to cut haze like a skeet shooter's "shooter's glasses"??

Rigamortis · by **Rigamortis** » 20 Nov 2003, 05:03

Well for 13 yrs I have seen mostly gold tinted canopies, it is nothing new to the Viper.

The tinting serves 3 purposes

shading from the sun
radiation protection
and it also turns black to protect thu pilots eyes in the case of a nuclear blast.

The tinting has a problem with being very fragile, so much so you can only use water to wipe the inside of the canopy with. At Luke the tinting was coming off so much on some aircraft the egress shop actually stripped it the rest of the way.

In the past 5 yrs I have seen the newest canopies which have a gray smoked tint to them. These have their tinting in the plastic that makes the canopy. The canopy actually has a green reflected tint in the sun when you see it glare. So there are actually 2 types of canopies being used right now. The aft transparancy isn't tinted, the plastic is only a 1/4 of and inch thick at most and it is designed to shatter when the canopy is impacted by an object. The canopy will actually flex and transmitt the kinetic force to the aft transparancy which shatters, but that will take a BIG, BIG bird to do that most of the time the bird will just bounce off and leave a smudge.

We Crew Chiefs actually replace the aft transparancy when they need to be replaced. The actual canopy plastic is almost 5-6 inches thick but you would never know by looking through it.

Rigo

Habu · by **Habu** » 20 Nov 2003, 06:13

5-6 inches? Geez... how much does that thing weigh?