Stealth technology has steadily gained prominence in the design philosophies of modern warships. As radar detection capabilities and weapons technology have exhibited significant advancements in recent times, it necessitates the incorporation of stealth or 'low-observable' technology into modern surface combatants. While warship designers employ multiple aspects of signature suppression such as visual, acoustic, infra-red. etc., reduction of the Radar Cross-Section (RCS) is an effort to avoid detection, identification, and offers better survivability against radar-based homing anti-ship missiles. This study focusses on the reduction of RCS of typical modern warship superstructure. Firstly, this paper evaluates a few canonical geometries to study the primary effect of shaping, on RCS and also validate the computational tools employed. Subsequently, RCS of generic, conventional warship shapes are evaluated and compared against the OMR Tumblehome model, (an open-access stealth ship model available for fundamental research). The study investigates the change in stealth characteristics of the ship achieved by imparting parametric variations to its superstructure geometry. Finally, the study evaluates some innovative superstructure shapes to reduce RCS while not compromising on valuable internal volume.
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