Stealth and Canards don't go together
https://www.quora.com/Is-Chinese-fi...s-of-a-fighter-jet-reduce-its-stealthy-nature
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[Image credits : Martian2]
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For a start we need to define certain terms in layman language : For a Fifth-Gen fighter jet, the smaller the radar cross section (RCS), the better stealth feature it has and the harder for enemy aircraft to detect it - In short, a Fifth-Gen fighter jet’s stealthy nature comes from its frontal and lower fuselage RCS. Many people have the misconception that canards on a fighter jet drastically increases its RCS due to deflections off the canards and exposes the fighter jet to early detection. Let’s set the record straight - Canards on a fighter jet does not necessarily increase its frontal RCS, especially when there is planform alignment.
As Dr Michael J Pelosi and Dr Carlo Kopp pointed out in their assessment of[1]J-20’s RCS , the frontal RCS of the J-20 presents robust Very Low Observable (VLO) performance against X-band and S-band radars - canards included. Furthermore, South Korea and Indonesia's joint KF-X 5th gen fighter project selected a canard-delta configuration for their final aircraft. Even the Dassault Rafale has a lower RCS than the F-18 Hornet despite it having canards and the F-18 being a traditional configuration fighter. If canards were an impediment to VLO performance, Chengdu would not have selected the J-20's canard-delta configuration and neither would KAI have chosen the same configuration for their 5th gen fighter jet program.[2]
Northrop Grumman - and they are not unknown in the field of stealth - proposed a delta-canard derivate of the ATF/YF-23 for the NAT program and the latest proposal for Boeing's 6th generation fighter is also a delta-canard design!
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McDonnell Douglas X-36 in 90's has similar canards configuration as J-20, NASA says that it was extremely stealthy from all angles.
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