This radical aircraft was one of Fisikous' first designed from the wheels up by the Lithuanian lab itself, and it was one of the most important-it was the Soviet Union's first stealth bomber, designed to avoid detection by advanced radar systems.

One of the scientists gathered in the room activated a switch on a console at his seat, which rotated the model along its longitudinal axis so that the two vertical stabilizers could be clearly seen by all. "The tailplane on the Fisikous- 170 stealth bomber is an all-moving, hydraulically operated fly-by-light control surface, made of all composite materials," Dr. Pyotr Fursenko, the senior project scientist, said, continuing his informal talk about the newest changes in his design. "It provides stability in all three axes of flight-yaw, roll, and pitch. In addition, the tailplanes can be retracted downwards toward the fuselage, like so." He hit another switch and the vertical stabilizers lowered until they were almost flush with the aft end of the weird-looking model. "This can be done during several phases of flight, but mostly during high-speed portions of a mission at either high or low altitude, when normal pitch-and-roll control can be accomplished by the mission-adaptive wing structure. The stabilizers are quite strong in their fully extended position, and their composite construction increases radar cross-section by only one one-thousandth of a percent-far less than the radar return from the pilot's helmet through the cockpit windscreen."

The scientists in the room nodded their approval, but in the low murmur of approving voices there was one voice that caused the other delegates to the conference to stop and turn toward the speaker with a great deal of surprise. "Excuse me," Fursenko said irritably to the one attendee. "Would you repeat what you just said?"

"I said bullshit, tovarisch," David Luger said in rather stilted pidgin Russian. The other delegates peeled away from the tall, thin man as if he were glowing with radioactivity. Luger went on: "That vertical surface will increase the aircraft's radar cross-section by a factor of at least four hundred, whether extended or retracted."

"We have run dozens of tests on the design, Dr. Ozerov," Fursenko replied. "The data show that radar cross-section is reduced significantly, as close to zero as possible, with the vertical control surfaces retracted."

"You're talking about a computer model that merely computes an RCS factor based on the square footage of the control surface in the slipstream," Luger said. Most of his words, especially the technical terms, came out in English, and his pronunciation of most of the Russian words was barely understandable-the other scientists shook their heads in exasperation, trying to understand him as he continued: "Your computer model doesn't take into account the lobal-propagation properties of RF energy coming off the wings and fuselage and the wave pattern associated with reflections from the control surfaces, especially when the main wing trailing edge deflects in greater increments during high-speed turns."

Fursenko rolled his eyes in exasperation. "I did not understand you, Doctor Ozerov. Would you kindly-"