Sun Tzu once said that all warfare is based on deception, and in today’s world, that deception is all about stealth. Being invisible to your enemy is now a cornerstone of military technology, from snipers to planes, ships, and submarines that can vanish from radar or sonar.

Aircraft have come quite a way since World War I. They’re no longer just eyes in the sky; they are a key part of attack strategies. Modern aircraft need to be stealthy to be effective. This isn’t just about painting them a stealthy color anymore. Now it means making the plane nearly impossible to detect, like the F-22 Raptor, which over the years has evolved through high-tech research to be nearly invisible to radar.

To make such an aircraft invisible, they’ve heavily minimized its radar cross-section. The science behind radar is about bouncing radio waves back to a source; the F-22’s design ensures those waves scatter. This design, along with radar-absorbing materials, keeps the F-22 hidden from enemy radars, all while being lightweight and incredibly fast.

The ability to avoid detection doesn’t end with radars; infrared detection is also countered. The F-22’s engines cruise without creating the heat and noise usually picked up by infrared systems. They’ve even managed to keep the plane maneuverable with engine vectoring which helps in managing the heat signature.

Radar, however, is a blessing and a curse. Born in the 1930s by British physicist Robert Watson-Watt, radar evolved to detect aircraft from hundreds of miles away. Early radar systems, although initially limited, were exponentially developed by World War II, allowing detection over even greater distances.

This new method of warfare by invisibility took a leap with the SR-71 Blackbird. Designed during the Cold War, it flew faster and higher than ever before, often beyond the reach of missiles. While built from titanium—secretly sourced from enemy territories—the Blackbird expanded during flight to manage heat and speed, making it an unprecedented piece of military technology.

Even with such innovations in aerial stealth, warfare continued to evolve. The F-117 Nighthawk, though not the prettiest of planes, was another stealth breakthrough. It could make its way through enemy spaces with extraordinary accuracy and minimal detection, something that proved devastating during the Gulf War.

Then came the B-2 Spirit, a marvel with its almost “insect-sized” radar signature despite its massive size. Conceived to slip through Soviet defenses, it carried a variety of devastating weapons and could deploy them from far-off locations without ever being seen.

On land, stealth took a different form with the rise of snipers and their rifles. Originating back in the early wars, snipers didn’t become prominent until World War I, when they learned to hide and strike effectively using scoped rifles. The development of newer sniper systems, like the Barrett M82, enabled them to take out material targets over a kilometer away.

These developments weren’t limited to the ground or air. Stealth technology burrowed into the ocean as well. Submarines, starting with the German U-Boats in World War I, revolutionized naval combat. Diesel-electric engines allowed them to move quietly and strike unexpectedly. As submarine technology evolved through World War II and beyond, nuclear submarines like the USS Nautilus transformed the very nature of underwater stealth.

As we continued to develop quieter and more elusive submarines, like the Los Angeles class, which combined incredible depth capabilities with speed and power, the stealth race took to the surface with ships like the Zumwalt-class destroyers. These massive ships, though heavily armed, have radar cross-sections that make them look like tiny boats to detection systems.

Stealth technology’s arms race will never cease. The latest endeavors include experimental technologies like plasma shields and light-bending cloaks that aim to make military assets—and perhaps soldiers—invisible. In the world of warfare, remaining unseen is truly the name of the game.