Stealth is not a single technology, but a group of aligned disciplines. Those disciplines, in turn, need to be brought together in a workable, affordable and practical vehicle.

Aviation Week earned its “Aviation Leak” nickname decades ago in part through its coverage of stealth technologies.

This week’s Check 6 marks the start of a series of special features running before Aviation Week & Space Technology’s 100th anniversary in 2016 with a discussion of stealth and counter-stealth technology.

A small number of people made outsize contributions to the early development of stealth, working under intense secrecy.

Much of the history of stealth has taken place under a shroud of secrecy that often hid important events from insiders as well as the public. It’s been a vast and often chaotic development, driven by technology, economics and geopolitics—and even the goals set 30 years ago have yet to be met.