Stealth Technology



Stealth technology is a specialized application of physics to create a practical form of active camouflage. A modulated field of high-energy radiation transmits the reflected light from one side of the affected object to the other, effectively making it invisible to untrained eyes.

Background
To counter the United States' advantage in firepower provided by power armor, China focused on developing various forms of active camouflage. The principal and most widely deployed result was the Hei Gui stealth suit, allowing Chinese infiltrators and marksmen to exploit stretched supply lines and vulnerabilities in the frontline.

Forced into a defensive, the Chinese increased their focus on stealth capability. By December 2075, reports of macro-scale research into the technology began to surface. The most disconcerting were reports of testing submersible vessels equipped with active camouflage, nicknamed the "Ghost Fleet." The U.S. command refused to act on this circumstantial intelligence. The Shaanxi Province was identified as a center of this research, not through direct reports, but analysis of shipping information. The DIA extrapolated their information from an increase in imports of complex polymers and synthetic compounds to the providence, the quantity of which was consistent with macro-scale stealth research.

At least one of these vessels, the Yangtze-31, launched all but one of its warheads on the eastern coast of the United States, delivering a crippling blow to Massachusetts before striking a mine, rendering the vessel incapable of completing its return journey.

Application
The underlying principle of bending light was harnessed by the United States from captured Chinese suits in two ways. Robert Mayflower of RobCo Industries reverse-engineered captured stealth armor to create the portable, but unstable Stealth Boy 3001 units. The Enclave had originally created a Mark II prototype, intended to become modulated to use less power and thus last longer, but instead resulted in a highly fatal device. By 2080, the Appalachian Enclave would later use the research present at the Fujiniya Intelligence Base to create what would become known as the Stealth Boy Mark III.

The research scientists at Big MT focused more on the suit itself and its stealth-enhancing properties, taking the Chinese suits apart and then designing a new stealth suit from scratch. This resulted in the creation of two prototypes before the war: the assassin suit and the stealth suit mk II, which surpassed the original in nearly every aspect, apart from the active stealth field.

Appearances
Stealth technology has appeared or has been mentioned in every Fallout to date.