For decades, military engineers have worked to create materials that can slip past detection systems, and now researchers in China appear to have taken a major step forward. A team led by Professor Li Qiang at Zhejiang University has unveiled a new stealth material capable of evading U.S. missile defense systems, including the newly announced “Golden Dome.”
Developed to endure the extreme conditions faced by high-speed aircraft and missiles, the material maintains its stealth properties across short-wave, mid-wave, and long-wave infrared as well as microwave frequencies. What sets this material apart is its ability to do all of this at temperatures as high as 700 degrees Celsius (1,292 degrees Fahrenheit), far beyond the limits of most conventional stealth coatings.
High-performance military systems often operate in intense thermal environments, whether from external aerodynamic heating or internal engine exhaust. Under such conditions, most stealth materials lose effectiveness or break down altogether. That vulnerability has long limited their application in real-world scenarios. This new material appears to change that. During testing, the team compared its performance to that of a blackbody, a standard model used to assess radiation behavior. When both were heated to 1,292°F, the new stealth material’s radiation temperature was recorded as being 510°F to 790°F lower than the blackbody. That means the material emitted far less detectable heat, making it significantly harder to spot with infrared sensors.
In the mid-wave infrared band, the reduction in radiation intensity was measured at 63.6 percent, while in the short-wave infrared range, it was 37.2 percent lower than the blackbody standard. These reductions are crucial in environments where heat detection is used to track or target missiles. What makes the innovation even more compelling is its ability to release heat more effectively than conventional metals, reducing the chances of thermal buildup that could give away a missile’s position.
The structure of the material is a key to its success. It consists of a composite of multilayer films atop a microwave metasurface. The top layer prevents moisture intrusion, while the bottom ensures strong surface adhesion. The film layers are laser-etched with extreme precision, allowing microwaves to pass through without disrupting the material’s infrared stealth functions. According to the research, this structural composition allows the material to operate at peak thermal resistance and multispectral stealth performance, exceeding all current alternatives.
Just days before the unveiling of this material, U.S. President Donald Trump announced plans to build the Golden Dome missile defense system. Modeled in concept after Israel’s Iron Dome, this American initiative aims to counter modern threats such as ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and hypersonic weapons. It is expected to rely heavily on space-based tracking systems and infrared sensors for threat detection and interception.
If infrared tracking becomes a central pillar of the Golden Dome’s architecture, then materials like the one developed by Li’s team could pose a serious complication. Their ability to mask both infrared and microwave signals means missiles coated in such material could slip past detection layers before they are even recognized, let alone intercepted.
