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	Background
	In the early 1980s the German aerospace company Messerschmitt-Bolkow-Blohm (MBB) developed a design for a low-observable medium range missile fighter named Lampyridae (Firefly).  Developed in secret and independently of Lockheed's work on the "Have Blue" prototype and F-117 stealth fighter, the Lampyridae nonetheless utilised a similar approach; the external shape was composed of a number of triangular facets to reduce the radar cross section (RCS), particularly over the frontal arc that would be exposed to the radar of enemy fighters. A number of articles were constructed during the test programme; a full size mock-up with a faceted canopy, a three-quarter scale piloted wind tunnel model with a conventional canopy, a 1:3.5 scale low speed model and a 1:20 scale transonic model.  The 12m long piloted model was tested in the German-Dutch wind tunnel at Emmeloord.  The design was revealed to the US in 1987 when a group of USAF officers were shown the piloted model, kept in a closed-off section of MBB's plant at Ottobrunn in Bavaria.  Reputedly, later calculations indicated the Lampyridae would have had a lower RCS than the famous Lockheed aircraft. References "Germany Reveals Secret Stealth Fighter Research", Andrzej Jeziorski, Flight International, 8-14 March 1995 http://www.lowobservable.com/Protos.htm http://www.fantastic-plastic.com/MMB_Lampyridae_Page.htm http://www.geocities.com/unicraftmodels/germ/lampyridae/lamp.htm http://home.xmsnet.nl/hdejong/curious/Lampyridae.htm
	Images
	Presented below are artists' impressions of the Lampyridae demonstrator.  The in-page images are reduced resolution files.  Clicking on the images will open higher resolution images.

	Lampyridae demonstrator during flight testing.

	Firefly at sunset.

	3 - view of the Lampyridae showing the faceted shape.