I was just wondering how big Prowlers actually are. I was looking on Halopedia and it says that the Sahara-class Heavy Prowler is 281 meters (922ft) if so that is bigger than the SR2 Normandy from the Mass Effect series.
Isn’t that a ridiculous size for a stealth ship considering how easy it would be detected?
Stealth vehicles don’t have to be small, or even visually undetectable. Stealth usually implies they are undetectable via instrumentation such as radar. Often, in space, stealth implies your somehow hiding your heat signature.
Disclaimer: I am not qualified to answer this question. But I do love to read my own thoughts.
It depends on how detection is going on - my understanding is that the prowlers are usually black to blend in with space to avoid visual detection, and are designed to avoid EM/RF detection as well (assuming via what we’d consider stealth technologies today), and so the combination makes them hard to detect in space.
As an aside, big can still be stealthy - a B2 Spirit stealth bomber is 70’ long and 170’ wide. It’s how it reflects the radar emissions that make it stealth, not the size.
It’s really not that ridiculous. As Master Yoda says, “Size matters not.”
In Mass Effect 3 even Joker comments on how the Normandy loses all stealth capability if the geth look out of a window.
Zumwalt class stealth destroyer. 190 meters.
La Fayette class destroyer. 125 meters.
Independence class littoral warship. 127 meters.
Formidable class frigate. 112 meters.
Visakhapatnam -class destroyer. 163 meters
Type 055 destroyer. 180 meters.
These are all full stealth ships of today. Add in advanced sensors, fusion powerplant, weapons, FTL drives, quarters, armory, active stealth systems, and deployment capabilities and the Sahara is still packed.
Plus size doesn’t matter when your footprint on sensors is non existant. At range even a ship half again as large could be easily hide in open space if it can hide it’s signature. Space is stupidly vast and people all too often lose scope of just how big it is.