Spirit strategic bomber. According to international science publication New Scientist, British stealth specialists have stated of the programme that Replica's visibility characteristics had achieved the envisioned target, which involved a balance between low observability and overall affordability. It also demonstrated British expertise in the complex world of stealth technology. The Replica programme was received with official approval and backing, funding for proceeding with development work was provided by the Ministry of Defence, as well as self-invested by BAE Systems itself. During 2003, the reported overall cost of the programme was stated to have been £20 million. During its active years, the Replica programme was carried out under high levels of secrecy; its existence was unknown to the general public until the early 2000s. Model and reveal During the mid-1990s, development work on the project had proceeded so far as to prompt the company to commence construction of a full-scale model of the aircraft. According to press reports, this model was completed during 1999, by which point the Replica programme had been under way for five years. According to comments issued by BAE Systems, Replica was subject to a "rigorous test programme". One of the known aims of these tests was to acquire relevant data from which to evaluate the aircraft's radar cross section, which was deemed to have been a key component of its low observability characteristics. It is known that one major contributing factor to the overall radar signature of an airframe is the level of precision involved in both the fabrication and assembly of its components and sections into a finished aircraft. Any edges or gaps, which are prone to generating strong radar reflections, are to be typically avoided wherever possible. Replica's designers chose to approach this issue by producing a virtual model of the aircraft using computer-aided design (CAD) tools from which data was transferred directly to high precision computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) systems to produce components in the real world. This approach is known to have been used in the manufacture of the composite panels (composed of a carbon fiber reinforced polymer) which were used for the skin of the aircraft. Assembly methods employed the use of a laser projector, which aided in the correct alignment of these panels. During early 2003, the existence of the previously secretive Replica programme was revealed to the public. This announcement on Britain’s stealth plane was made in the form of