Invisible Tanks, Planes and Armor Could Hit Battlefields in 5 Years

[Gerald]

Invisible tanks -- and maybe invisible soldiers -- may soon be charging onto battlefields.

A British weapons manufacturer is making good on the promise of Wonder Woman's invisible jet, describing an "eCamouflage" system that uses electronic ink to disguise combat vehicles by projecting videos of the countryside onto them -- electronic squid ink of a sort.Using highly sophisticated electronic sensors attached to a vehicle's hull, BAE Systems plans to project images of the surrounding environment back onto the outside of the vehicle -- enabling it to merge into the landscape and evade attack, explained London paper The Telegraph.

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/...lefield-years/

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/news...ive-years.html


Note: Published January 18, 2011

[TLAM Strike]

The best invisible weapons platform for 110 years and counting.

There is no SUBstitute...


Anyone want to bet that this newfangled gizmo can be defeated by a pair of sunglasses with visible light filters (IR or UV only).

[Takeda Shingen]

Originally Posted by TLAM Strike

The best invisible weapons platform for 110 years and counting.

Wrong.

[Krauter]

Bahaha reminds me of the Mirage tanks in Command and Conquer Red Alert 2 ..

Anyways, I think this would only be good at night or bad visibilty, otherwise, your going to see a little refractions. Also, what about defeating Radar and IR sensors? Its all nice and dandy if any old G.I with a rifle can't visually detect you, but what about that tank with 120~125mm Canon with IR sensors? Or the Mud-moving bird coming in hot with FLIR or Ground scanning radar with heat seeking/radar guided missiles?

Didn't think so

Edit: What kind of sub is that? On first inspection I thought it was a 688 (i?) but, I didn't think LAs had a white coat of paint near the bow?.

[Takeda Shingen]

Originally Posted by Krauter

Edit: What kind of sub is that? On first inspection I thought it was a 688 (i?) but, I didn't think LAs had a white coat of paint near the bow?.

Fairwater planes with what seems to be tubes behind the sail. Not a lot of bulk behind the sail, so I don't think it is a Delta. Looks like an Ohio to me.

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by Takeda Shingen

Wrong.

LOL

[Hitman]

Hey the good part of this is how the costs for developing 3D war games could sink, can you imagine what the 3D modellers for wargames will be doing for a living in some years?

[Krauter]

True, but it still looks like the white 'paint' ( Think that's what it is..) that Soviet Subs had on their Bow..



Note the white/reflective stuff on the bow?

[Takeda Shingen]

Originally Posted by Krauter

True, but it still looks like the white 'paint' ( Think that's what it is..) that Soviet Subs had on their Bow..



Note the white/reflective stuff on the bow?

I get what you're saying. To me, though, the sail doesn't look like a Ruskie boat.

[bookworm_020]

I can see problems, how will the troops find their tanks after a night out?

[Kaye T. Bai]

I wonder what happens when the "invisible" plating gets hit by a .50 BMG round.

[UnderseaLcpl]

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that there is no way that anyone is going to make this happen, let alone the broke-ass British, in 5 years.

The problem with adaptive camoflauge is that it is both heavy and remarkably useless when it comes to absorbing fire. AFVs might be able to mount it in two decades or so, at great cost, but an infantryman wouldn't even be able to carry the power source effectively, nor would he want to. Infantry are terribly difficult to hit under even the best circumstances, which is why we rely on things like thermal imaging, artillery, air strikes, and automatic weapons, any of which would render adaptive camoflauge useless.

I hate to be a pessimist, but this just isn't going to happen.

[Kaye T. Bai]

Originally Posted by UnderseaLcpl

I hate to be a pessimist, but this just isn't going to happen.

Maybe it's for the best.

[Castout]

Originally Posted by Kaye T. Bai

I wonder what happens when the "invisible" plating gets hit by a .50 BMG round.

It will tear a hole which gets drawn to the other side adaptive camouflage plating.


It's no invisibility......long way to that.

If this technology doesn't cut it into military I can see its usage in decorating walls. Who wants changing wallpaper in your bedroom? or watching movie the size of your wall!

[Skybird]

Invisible Tanks, Planes and Armor

Isn't that considered a cheat...?

Anyhow, I am against it. Playing SBP and two hours staring at an empty screen, then suddenly die, is no fun. Players could also misunderstand it and take their hardware to the shop for repairs.