Video: Cloaking System Makes Tank Invisible to Infrared Sensors

that's pretty cool. and if we can do it now, with inferred, visible light active cammo is definitely coming soon. just replace the hexagonal panels with hexagonal oled screens, maybe behind something clear, that also protects them, and you have got it.

why learn from your own mistakes, when you could learn from the mistakes of others?

oh joy more tech made to kill people. then again that is what we humans (particularly western civ ones) are known for
_____________________________________________________________
*growls*If you troll or flare I WILL MAUL YOU!*growls*

This. Is. Awesome.

Its one thing when you have an article that says "it is theoretically possible to have this thing do that"

having a VIDEO showing the once "theoretical" technology and watching a tank COMPLETELY disappear, or turn into a jeep...

Awesome.

The military needs to add this, if only so that the tanks will look cooler in visible light.
-Spouting a fountain of nonsense since 1995-

What did you guys do to bubba?

Unbelievable! More kill machines.

@macmansa, *yawn*

Violence is not limited to just the western civilizations. African countries are just as violent, with hundreds of people dying everyday there. You typically don't hear about it because nobody gives a shit about Africa.

Middle east?

South East Asia?

Eastern Asia?

It's world wide.

Anyway, this is pretty wicked tech. It would also be pretty cool to have this implemented on a smaller scale for infantry. Although from experience I can say it would in all likelihood be impractical when you consider all the other parameters of mission effectiveness. Last thing I want to do is carry more gear.

BUT, outfit an APC to transport the troops to the objective.........

I would just wonder how it does while traveling at a high rate of speed. Would it be able to change quickly enough to mimic the background, or would this tech work best for slowly moving/stopped vehicles?

@Better2011(Bubba), thank you for making a new account without the Bubba name after all of your Bubbas got banned. I like the new name and your input on the PopSci articles, much appreciated. Keep up the good work.

Definitely cool but the footage is all straight on. What would it look like on an angle? Also how you you hide the exhaust? You can see it, the last couple of seconds of the video

This technology has no practical use, US and UK don't attack countries that have IR or any other modern technnology....

@Stefan094

Yes, there is increasing popularity with the militaries of developed nations executing military operations (especially in urban terrain) against smaller irregular forces, but warfare in the conventional sense has not disappeared.

This type of technology is developed as a means of deterrence to other developed or developing nations of sufficient military capability to wage conventional war (i.e. Iran, North Korea, China, etc.).

While the technology is provable through fielded test, this is only still a concept that may not see mass production unless an immediate operational need for the weapon exist.

Pretty neat, indeed. This could be particularly useful for remotely operated vehicles, giving them the element of surprise. Imagine if they could make a version of this for soldiers like a thermal gilly suit for a sniper.

As to the people complaining about this being another technology to "kill people", you could also think of it as a way to save lives and minimize casualties. It's just a fact, and it's been this way for centuries, that the military is almost always one of the first consumers (and sponsors) of high technology. There's always a demand for new systems that promise at least the comforting illusion of security, and that will only change when human nature does.

where did BubbaGump go? i hope he wasnt banned. always gave me a good laugh.

_________________
The people of the world only divide into two kinds, One sort with brains who hold no religion, The other with religion and no brain.

- Abu-al-Ala al-Marri

@Jedi. Shhhhhh. Bubba = Better2011.

Looks like Better2011 is gone too? Dang IP address.

you do realize that it's ceramic glass right? infrared emissions don't go through glass really good, hence it being a darn good insulator, that with something like a piezo electric cooling system and you have yourself your own infrared cloaking device! and it's considered armor because ceramics have built in defense against stuff like explosions and bullets, it shatters, and that's not when it can be as strong or stronger than steel!

but wait there's more!

to mars or bust!

sitting still..... still can't get rid of that pesky dust trail at speed... a tank sitting still is basically an artillery piece. maybe they should apply it to long range artillery, seems much more effective.

Just saying as well... i think it's pretty funny that 'jedimindset' has a pic of one of the biggest douches in history, LOL... but that can be said about every president that supports the Federal Reserve System... which is just about everyone since... well Kennedy... now that i got my drunken banter out of the way.... yaaay science

Hmmmmm….cool technology but, having served on an M1 tank myself, there are a few things about the video that raise some questions for me.

In order to blend in to the background heat signature wise, the vehicle has to be at the same temperature as the ambient. Note in the video that when the vehicles does this it is not moving. How long was it sitting there? Did it just stop or was it given time to just about come into thermal equilibrium with its surroundings so that the temperature gradient between the surroundings and the vehicle were not that large?

Note that when the vehicle was moving in the video it did not blend in. It had the company abbreviation spelled out on its side.

The largest heat signature from a vehicle is usually generated by the engine compartment and exhaust system. How does this system handle a temperature gradient of about 150+ degrees when the engine is either running or just shut off?

Obviously the system functions. However, I would imagine that it only functions under certain conditions.

@Stephan094, you are forgetting that countries trade weapons. If I remember correctly Russian T-90 uses IR. So one may assume that such tanks may be sold to potentially opposing armies, in which case there is use for such technology. Both Russia and US have a history of selling weapons to opposing governments. It's not a cold war, but I think they still lead a proxy power struggle.

And even if that wasn't the case, it is always good to have a technological advantage.

for this to work at speed would be star trek like tech, obviously this is used while stationary and hiding the exhaust from the enemy and/or by shutting the engne off as hot exhaust gases would not be hidden, this tech can only mask heat that is directly behind the panels, this should be usefull in certain situations, very cool

@macmansa how is a form of camouflage "another way to kill people?"

Array of Peltier coolers, can change temperature very preciously respect to the environment ,we r working for this technology with Chinese since 2005 , to defect javelin missile.

Armies still use tanks?

JediMindset, he was harass, booted, kicked down the stairs, drug back up again the stairs to be rolled down again, laugh at, old french fries tossed on his head, his ice cream rations denied, yes deleted, banned, liquefied by past popsci article, force fed higgs boson moths, modern car laser beams shine into his eyes, force to sleep in an old building of a new mexico town, peanut butter put in his hair, tied up with lightweight cable braided nanotube-lier thingy wire stuff, made to wear funny clothes (never mind, i can pick out my clothes since mom went to heaven), took a lie detector test and past as long as i agree with my wife, gave money for land on the moon and given a map to walk there, found green jelly beans in my shorts oh-my, i was tied to the bottom of a electric helicopter to make the landing softer, forgot how to type in capitals and made one really long run-on sentence, walking home did not see an invisiable tank and it ran over me, then backed up. good night, the few people who say nice things, THANK YOU! ;)

LOL. is that you Bubba?

_________________
The people of the world only divide into two kinds, One sort with brains who hold no religion, The other with religion and no brain.

- Abu-al-Ala al-Marri

this is a must 4 aviation.

That is a cool Tank