Invisible Tank

[Cheezy the Wiz]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,306678,00.html

British Defense Researchers Create Invisible Tank
Wednesday, October 31, 2007

British defense researchers have invented an invisible tank — or at least a way to make a tank invisible.

London's Daily Mail, Daily Telegraph and Sun all report on tests conducted by the Ministry of Defence last week in which a tank rolled across a field, completely invisible to observers standing at a certain point.

"This technology is incredible," an unnamed soldier was quoted by the Daily Mail and Sun. "If I hadn't been present I wouldn't have believed it. I looked across the fields and just saw grass and trees — but in reality I was staring down the barrel of a tank gun."

Before bloggers start making comparisons to Harry Potter and Romulan spacecraft, it must be noted that the "technology" relies on heavy use of camera and projectors.

Basically, a camera films the background, which is then projected upon a special surface applied to something in the foreground — in this case, a tank.

A Japanese guy in a translucent raincoat has become very popular on YouTube demonstrating something similar, as you can see here.

One person was willing to go on the record in all three British newspaper stories — theoretical physicist Sir John Pendry of Imperial College London, one of the world's leading experts on surface reflectivity and lead author of a widely reported paper last year that said a "cloak of invisibility" would theoretically be possible.

"The drawback at the moment is the dependence upon cameras and projectors," the Sun quoted Pendry, who did not confirm an implied connection with the defense project. "The next stage is to make the tank invisible without them — which is intricate and complicated, but possible."

This is so cool.

By the way, here's a link to the Japanese guy on Youtube that the article talks about. He's not quite 100% invisible, but he's definitely transparent.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKPVQal851U

The main problem right now is that this whole thing is dependent on perspective. In other words, it's only invisible to someone standing in a general area. It's still VERY cool, though.

Thoughts, OT?

 

[Masquerouge]

I give it 10 years to be perfect. Really cool.

Then we'll have a bunch of problems. Invisible gangstaz FTW!

 

[Lillefix]

Reminds me od Predator

 

[Bill3000]

Yes! MIRAGE TANKS FTW!

 

[warpus]

The main problem right now is that this whole thing is dependent on perspective. In other words, it's only invisible to someone standing in a general area. It's still VERY cool, though.

Yep, that's the main drawback.

London's Daily Mail, Daily Telegraph and Sun all report on tests conducted by the Ministry of Defence last week in which a tank rolled across a field, completely invisible to observers standing at a certain point.

So they put the soldiers witnessing this in the exact spot they would have to be to not see the tank. Had they been elsewhere, they would see the tank.

It's a cool idea, but nowhere near anything that could be effectively used on the battlefield.

I suppose you could turn on this feature when "charging" enemy troops, but is much "charging" done on the battlefield anymore?

 

[Kozmos]

Yes! MIRAGE TANKS FTW!

How does a tank that holo-masks to look like a tree = invisible tank.

 

[skadistic]

Would be nice for ambush.

Is it in HD? 1080?

 

[IglooDame]

Not on the battlefield, but I'm thinking law enforcement, specifically things like hostage situations and "we've got you surrounded" type circumstances, when it's a single, relatively immobile person or area targeted.

 

[Bill3000]

How does a tank that holo-masks to look like a tree = invisible tank.

Invisible tank is better and it's still a cool name for it?

 

[Kozmos]

No Tesla Tanks win in every department there is.

 

[Irish Caesar]

And people said James Bond's invisible car was unrealistic.

 

[Cheezy the Wiz]

Yep, that's the main drawback.



So they put the soldiers witnessing this in the exact spot they would have to be to not see the tank. Had they been elsewhere, they would see the tank.

It's a cool idea, but nowhere near anything that could be effectively used on the battlefield.

I suppose you could turn on this feature when "charging" enemy troops, but is much "charging" done on the battlefield anymore?

Well it's not an exact "you must be standing here *points to the ground*" but it would be a generally small area that it would be effective against.

Would be nice for ambush.

Is it in HD? 1080?

It's available in 800x600 and 1260x768. If you're in Europe, you will need an adapter, though.

 

[emzie]

So they put the soldiers witnessing this in the exact spot they would have to be to not see the tank. Had they been elsewhere, they would see the tank.

It's a cool idea, but nowhere near anything that could be effectively used on the battlefield.

So just add a bunch of cameras to compensate for many view points. If you can do it from one side, I don't see why you couldn't do it from all at once.

 

[Cheezy the Wiz]

So just add a bunch of cameras to compensate for many view points. If you can do it from one side, I don't see why you couldn't do it from all at once.

I think that's what scientists are thinking, too.

 

[philippe]

anyway, what about noise,there i'snt any noise reduction yes?
so it still can be tracked with a simple soundsearcher
...

 

[nc-1701]

So just add a bunch of cameras to compensate for many view points. If you can do it from one side, I don't see why you couldn't do it from all at once.

Because if somebodys standing on the right side and sees through, and someone standing to the front sees through... Then somebody standing in between will see a totally bizzarre 'lensing' effect

 

[Patroklos]

So they put the soldiers witnessing this in the exact spot they would have to be to not see the tank. Had they been elsewhere, they would see the tank.

It's a cool idea, but nowhere near anything that could be effectively used on the battlefield.

Think security checkpoints, or in urban enviroments, or masking yourself from from spy planes. Situations where the observer is forced to view you from a specific direction.

And of course the viewing area would get bigger the farther away you are, so think long range threats like artillery spotting and such.

so it still can be tracked with a simple soundsearcher

Try lasing a tank by its sound. Tracking it by sound and then hitting it with a non area weapon is probably next to impossibe at eve a 100 yards.

 

[Catharsis]

Surely most armies are sophisticated enough to have heat-vision technology by now?

 

[IglooDame]

Surely most armies are sophisticated enough to have heat-vision technology by now?

Yeah, but that's just another chunk of the EM spectrum, so if you can make something (effectively) transparent in the visible light spectrum, transparency in the infrared spectrum shouldn't be too much of a stretch, I'd think.

 

[Patroklos]

Plus not everyone is walking around with heat-vision equipment either.