They’ve actually been working on this for a while. It was about 15 years ago I saw a demo of a dissappearing tank which was quite effective. The only draw back was you needed clear horizon as a background, conditions you would find in a desert(read middle east).
It was quite simple. They took a tank and drilled small holes in it,about 1 inch apart, top and sides and hooked up what looked like common Christmas tree white lights into each hole. The tank was about 500 meters away and very visible. Then a switch was flipped and poof, it dissappeared.
Just means you will have to examine the viewscreen carefully for the distortion patterns… that or deploy tachyon fences.
At the moment, though, the technology sounds great and all, but it seems like one of those things that everyone except the military itself will think is simply fantastic, but in the field…
Yup, I’ve heard of something similar to this like Kaveman mentioned.
The problem is that the tank is still quite audible.
Won’t work well while moving, you’ll get pretty extreme predator effect as the types of computers onboard a tank aren’t fast enough to compensate. Unless they put direct links between camera and projector, but then the first hit the tank takes will ruin the effect competely.
Not just the noise. How about the heat signature (even in a desert)?
The way I remember it, the military brass was just testing the basic concept of emitting frequencies(white light) to match background conditions on the tanks. Their ultimate vision was to use it on our naval fleet. The idea was, outfit the sides of a destroyer with lights, find a good parking spot, kill the motors and bomb the inland of whatever country happened to piss us off.
As with everything, measures are always met with counter-measures. Not sure if this technology would be cost effective when you consider the price of a simple thermal imager.
The first I’d heard of this concept for the jacket was in George Takei and Robert Asprin’s novel Mirror Friend, Mirror Foe. The hero, a ninja in the far future, had an invisibility suit that worked on the same principle — the image behind you was transmitted to the front, and vice versa.
Yes, that George Takei. I’m guessing the novel was based on a script intended as a starring vehicle for Takei, especially as the cover painting on my 1979 Playboy Press edition (autographed to me by Takei, neener!) shows the hero as a barechested swordsman with a remarkable resemblance to Sulu.
They’ve actually been working on this for a while. It was about 15 years ago I saw a demo of a dissappearing tank which was quite effective. The only draw back was you needed clear horizon as a background, conditions you would find in a desert(read middle east).
It was quite simple. They took a tank and drilled small holes in it,about 1 inch apart, top and sides and hooked up what looked like common Christmas tree white lights into each hole. The tank was about 500 meters away and very visible. Then a switch was flipped and poof, it dissappeared.
Just means you will have to examine the viewscreen carefully for the distortion patterns… that or deploy tachyon fences.
At the moment, though, the technology sounds great and all, but it seems like one of those things that everyone except the military itself will think is simply fantastic, but in the field…
Yup, I’ve heard of something similar to this like Kaveman mentioned.
The problem is that the tank is still quite audible.
Won’t work well while moving, you’ll get pretty extreme predator effect as the types of computers onboard a tank aren’t fast enough to compensate. Unless they put direct links between camera and projector, but then the first hit the tank takes will ruin the effect competely.
Not just the noise. How about the heat signature (even in a desert)?
The way I remember it, the military brass was just testing the basic concept of emitting frequencies(white light) to match background conditions on the tanks. Their ultimate vision was to use it on our naval fleet. The idea was, outfit the sides of a destroyer with lights, find a good parking spot, kill the motors and bomb the inland of whatever country happened to piss us off.
As with everything, measures are always met with counter-measures. Not sure if this technology would be cost effective when you consider the price of a simple thermal imager.
The first I’d heard of this concept for the jacket was in George Takei and Robert Asprin’s novel Mirror Friend, Mirror Foe. The hero, a ninja in the far future, had an invisibility suit that worked on the same principle — the image behind you was transmitted to the front, and vice versa.
Yes, that George Takei. I’m guessing the novel was based on a script intended as a starring vehicle for Takei, especially as the cover painting on my 1979 Playboy Press edition (autographed to me by Takei, neener!) shows the hero as a barechested swordsman with a remarkable resemblance to Sulu.