Within a few years the Brits may deploy invisible armored tanks onto the battlefield.

[Shadeyman]

Defense contractor BAE Systems is working on an optical camouflage technology that will make tanks and other vehicles blend in with their surroundings.
http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/01/14/5840350-get-set-for-invisible-war-machines

I wonder if it works on speed cameras? :devil:

 

[bredsticz]

They'v been working on that for years

 

[Percyhahn]

so in effect, the tank is a massive tv screen, with the cameras also on the tank? neat, will it be plasma or lcd . it is really cool though. a good atctic would be to put a bluie screen of millions of troops coming, thatd scare the enemy lol

 

[SeanW]

Won't the rather large dust cloud following behind the tank be something of a give away?

 

[Eklipze3k]

Won't the rather large dust cloud following behind the tank be something of a give away?

That's a good point but at a guess if the enemy can't see it I imagine it'll be moving slowly, no need to go full pelt if no-one knows you're there.

 

[Radlet6]

That's nothing, they're building three aircraft carriers, but tou won't be able to see any aircraft on them

 

[Eklipze3k]

Just thinking, the biggest problem I see with this is the issue of perspective.

If you're looking directly at one side, and it's projecting an image of what's on the other side then fine, but if you are standing at a corner it'll all be skewed. I can only see it working well from a distance, even if the tank used an electric engine (in terms of being silent) it's not the kind of thing you could sneak into a city and blast a hideout without someone becoming suspicious long before it got close.

Only way I can see it working is if the 'tank' is spherical ...

 

[Radlet6]

Imagine this on your insurance claim form:

I was driving down the road and ran into the back of an invisible tank.

 

[bredsticz]

I read a few years back that they had this idea. But to bend light around it (however they managed it) so you couldn't see the tank. But they had nowhere near perfected it at the time

 

[Davren]

That's nothing, they're building three aircraft carriers, but tou won't be able to see any aircraft on them

I suspect the aircraft could have a problem landing back on it if they can't see it.

Anyway ..... this is old news, James Bond had an invisible car years ago. That's all true isn't it?

 

[bredsticz]

I suspect the aircraft could have a problem landing back on it if they can't see it.

Anyway ..... this is old news, James Bond had an invisible car years ago. That's all true isn't it?

The aircraft carriers aren't invisible but it hides the aircraft themselves when on it. So it looks empty

 

[Radlet6]

The aircraft carriers aren't invisible but it hides the aircraft themselves when on it. So it looks empty

I suppose satire doesn't work if you have to explain it.

The point is we are building three new aircraft carriers but we don't have any aircraft to put on them, especially since they shelved the Happier jump jet. So the decks of these carriers are going to be very empty.

 

[Shadeyman]

If the camera on the back of the tank picks up an image that is placed on the front of the tank what happens when its raining and a rain drop lands on the camera.

A 12 foot tall rain drop doing 40 mph accross a field might be a little suspicious dont you think?

 

[SeanW]

They're only building 2 of the new carriers, one is going to be pretty much mothballed as soon as it's built - or sold.

As for the other - there will not be any fixed-wing aircraft on-board.

Which will basically turn it into yet another helicopter ship. Even the RFA have one of those!! (Well, most RFA's can handle at least one helicopter for VERTREP - but the RFA Argus is the Aircraft Training Ship - as well as Primary Casualty Reception Ship)

 

[sludgeguts]

That's nothing, they're building three aircraft carriers, but tou won't be able to see any aircraft on them

That's right, they can't afford the aircraft