Posted on 10/05/2023 12:52:36 PM PDT by Responsibility2nd
Ukraine unveiled "invisibility cloaks" on Wednesday that will allow its soldiers to hide from Russian forces.
The cloaks, created by Brave1 - a defense technology project sponsored by the Ukrainian government - do not show up on Russian thermal imaging cameras and drones, claims Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine's Minister of Digital Transformation.
The ingenious invention works by blocking heat radiation, thereby rendering the soldier invisible to the enemy, it's claimed.
Ukraine's intelligentsia got to work on the cloaks back in 2015, when it was intended to be used by snipers and Security Service of Ukraine special operations soldiers in the eastern Donbas region, Maxim Boryak, one of the developers of the cloak, told CNN.
The project gathered momentum after Russia invaded in February 2022.
The cloak makes use of materials generally used by firefighters, which keep hot air from escaping and showing up on thermal imaging cameras, while an incorporated ventilation system cools down the hot air stranded inside the cloak.
Boryak refers to it as a “simple system” that weighs up to 2.5 kilograms (about 5.5 pounds). The cloaks are rainproof and non-flammable.
The cloaks have already been used by the 35th Marine Brigade during the Ukrainian counteroffensive, Boryak said.
They were first made public in a demo video shared by Fedorov on Wednesday.
The ingenious invention works by blocking heat radiation
He said that the video "shows a finished sample that has been successfully tested in the field".
It comes as Ukraine presses on with the slow-moving counteroffensive it launched three months ago to expel Russian invaders, though mounting concerns about replenishing its military stocks and cracks in the Western wall of support cast a cloud over the effort.
Adm. Rob Bauer, the head of NATO’s military committee, sounded the alarm about depleted stockpiles on Wednesday.
“The bottom of the barrel is now visible,” Bauer said of weapons systems and ammunition supplies.
The cloaks have already been used by the 35th Marine Brigade
With the war of attrition likely continuing through winter into next year, Bauer urged the defense industry to boost production “at a much higher tempo. And we need large volumes,” he told the Warsaw Security Forum, an annual two-day conference that continued on Wednesday.
I just can't see it.
“I just can’t see it.”
Nice.
A space blanket is supposed to block thermal imaging
So, a space blanket
Ok, so Ukraine is the Romulans. Who are the Klingons? And who is the Federation?
That only works if you are being viewed through thermal imaging. If your movements are caught with the naked eye you are dead meat. How much of our money was wasted on this nonsense?
As sad as it is to see combatants and "collateral damage" die on both sides in this non-NATO war between two non-NATO nations, perhaps my most enduring rememberance of these threads will be....
"...it's claimed. ""I love the smell of marketing in the morning!" From the sequel, Apocalypse Again, previewing everyday in the news...
"...it's claimed. "
I don’t expect these will work very well. It’s not as if people only thought about this after the start of the war in Ukraine. The problem is that you can only delay the escape of heat, not prevent it. At best you make the heat source a bit more amorphous in shape and maybe give time to change from one masked position to another without the full heat signature showing up.
damn...
Rufus T. Firefly: Dig trenches, with our men being killed off like flies? There isn’t time to dig trenches.
We’ll have to buy them ready made. Here, run out and get some trenches. Wait a minute, get ‘em this high...[gestures to his chin] and our soldiers won’t need any pants.
Wait a minute, get ‘em this high...[gestures over his head] and we won’t need any soldiers!
I don't think it matters much when the vast majority of people in the field are killed by artillery. Siting in your foxhole thinking, "You can't see me, I have an invisibility cloak". Then BOOM
—”I love the smell of marketing in the morning!”
This may be a very specialized version of niche marketing for a product that may not exist.
Sell the sizzle, not the steak.
“Is it real or is it Memorex?”
I thought something moved, so I emptied the magazine, now I’m out of ammo.
Xin loy.
Still seems a thing, even now.
One should always have another loaded magazine.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.