New Tank (Invisible) ala James Bond

[eddysdaman]

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.
Related

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."

Hmmmm ... we're all doomed

[SiR_dude]

It would be better if you could design an optical coating that would transmit light around the object and back at the viewer. Then you could just coat the entire vehicle with said coating.

The intricacy is in having the light come out at the right angle, so the viewer doesn't get a distorted image.

That all being said, an IR seeker will spot that a mile away. Visual invisibility is nothing, being invisible via electronic and heat signatures is far more important.

[No Boss]

The Brit's did this?....

For serious?

[eddysdaman]

Originally Posted by No Boss

The Brit's did this?....

For serious?

fo' shizzle

[andyhui01]

damn... this is impressive.

Eddysdaman, not that I don't believe you or anything, but do you have a link so I can read up on it more and send it around? Seems very interesting

[eddysdaman]

http://news.google.com.au/news?q=Inv...num=1&ct=title

take your pick

[toma_alimosh]

Hahahaha. Oh, that's gold.
Why am I the only one calling BS here? Eddysdaman, did you set it up or did you fall for it too?



I wouldn't rule out that the army may have given a report that they're experimenting with technology trying to make things invisible to the naked eye....

But damn, did anybody even bother to click the link about the japanesse guy? Or did you read the full text on fox news (posted in this thread)?

IBTL , you guys are so gullible, I swear to god.

[eddysdaman]

Originally Posted by toma_alimosh

Hahahaha. Oh, that's gold.
Why am I the only one calling BS here? Eddysdaman, did you set it up or did you fall for it too?

As strange as it may seem, its real. And yes, while its technically an experiment, its apparently a successful one they hope to implement on tanks by 2012 .... (supposedly anywho)

News webpages and what not are reporting on it everywhere around the globe.
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,22689812-2,00.html
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,306678,00.html
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default...10-2007_pg9_17

[toma_alimosh]

Yeah, see, that's what I don't get ... this announcement may have been real ... but at least the article on foxnews.com is fake. I don't know who posted this there, but it sure wasn't a professional reporter.

As for the other ones, I don't know.

If someone hacked into foxnews and put that extra bit of video in there, then that's just awesome.

If this whole thing is a scam and somebody is kicking these things around the internet hacking into every major media website, then it's the best thing in years and I'd really want to shake his (or her) hand.

[eddysdaman]

I concur

[Goose+]

Imagine if they fitted this to a plane

[airmenair]

I had this exact same idea when I was 10 years old. Man, I could have been set for life.

[matt2000]

i'm not convinced, those photos look photoshopped

invisible tank would be seriously sweet though, you could run people over without them knowing, and see them get crushed (come on it would be pretty cool) or use it to flatten your house and claim on the insurance...

[toma_alimosh]

if invisibility was possible, this would only make the tank less visible from longer distances. As for close range, invisibility won't help with the huge noise coming from a tank's engine and other moving parts. So you can't sneak up on anybody. They'd hear you coming, and at close range they'd even see you coming ... or at least see the distorted shape of background images in the shape of a tank.

This can only be used to hide tanks at long range, while sitting still, with their backs to the action. For example you might want to hide a batallion of tanks in the desert, while sitting still, and fool the enemy into a trap ... then turn the tanks around and fire at them from all sides ... etc.

The technology would help, but not much. And the cost of it would be astronomical. The british army would have to be idiots to fit this stuff onto more than 2-5 tanks.

As for the whole thing, I still call BS.
EDIT: At least someone here agrees with me.

[matt2000]

aww, shame you can't sneak up on people. going by James' silent tractor though, we could soon have silent tanks

[Speedtouch]

When you all thought we had nothing to fight with. We only need one of these. And an invisible plane. Bring it.

[zenkidori]

Originally Posted by Goose+

Imagine if they fitted this to a plane

I actually read an article when I was in jr. high about a test plane fitted with something that had the same effect from distances of a mile and greater.

they've been playing with this stuff for quite some time.

and for all of you who think this sort of tech is useless with infrared and radar and such, well then why bother using camo? hmmmmm?

[KaJuN]

This technology could be quite fun for us civilians. Think of how cool you would look riding an invisible motorbike!

[zenkidori]

a chameleon car that looks like the highway could get you out of tickets on US-15

[No Boss]

Originally Posted by KaJuN

This technology could be quite fun for us civilians. Think of how cool you would look riding an invisible motorbike!

I read an article not too long ago about a ring that had photocells on either side and was able to bend light around it's outer diameter, then project it onto the other side. I don't remember all of it, and frankly I'm sort of drunk now, but regardless it was an interesting read.