Where the hell did that tank go?

[Havoc]

Warfare goes invisible. Yay!

London, England (AHN) - The Ministry of Defense confirmed that they are testing technology they claim makes tanks and troops invisible.

The highly secret trials were conducted by the Royal Engineers and scientists from specialist researchers QinetiQ, the former research arm of the MoD described the tests successful after they were able to make a vehicle seem to completely disappear.

"This technology is absolutely incredible. If I hadn't been present I wouldn't have believed it," a soldier present at the trials said. "I looked across the fields and just saw grass and trees - but in reality I was staring down the barrel of a tank gun."

According to the scientists, the breakthrough was made possible by using cameras and projectors to beam images captured from the surrounding landscape onto a specially-adapted tank coated with silicon to maximize their reflective qualities, resulting in the naked eye seeing only the view which is behind the tank.

The technology could reach the battlefield within five years, said Professor Sir John Pendry of Imperial College London, the world's leading authority on the physics of invisibility.

Aside from the tank, the British military is also testing a combat jacket working on the same principles.

[Mojo]

Terran Ghost anyone?

[Hobo]

Smells like BS to me.

[Laser]

I call bluff, good sir!

[Bullet Magnet]

It only works from one angle, though. Also, the cameras and projectors give it away

[Havoc]

Not bluff, true story. It's been in development since 1995 actually and this tank is apparently the first prototype they have come up with. Also anyone who might have watched Die Another Day surely remembers the Aston Martin Vanquish that was able to go invisible. If you watch the directors commentary he explains that while the idea of an invisible car might seem too sci fi even for a James Bond film, the British military was actually experimenting with technology based on the same principle, probably referring to this project.

Anyway I think the term 'less visible' is more appropriate.

[Bullet Magnet]

All we need to do is politely ask the enemy to manoeuvre themselves into the appropriate position for the cloak to operate effectively. Being British, this should present no problem at all.

[Zerox]

Considering the technology here, surely if the tank moved much it would be seen? The equipment couldn't be hidden that well, as if it was partially behind anything, the beams would get blocked, and ruin the effect. And, off course, the possible resulting cost behind this. How much will it cost?

Doesn't seem particularly practical. At the very least, at the moment. Wouldn't bother trying on the battlefield with this. You need a suit of armour that bends the light around the object, and sends it straight off, so it's almost unnoticeable.

This could be improved. With better technology, we could have the cameras and light projectors that move, following the vehicle or soldiers as they move, the cameras flick through their available images of the landscape they are in as it tracks them around.

However, still impractical. Verdict: Don't bother with this on the field, risking lives. Could be interesting if used in holiday parks, theme parks, whatever, in various ways. For entertainment, basically.

[Hobo]

I would like to see a picture of this invisible tank to prove it exists.

[moxco]

I would like to see a picture of this invisible tank to prove it exists.

Idiot

[Hobo]

Meerly playing the fool for your entertainment sadly.

[Nate]

It could possibly work for a permanent installation like a gun turret.

[Havoc]

Considering the technology here, surely if the tank moved much it would be seen?

For some strange reason they are being very strict in keeping the exact technology a secret, dunno why that is...

[Spirrow]

It could possibly work for a permanent installation like a gun turret.

I was thinking the exact same thing. Like a machine gun nest or something like that. I read in the Discover magazine that they had managed to figure out how to bend light around and make it seemingly invisible at an angle.

God, why isn't there an ultimate genius who with a little thinking can solve
complex problems at unnatural speeds? We could be in the next galaxy by now.

Answer: Complete Genocide of Life on Earth.

Besides, he'd be in a lab by now being tortured for information to build this and that easier by whatever government had him.

[Nate]

I was thinking the exact same thing. Like a machine gun nest or something like that. I read in the Discover magazine that they had managed to figure out how to bend light around and make it seemingly invisible at an angle.

If you're talking about what I think you're talking about, it was only possible to hide microscopic items and only for some wavelengths of light and only in two dimension.

http://www.engadget.com/2006/10/19/d...cloak-sort-of/
http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/20/r...ractive-index/

[Mutual Friend]

If you're talking about what I think you're talking about, it was only possible to hide microscopic items and only for some wavelengths of light and only in two dimension.

Still... it's a start!

[Strike Witch]

Heh, useful if they can perfect it.

[Bullet Magnet]

It works perfectly already. Just not as effective active camouflage.

[Zerox]

For some strange reason they are being very strict in keeping the exact technology a secret, dunno why that is...

Regardless of that, it's presumably still working by beaming images (light) onto the object, surely? Otherwise, they'd be talking about something else entirely.

A gun turret would be found out the moment it moved or shot, then likely would get obliterated from a distance, since it can't then flee. Wouldn't think it would be worth spending money and investing into that. And if it's not moving, covering it in good camouflage would work just as well, and not nearly so expensive.

[Havoc]

Surely you do not believe they plan to set up a beamer and a bunch of cameras in the middle of the battlefield. The cameras and the projectors are build into the tank. What the camera sees on one side of the tank, it projects on the other and vice versa. Imagine putting a camera behind your TV and looking at the image. When positioned right it would look like your looking right through your TV.

[Bullet Magnet]

It is clearly not suited to combat situations in its current form, just that doesn't mean there are no other applications.

[Hobo]

Hiding cameras anyone?

[mudling]

Yeah, I mean, how hard is it to use the same clocking divice to hide the cameras clocking the tanks.
Well, it's easy once you figure how the hell you're supposed to hide the next set of cameras that are hiding the cameras, that are hiding the tank.
Being English, the tanks would also need to have a full assortment of teas and biskets, which will add to the the costs and all.
Nothing better than a nice cup of tea while blasting the smitherines out of everyone left right and center.
Oh, and the tanks will have to be able to become invisible from birds eye view so the american plans stop bombing the sh*t out of them.

[Bullet Magnet]

Ah, so we will end up designing a layout in which a camera and projector are hiding another camera and projector, which in turn are hiding the aforementioned camera and projector.

While the enemy is distracted by this wanton act of redundancy, the tank, uncloaked, sneaks up and destroys them all.

[Havoc]

Damnit Bullet, you disclosed information that MI6 wanted to keep secret at all costs! Now they will hunt you down!

[Strike Witch]

I dedicate my 666th post to the headline the week after this hits the battlefield.

"British forces lose Invisible Tank"

[Havoc]

Thats... hilarious XD.

[mitsur]

A waste of money and effort, when the resources can just be spent bombing the bejesus out of the enemy.

Unless, perhaps, it could be used for recon missions. A single soldier is cloaked, and sneaks near the enemy base to get intel on forces and defences and such, while they can't see him at all. Then maybe he calls in an air strike or such. Or just snipes the leader in the head. I dunno.

Like a ghost in Starcraft. Life imitates art!

[Bullet Magnet]

A true poet once wrote:

Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines... every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there — on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.

The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds.

...To my mind, there is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly and compassionately with one another and to preserve and cherish that pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.

...History is full of people who out of fear, or ignorance, or lust for power have destroyed knowledge of immeasurable value which truly belongs to us all. We must not let it happen again.

Every one of us is precious in the cosmic perspective. If a human disagrees with you, let him live. In a hundred billion galaxies, you will not find another.

...Hey look! We've almost got this tank invisible!

[moxco]

A waste of money and effort, when the resources can just be spent bombing the bejesus out of the enemy.

Exactly what I thought.