Invisible Tanks

You’re a soldier guarding a secure military outpost out in the desert. Off in the distance you hear a small rumbling but you decide to ignore it against your better judgment. Suddenly dozens of tanks materialize in front of you.

At least that’s what the guys at BAE systems are hoping will happen. This isn’t the first crazy concept that the British company has come up with as they also designed non-lethal laser systems, swarms of military bugs and a plane with a freaking balcony. BAE has developed a an active camouflage system that uses e-ink (yes, the same kind of thing they use with e-readers) to mimic the vehicle’s surrounding, making it near invisible.


The “e-camouflage” system works by using multiple electronic sensors, mostly likely small cameras, which are located on the tank’s exterior to display what would be behind the tank, be it a sand dunes or far away mountains. In addition, since the camouflage is an active system, the e-ink would change in real time allowing the tank to be “invisible” while moving. This could also allow vehicles to move across various type of terrain in addition to different climates as opposed to current painted on camouflage. With painted on camouflage, vehicles would have to be repainted when moving to a different locale.


Even though the current design is merely a concept, BAE is sure that they can make the technology work in time to help British troops in Afghanistan. In addition, one of the reasons why the design was made was because troops in the Helmand province of Afghanistan were having difficulties camouflaging there equipment. Vehicles that were originally with a desert scheme could be easily spotted when moving to the more green areas of the region. With the adaptive camouflaging, tanks and other vehicles would always adapt to their surrounding environment.


However I see one problem with the concept, and it’s that the vehicle being disguised would only be “invisible” if an observer was only look at the vehicle from one direction. Otherwise it would appear that the background will have moved and wouldn’t be that effective.


But in its defense, the system wouldn’t be meant for close range (anything closer than a half a mile) or literally sneaking up on the enemy. There would be other telltale clues that there are tanks nearby such as the noise as tanks are extremely loud. However, it would be ideal if the tanks were coming from a distance where one couldn’t easily distinguish that the camouflage wouldn’t look exactly perfect.