Black Fox Anti-IR Stealth renders tanks, APCs, etc invisable

[bobbymike]

Marketed as an “Adaptive IR Stealth System”, “Electronic Thermal Infrared Countermeasure System (ETICS)”, and “multi-spectral signature control stealth technology ”, Black Fox thermal/IR camo utilizes active camouflage plates that collectively encase/shroud the outside of the vehicle, as well as two panoramic pan/tilt FLIR (Forward Looking InfraRed) cameras/sensors. The FLIR cameras provide full 360-degree coverage around the vehicle. According to an Eltics Black Fox promotional video, the FLIR camera “scans and captures the thermal texture of the vehicle’s surroundings” at all times, including while the vehicle is moving, and the resulting thermal image is projected onto the active plates surrounding the vehicle.

http://www.defensereview.com/eltics-black-fox-active-adaptive-ir-stealth-system-electronic-thermal-infrared-countermeasure-system-etics-multi-spectral-thermalir-infrared-adaptive-camouflagecloaking-system-for-combat-veh/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNv04HC6VSc&feature=player_embedded

 

[Colonial-Marine]

Very interesting stuff. Worth considering for the M1A3 perhaps?

Yet how do they deal with masking all of the heat the Abrams' gas turbine is generating?

 

[Grey Havoc]

Very interesting stuff. Worth considering for the M1A3 perhaps?

Yet how do they deal with masking all of the heat the Abrams' gas turbine is generating?

Some form of indirect thermoelectric cooling, maybe?

 

[cluttonfred]

The heat has to go somewhere. Either it's being stored somehow onboard, which would limite the duration of the stealth effect, or it is being pumped into the air or ground.

 

[lastdingo]

This is like BAe's adaptiv from about the same time.

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=bae+adaptiv

Peltier elements cool down the outside, the thermal energy has to be removed by venting (or could be stored up in thermal sinks such as the armour steel hull to a certain limit = for a limited time).

The use of customised panels instead of mass-produced universal hexagons (BAe approach) is questionable, especially regarding spare parts in the field.
The use of a dedicated thermal sensor to sense the backgrounds is an obsolete approach. Nowadays we want the crew to have 360° vision visual+thermal anyway, and the cameras should be staring and distributed.