The Ukrainian military, which is counterattacking Russian forces, has developed a so-called ‘invisibility cloak’ to protect its troops from enemy thermal imaging cameras. The main purpose of this equipment is to block thermal radiation and prevent friendly troops from being exposed to the enemy.

On the 4th (local time), Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Innovation Mikhail Fedorov said on his reported.

“This cloak blocks thermal radiation and makes Ukrainian troops invisible to Russian thermal imaging cameras.” “It will help you work effectively at night,” he added.

The ‘Invisibility Cloak’ introduced by Minister Fedorov was produced as part of the ‘Brave 1’ defense technology project sponsored by the Ukrainian government. The equipment was planned in 2015 for use by Ukrainian snipers and special forces in the eastern Donbas region when the civil war in Ukraine intensified. Afterwards, development accelerated as the Russian invasion took place in February of last year, and thermal imaging cameras were recently tested.

An invisibility cloak development official said in an interview with CNN, “With the Russian invasion, development began again in earnest.”

This is what it looks like when wearing an actual invisibility cloak. Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Mikhail Fedorov X (Twitter) Capture

The principle of the invisibility cloak claimed by Ukraine is that it uses a special material used by firefighters to block and cool the release of hot air, preventing it from being captured by thermal imaging cameras. A cooling and ventilation system is installed inside the cloak to cool the hot air trapped inside and is resistant to water and fire. Additionally, to ease the burden on troops operating wearing this cloak, a maximum weight of 2.5 kg was proposed.

In fact, according to the video posted by Minister Fedorov, there is a large difference in the degree to which a thermal imaging camera captures a soldier wearing an invisibility cloak and a soldier wearing the currently distributed combat uniform. Soldiers wearing invisibility cloaks were barely exposed because heat rays were not detected, while ordinary soldiers had their body heat rays exposed. A soldier equipped with an invisibility cloak appeared to be wearing a poncho raincoat.

Regarding the development of this invisibility cloak, local media said, “The invisibility cloak technology is already being tested in the field,” and “Although special suits with a similar concept to the invisibility cloak have been released before, the technology at that time did not block heat radiation at all, but only bent or bent light. “It ended up just refracting it,” he said.

The Ukrainian military plans to deploy the invisibility cloak prototype after further verification.

Choi Jae-ho,

Source: Donga