Electronic camouflage readied for tanks

FV 432Image by alex drennan via Flickr
Telegraph:

Armoured vehicles will use a new technology known as "e-camouflage" which deploys a form "electronic ink" to render a vehicle "invisible".

Highly sophisticated electronic sensors attached to the tank's hull will project images of the surrounding environment back onto the outside of the vehicle enabling it to merge into the landscape and evade attack.

The electronic camouflage will enable the vehicle to blend into the surrounding countryside in much the same way that a squid uses ink to help as a disguise.

Unlike conventional forms of camouflage, the images on the hull would change in concert with the changing environment always insuring that the vehicle remains disguised.

In Helmand, for example, all armoured vehicle have desert sand coloured camouflage, which is of little use in the "Green Zone", an area of cultivation where crops are grown and the Taliban often hide.

Up until recently such concepts were thought to be the stuff of science fiction but scientists at the defence company BAE Systems now believe battlefield "invisibility" will soon become science fact.

Scientists at the BAE hope the new technology will be available to use with the British Army fighting in Southern Afghanistan and in future conflicts.

The concept was developed as part of the Future Protected Vehicle programme, which scientists believe, will transform the way in which future conflicts will be fought.

...
The plan is to use the camouflage on several different battlefield vehicles besides the tank. I can see where it might help the force surprise the enemy, assuming they are not using thermal imaging. Of course there will be times when you will want to show a tank for its shock and awe effect. Perhaps the imaging system can make all the vehicles look scarier. It does sound more sophisticated than some of the cloaking devices studied in the past. I think the camouflage may be especially helpful in unmanned vehicles use to gather information on the enemy.

BAE has a facility in Sealy, Texas that could use a new product.  I assume they are showing this stuff off to DARPA.
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