• Home
  • Podcast
    • Specials
  • Interviews
  • Movie Reviews
  • TV Reviews
  • DVD Reviews
  • Columns
  • News
    • TV News
    • Film News
    • DVD News
    • Comics News
    • Online Entertainment News
    • Music News
    • Book News
    • Space News

Slice of SciFi

This is How We Geek Out: Interviews, Reviews & More

  • Writers, After Dark
  • The Babylon Podcast
  • Slice of SciFi TV
  • Charlie Jade Verse
  • Contact Us
    • About Us

Britain’s Invisible Tank

October 31, 2007 By Sam Sloan 7 Comments

Source: FOX News

According to the British Ministry of Defence they now have a tank that is virtually impossible to see and is completely invisible to observers standing at a certain point. The technology relies on an intricate array of cameras and projectors.

“This technology is incredible,” an unnamed soldier was quoted by the Daily Mail and Sun. “If I hadn’t been present I wouldn’t have believed it. I looked across the fields and just saw grass and trees — but in reality I was staring down the barrel of a tank gun.”

This latest in optical technology has a camera film the background, which is then projected upon a special surface applied to the tank. The technology could also be used to hide nearly anything the camera and projector could be mounted on.

Fox reported that one person was willing to go on the record in all three British newspaper stories — theoretical physicist Sir John Pendry of Imperial College London, one of the world’s leading experts on surface reflectivity and lead author of a widely reported paper last year that said a “cloak of invisibility” would theoretically be possible.

“The drawback at the moment is the dependence upon cameras and projectors,” the Sun quoted Pendry, who did not confirm an implied connection with the defense project. “The next stage is to make the tank invisible without them — which is intricate and complicated, but possible.”

Filed Under: Technology News

Comments

  1. EddieLa says

    October 31, 2007 at 11:59 pm

    Sounds like it was designed by David Copperfield. It’s only invisible under certain controlled conditions and environments.

    Reply
  2. fred says

    November 1, 2007 at 7:33 am

    Sounds like an idea companion to a cop and his radar gun…not!

    Reply
  3. Sam says

    November 1, 2007 at 4:17 pm

    Speaking of cops and guns — There is now a new camera device hooked to a police officers pistol that is activated the minute they draws the firearm from their holsters and it sees everything the officer is aiming the pistol at, even viewing the shot if the gun is fired.

    This device is being used in conjunction with the dash-mounted camera in the officer’s vehicle to ensure that officers are not prematurely drawing their weapon and it also will show that, in most cases, an officer is justified in doing so.

    They are now available for law enforcement across the United States.

    Reply
  4. Richard Amirault says

    November 1, 2007 at 5:53 pm

    Actually, to me it sounds almost exactly like the camo system used by Pierce Bronson as James Bond for his car in … I forget which movie, but it was the one he drove it on a frozen lake a lot.

    It also sounds like *this* version is *very* limited. You have to be standing in *exactly* the right spot. How often does that happen with tanks in the field?

    Reply
  5. Ben says

    November 2, 2007 at 8:39 am

    I challenge either Richard, Fred or EddieLa to come up with something better. I think it is an amazing idea and will no doubt be built upon to come up with even more spectacular outcomes.

    Reply
  6. Brian says

    February 8, 2008 at 6:32 pm

    Sounds good, but how will it do against thermal imagers?

    Reply
  7. Walter says

    November 9, 2008 at 5:10 pm

    I would imagine this tank to contain some extremely advanced wiring.
    How do you think they compensate for the gap of the tank? Zoom function according to size depth and feild of surrounding landscape.
    It raises issues such as more advanced optics that would render this methodology obsolete.
    Do you think they have opened up a new area of differential calculus here, i’d say there are more variables than Hollywood stars.
    The response to such technology is a type of themral atom vision, that determines physical makeup of an object according to such, also instruments that measure photons on any given battlefield. Mini EMPs will probably do the trick here, OR, EMP zones hooked up on battlefields that determine movement, sound and high voltage uses UNLESS it operates on solar panels that are telescreens which means rainbow machines may need to be employed here.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Generic selectors
Exact matches only
Search in title
Search in content
Post Type Selectors
Search in posts

Slice

Follow Slice of SciFi

  • youtube
  • bluesky
  • twitter
  • facebook

Listen to Slice of SciFi

  • iheartradio
  • pocketcasts
  • playerfm

Subscribe to Podcast

Apple PodcastsSpotifyiHeartRadioPodchaserPodcast IndexTuneInRSS

  • Movie & TV Reviews

Recent Comments

  • Xander Rohrig on Check Out the Cupcake Games: “its dig dug”
  • Curt Myers on 4K Review: “Dogma” 25th Anniversary Special Edition brings a lost classic home again: “The best the movie has looked. It’s dialogue heavy so the Atmos track is rarely used. When it comes in…”
  • Summer Brooks on “FATE: The Winx Saga” writer Olivia Cuartero-Briggs talks adapting properties: “I requested it. I always get a little curious when TV shows or films get abandoned or canceled then continue…”
  • anh on “FATE: The Winx Saga” writer Olivia Cuartero-Briggs talks adapting properties: “Great interview! And it’s good that it clarifies some things. But this interview…. was it requested by the publisher or…”
  • Luis on Reviewing “Return to Sender”: “Benny was a f*ck-ass dog that attacked her for no reason at all. Miranda may be a killer but she…”
Neil deGrasse Tyson Bill Nye

Slice of SciFi
415 Pisgah Church Rd #302
Greensboro NC 27455-2590
602-635-6976

Artwork:
Slice of SciFi galaxy spiral designed by Tim Callender

Theme Music:
Slice of SciFi music and themes
courtesy of Sci-Fried

Sister Sites:
Writers, After Dark
The Babylon Podcast
Charlie Jade Verse
Slice of SciFi TV

Slice

Copyright Slice of SciFi © 2005–2026 · WordPress · Log in