Israel's new camouflage technology can make soldiers virtually 'invisible'

Agencies | Jerusalem

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

The Israeli Ministry of Defense (MoD) and Polaris Solutions, an Israel-based survivability technology company, have unveiled a new camouflage technology that makes soldiers virtually "invisible," The Jerusalem Post reported.

The Kit 300 is made of thermal visual concealment material that combines metals, microfibres, and polymers to reduce the detectability of soldiers.

The material, which can double up as a lightweight stretcher, makes it harder for those wearing it to be seen by both the human eye and thermal imaging equipment, according to the Polaris Solutions website.

Soldiers can either wrap it around themselves or can join sheets together to create a barrier that blends into rocky or desert landscapes, the website said.

"Someone staring at them with binoculars from afar will not see soldiers," Gal Harari, the head of the detectors and imaging technology branch of the MoD's research and development unit, told Janes.com.

The sheet weighs around 500g and can fold up into a compact bundle, Janes.com reported.

It has been tested by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and has since been added to a procurement plan, Ynet said.

The idea for the technology comes from the personal experiences of Polaris Solutions co-founder Assaf Picciotto.

While serving in a special IDF unit during the 2006 Lebanon War, Picciotto noticed that soldiers were not adequately protected from their enemies' thermal imaging equipment, The Media Line reported. "You have to be better than the enemy and we understood that there were big gaps in the survivability part," Picciotto told the media outlet.

Polaris Solutions is working with special forces units in Canada and the United States to bring the technology to North America, The Media Line said.