US AIR FORCE MASTERS DISGUISE

Wednesday may 8th, 1996 / posted May 12, 1996
Source: The Times Interface supplement newspaper
By Anjana Ahuja

When it comes to warfare, disguise and stealth can mean the difference between life and death. That is why the United States Air Force is looking into new ways of fooling anti-aircraft missiles. It has developed a shimmering aircraft coating to confuse scanning sensors.

The coating is electrically charged and its pattern of shimmering is controlled by a rapidly varying electric field. To a missile scanner using visible light, the image of the aircraft would become visibly distorted, hamporing the missiles ability to lock onto its target. The shimmering does not, however, confuse the human eye or cameras to the same degree.

Another project in the pipeline, according to a report in Aviation Week and Space Technology, concentrates on tricking infra-red sensors. An aircraft coating similar to the one described would allow infra-red hotspots to be shifted around the plane. Shifting them to the tips of the wings, say, could throw a missile off-course.

More futuristic attempts to deceive the enemy include developing more sophisticated decoys which can be towed by planes, or devising lasers powerful enough to destroy the scanner.

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