Russia Claims to Invent New ‘Invisibility Cloaks,’ Doubts Remain

Russian state media TASS reported that a “fundamentally new” camouflage suit was being developed by a company called HiderX that could outperform existing thermal camouflage, but it’s difficult to ascertain whether there was an actual technological breakthrough.

Both Ukraine and Russia have been increasingly reliant on thermal imagers to detect enemies due to their rising accessibility.

HiderX said the camouflage cloak was developed using “completely Russian technology” with undisclosed chemical compounds layered onto the fabric, outperforming existing variants by “[blurring] the silhouette.”

“We are developing a fundamentally new product – a camouflage suit that breaks and blurs the silhouette. This is a completely Russian technology based on coating fabrics with a certain composition – our know-how, [and] its details are not disclosed.

“The principle of operation is to shield the ambient temperature from the object,” the company said.

It added that the end product would weigh as little as 350g and be available by the end of January.

However, the same technology – using reflective material to block infrared (IR) emission and reduce thermal signature – has been invented since at least 1964 by NASA in the form of a space blanket.

Nowadays, a space blanket costs as little as $4 in outdoor shops, and the Taliban have been known to utilize them against US troops detection in Afghanistan in the 2000s.

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Moscow has for more than two years led an unprecedented crackdown on dissent, comparable to Soviet levels of repression.

Therefore, it is not possible to ascertain at this stage whether Russia invented a “fundamentally new” camouflage suit due to the limited information available, and Russian soldiers have been known to incorporate space blankets in their camouflage since at least April 2023.

In October, Ukraine reported a similar invention that weighs up to 2.5kg with protection against rain and wet snow that is also fire retardant.

However, the demonstration showed three static figures and it was not possible to ascertain whether the new cloak would be able to shield the increased body temperature during physical exertions.