Hi John,
Thank you for the link to the 'Digital Pattern' and how it works well against IR night vision equipment. The link leads to camo pattern called ..................
'MARPAT (short for MARine PATtern) is a
digital camouflage pattern in use with the United States Marine Corps' , which is based on the Canadian system called CADPAT. It is available to the imitation army uniforms as the "Digital Woodland Camo" or "Digital Desert Camo".
According to the link the Canadian research was based upon ...The concept of using miniature swatches of color as opposed to large splotches is not new; in World War II, German troops used various patterns similar to the current German Flecktarn, which involved similar small dabs of color on a
UNIFORM to provide camouflage.
MARPAT has patterns produced by highly complex fractal equations that result in a non-repeating pattern.
Canadian Disruptive Pattern (CADPAT)[1] is the computer-generated digital camouflage pattern currently used by the Canadian Forces (CF). CADPAT is designed to reduce the likelihood of detection by night vision devices.[1] The basic uniform consists of a
wide brim combat hat, helmet cover, T-shirt, tunic, trousers, fragmentation vest, and tactical vest.
Note that these are ALL Uniforms....intended for soldiers or sailors to wear and work particularly well when wet .
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- 108px-IR_NavPat_vs_Marpat.JPG (5.8 KiB) Viewed 6440 times
- 118px-MARPAT_desert_pattern.jpg (7.74 KiB) Viewed 6440 times
- 120px-Marpat_wood.gif (9.88 KiB) Viewed 6440 times
- 120px-MARPAT_woodland_pattern.jpg (4.66 KiB) Viewed 6440 times
- 300px-CADPAT_digital_camouflage_pattern_(Temperate_Woodland_variant).jpg (32.68 KiB) Viewed 6440 times
I have quoted the actual wording of the link here because they are all related to UNIFORMs and not to vehicles....There ARE 'FRACTAL camouflage patterns' that can be applied to tanks to conceal them from the Infra-red illumination at night but the patterns are like the picture below....
- TwoTanksResized.jpg (17.03 KiB) Viewed 6440 times
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Fractal camouflage is radically different to the paintwork that is applied to the First photo of a tank that you posted. The first tanks colours are not Fractal but more closely resemble the 'Dazzle' camo pattern that was used on naval vessels in World War one and two....With large Blocks of colour..... This is the Wiki link....below the image
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dazzle_camouflage
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Quotes...... ' Dazzle did not conceal the ship but made it difficult for the enemy to estimate its type, size, speed and heading. The idea was to disrupt the visual rangefinders used for naval artillery. Its purpose was confusion rather than concealment '..........
'colours mostly in use were black, white, blue and green'.............
' In modern times, dazzle camouflage is seldom used. Many car prototypes wear dazzle camouflage during testing to hide the "curves" of the vehicle before the manufacturer is ready to show it to the public.'
- 220px-Mauretania_war.JPG (5.77 KiB) Viewed 6440 times
- 220px-USS_Charles_S._Sperry.jpg (4.13 KiB) Viewed 6440 times
THIS is the link to Fractal Camouflage.....as you can see the designs are extremely complicated and can be printed (according to another site) onto a plastic wrapping material before being applied to the tanks and other vehicles. I admire you if you can understand the mathematics of the Fractal...its just words to me...but a fractal cammo pattern is rather helpfully also included in the article and is visible on either side in two long columns as an edging to the written words.
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http://www.augustrs.com/DigiCamotmpl.html
THIS idea would work but the large blocks are actually only hand sized and are designed to conceal the tank by literally 'projecting' a 'False Heat Signature' rather than by very large blocks of colour.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/239684/h ... nsors.html
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Sorry to disagree with you, (and in the friendliest way possible) , based upon this I would suggest that the first tank was for 'display purposes' only or was used by the press when they were given the photo as a 'Dis-information' release to be published for any potential enemy to see.
It is not a 'Fractal' camo pattern, or a 'Digital' pattern,and unfortunately I doubt if it would in anyway disguise or conceal the tank from view. It MIGHT confuse an enemy by hiding the exact nature of the vehicle from the human eye but if it was or had been recently moving then the 'True' Infra- Red image would clearly display the hot engine, road wheels and tracks so an armour piercing round would very quickly follow its observation .
LASER Range Finders are not confused by painted colours.
As to the effectiveness of the camo in Day Time...Then in my opinion, against almost any background be it urban or countryside then this tank would stick out like a sore thumb, and even if an opposing tank crew did not immediately recognise it as a tank, then they would almost certainly fire an armour piercing round at it on the safer assumption that it
was a tank. The A/P round would also effectively neutralise the target even if it was later found to be a truck or an armoured car.
I have searched Google as you suggested with 'Digital Camo research', and have admittedly only checked the results on the first page but all the results refer to uniforms or to the use of 'Fractal or Pixelated images' for the use on vehicles, as per the last link on page 1 which again goes into the
extremely complicated nature of the Fractal / digital cammo pattern in a pdf
http://www.asaas.org/ICOEIS2011/N332.pdf
IMHO....True Fractal or Digital / Pixelated
will work , against the human eye to
conceal a target...Dazzle in the form of large blocks will not.
Alb.
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P.S. I am not very good at electronics, electrics yes..... electronics is a mystery
.....Please can you explain in laymen's terms, what actually happens when you find a target and the computer locks onto it in your Leopard tank ??
Never Forget......
The Propaganda of the Victors....... becomes the History of the Vanquished
..also the American and the German tanks use LASER range Finders, as do the latest Russian design of the T-90 which is described as follows......
