MATT CRISARA
Widespread access to next-generation camouflage systems, like night vision and thermal imaging, has revolutionized how the U.S. Armed Forces conceal vehicles and personnel on the battlefield, with both technologies making it far easier to spot enemy forces, even in the dark. But because these rapid advancements are available to other militaries around the world, too, the U.S. has found itself in a technological arms race to see and not be seen.
Here’s a quick primer on two simple innovations keeping U.S. soldiers concealed on the battlefield: the Ultra-light Camouflage Netting System and the Improved Ghillie System.
Night Vision
Night vision works by amplifying visible light in your immediate vicinity. In most cases, the night sky offers more than enough light to effectively “see in the dark.” However, things can get problematic if you go indoors where there’s no existing illumination.
Thermal Imaging
The Ultra-Light Camouflage Netting System
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The military has long used camouflage netting to conceal vehicles and personnel on the battlefield. Despite their ubiquity, these nets are no match for new sensors entering the battlefield, able to see more than just the visible light spectrum. This renders legacy camouflage netting obsolete, with next-to-no concealment from night vision or thermal.
Fibrotex has solved this vulnerability with its next-generation Ultra-light Camouflage Netting System (ULCANS) that aims to better conceal what’s hidden underneath, all while being faster and easier to set up and tear down. You may notice from the video above that the latest system is actually a tarp instead of a net. That’s by design, as it still needs to visually conceal the sharp silhouettes of vehicles and other equipment. However, there’s much more clever stuff going on underneath that allows it to be a multi-spectral invisibility cloak.
And that’s done mostly through clever material science and coatings used in the fabric of the ULCANS itself. One of the biggest multi-spectral threats is thermal imaging, as it doesn’t need any visible light to work (night vision needs visible light, as it amplifies the existing illumination). To defend against thermal, the fabric is made from an incredibly reflective material that scatters the heat signature. Keeping with our thermal explanation above, this makes the tarp disappear, because it reflects the thermal signature from everything around it.
Fibrotex is currently fulfilling a 10-year, $480-million contract with the U.S. Army, developing its next-generation camouflage technology. The Israeli company has been around since 1965, employing the expertise of former combat units and special forces soldiers with physics engineers to create camouflage for fighting forces around the world.
The Improved Ghillie System
Decades of combat experience have culminated in the Improved Ghillie System (IGS). The latest suit is nothing short of a modern marvel, able to keep snipers better hidden from night vision, while still being breathable, light, and flame-retardant. That’s all well and good, but in order to properly explain the IGS, we need to unpack the beginnings of the Ghillie suit and its evolution.
SPEAKING OF CAMOUFLAGE
The Ghillie suit has long been the ultimate tool to keep snipers from being spotted; invented by Scottish gamekeepers in the 17th century, the Ghillie suit aims to blend in with the surrounding area and break up the human silhouette. It allowed hunters to be nearly undetectable, helping them sneak up on wildlife with ease. It’s no surprise, then, that the British military caught wind of the idea, with the suit seeing combat as early as World War I. (For context, the U.S. wouldn’t start using them until the Vietnam War.) Sure, these older Ghillie suits were incredibly effective, but they proved to be hot, heavy, and even dangerous to wear, as the burlap material was unbelievably combustible.
The term “Ghillie” is derived from the word “Gille,” which means “boy” or “servant” in the Scottish Gaelic language. This is because Scottish farmers would regularly employ Ghillies to help hunt small game and other wildlife on their land.
The legacy Flame-Resistant Ghillie System (FRGS)—first fielded in 2012—solved the combustibility issue that earlier iterations faced due to their use of burlap strips. However, the FRGS remained hot, heavy, and ungainly to operate with. The Improved Ghillie System is a complete overhaul of the existing Ghillie suit. Its objective was to improve on almost every measurable area, making a suit that’s comfortable, breathable, lightweight, and flame retardant—all while reducing the sniper’s infrared signature in night-vision devices.
First off, the IGS is a modular system that’s worn over a field uniform—this includes sleeves, leggings, a veil, and a cape. This allows the sniper to add or remove pieces to suit their particular requirements; the fabric is breathable and lightweight, leading to a suit that weighs no more than five pounds. There’s sparse information regarding how the suit minimizes infrared signature, but we do know the suit uses stiffer skeins—the fabrics that create the bush effect—making the camouflage more effective. Along with the newfound capabilities, the IGS will be more affordable than the $1,300 FRGS.
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The Takeaway
As a kid, I grew up watching shows like Future Weapons, where the Discovery Channel was selling the idea that we’d have rifles that could shoot around corners or employ self-guided bullets. However, much like the hope that flying cars would become a 21st-century mainstay, the innovations that ultimately become reality aren’t always so sexy.
While it’s easy to talk about some of the more flashy innovations—including the U.S. military’s new service rifle or the possibility of electric vehicles in the armed forces—this ultra-basic tech often gets left in the shadows. As we’ve learned with the ULCANS and the IGS, sometimes the beauty is in the simplicity.
Unlike most military technology, civilians can buy some of the same night vision and thermal systems used in combat. Here are two units that we found on Amazon, both of which could be yours for a hair over $2,000. These are much cheaper examples, but select retailers like The Night Vision Company can sell you much nicer stuff that’s comparable to what the military or law enforcement would use. While these Amazon specials can get you up and running, brand-new Gen III night-vision goggles set you back over $10,000; a comparable thermal system would be about the same price.
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