The development of new camouflage technology could help make soldiers 'virtually invisible' on the battlefield.
A new piece of equipment called the Kit 300 can make soldiers look like rocks and leave them all but undetectable to the naked eye, the Daily Mail reports.
Developed by Israeli company Polaris Solutions, along with Israel's Ministry of Defence, the Kit 300 is a sheet of camouflage soldiers can use to more effectively shield themselves from view.
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Weighing just 1.1 pounds, the sheet is easy to roll up and carry around for those needing to trek through a warzone and won't weigh soldiers down all that much.
As well as being a handy bit of camouflage, it also doubles up as a portable tent that someone can pull over them to provide partial cover from the elements while staying hidden from enemies.
The Kit 300 is made of thermal visual concealment material which makes the person under the sheet harder to spot while also masking them from thermal cameras.
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It works on the idea that a soldier wraps the sheet around them and suddenly begins to resemble a chunk of rock when viewed through binoculars.
A double sided design, one for rockier desert like areas and another for more vegetation-heavy battlefields, should also help make the Kit 300 an even more versatile piece of equipment.
Obviously, the benefits of camouflage will be broken if the soldier gets up and starts moving around or shooting back.
It's all well and good hiding in plain sight but rocks which walk around and shoot at things tend to break the illusion.
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The sheet is also sturdy enough to mould into various shapes for a better camouflage and tough enough to be used as material for a stretcher in a pinch.
Polaris are also planning on releasing other versions of their kit customised for other types of terrain, with CEO Asaf Picciotto describing his product as 'very unique'.
He said the idea came from his experiences in the Second Lebanon War of 2006 as he saw that soldiers on the battlefield were too easy to spot with thermal cameras.
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He mentioned that the Kit 300 was 'being tested by several units' he wasn't allowed to name.
Polaris marketing director Yonatan Pinkas argued that camouflage kits 'haven’t changed too much in the past 50 years' and pointed towards the use of new materials as a breakthrough.
Since modern thermal cameras can easily spot a person's body heat and are available to many forces around the world it's getting harder to stay hidden in a warzone, the Kit 300 could change that.
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Topics: Military, World News
Joe Harker