evading thermal imaging and radar detection

This article from independant american i thought was intresting.

theindependentamerican.freeyellow.com...

To reduce radar signature, mix magnetic tape from audio or video cassette sources with fabric or carpenter's glue and brush liberally into your wool blanket. Wear the blanket with the magnetic tape on the inside of the blanket and over the space blanket, as before. Do not wet the blanket with the magnetic tape/glue mixture. That could tend to rapidly degrade the magnetic tape content.

I can believe the space blanket and wool blanket for reducing your thermal image.

But vcr magnetic tape to reduce your radar signature?

Is that possible or is it a fable? Anyone here know?



[edit on 9-2-2008 by Noah-What]



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[edit on 2/10/2008 by kinglizard]

I wouldn't be surprised at all if the VCR tape 'tape' thing actually worked. I have no idea why, but it sounds crazy enough to work.
You could always go the way the Governator did in Predator.
Cover yourself in river mud. It worked for him, but I sort of doubt it would work.
If its your last chance though, give it a shot!

[edit on 10-2-2008 by jtb2008]

I believe the 'covered in mud' theory was tested on the show Mythbusters, when they were attempting to fool a heat sensitive camera. Long story short it didn't work, the body heat quickly transferred to the mud, warming it sufficiently to be above the background temperature.

I have some experience w/ thermal imaging equipt used on helicopters...And I have to say if you are going to hide from it, you better bring something better than a space blanket coupled w/ a wool blanket.

You MAY get away with it at a glance but it someone was looking for you and paid attention to what they were looking for...well you are done for.

The thing is...you may hide(reduce is a better word) your heat signature but whatever you are using will be a different temp than its environment. This may not be noticed during a casual scan but then let's say they switch the polarity of the view on the optics and what was white hot is now black....well things tend to pop out, stand up and say here I am.

We played around with different things as bored soldiers will do and found that there isn't much that will "hide" you from the thermal. The key is to break up your heat signature and to avoid sharp edges. The mud idea could work for a VERY short amount of time...but I highly doubt that it would even give you enough to hide properly.

If you have ever seen these things in action you will understand how amazing they really are. Some are better than others even the same brand and model. We had aircraft that could pick out the thermal changes so good that you could see a womans nipples through her clothes and other birds werent as good but still good enough to find what they are looking for.

You may want to have a read through this previous thread on how to Defeat Thermal Imaging for some additional ideas and links too

People don't have to worry about radar detection, there's nothing in our bodies to reflect the radio waves.

Thank you for your replies.

I don't know enough about radar or even thermal imaging. I can mark this up to fable in my book. I don't feel like living underwater so I will put my concerns in another area.

Thanks

A friend of mine who works in border security told me a story of a fugitive who escaped detection by helicopter-borne thermal imaging by lining the under side of an umbrella with tinfoil.
This provided enough space between body heat and the "heatshield" that the shield remained in the environment temp and couldn't be distinguished.

They caught him later because he took cover in a bush but a foot remained in the open and was spotted.

reply to post by Swordbeast


I had a very similar idea on using the lined umbrella but wasn't sure if it would work in practice...thankyou for posting that story to confirm that it does indeed work

I have serious trouble believing the whole umbrella trick....at best all it is going to do is show a "hole" in the surrounding environment...a moving hole at that...just because someone else repeats the story doesnt mean it is true or that the information is valid...It is how urban legends are born

I can't imagine the magnetic tape helping brake up radar if anything wouldn't it make you stand out more?

reply to post by kaferwerks


It won't show a hole, it will just show the same temperature as the surrounding. The umbrella is the same temp as the air, only the body is warmer, but shielded by the umbrella.
A friend of mine works with thermographs, I will ask him if this is possible, we might even conduct a little experiment... this will be fun.

reply to post by Swordbeast


The air temp would still be different than the ground temp...I would live to see the video of such a thing...so I still believe it will be different

Honestly, I can't say I'd worry much about it.

No one, from a government gone bad to a foreign invader is going to bother chasing a relatively small number of people escaping into the back country. Its not worth the time, effort or expense. As long as you leave them alone and avoid forming large groups that might attract attention, its very likely that they are going to leave you alone...even if they know you are there. They're going to have much bigger problems, namely controlling the cities and suburbs, and its going to take virtually all of their resources.

Obviously, if you've done something to draw their ire, that changes things considerably.

Hehehe---just a thought, but wouldn't cutting a coyote shaped outline in your thermal umbrella work better than trying to totally obscure your thermal signature?
I am sure some experts will weigh in on this.

Well, just a thought:
how far into the ground can this tech see?
If you had say, a bunker below ground with enough earth above it, can you be seen? Wouldn't help if you are on the run, but would if you were inside it when they passed overhead?

I wouldn't think that it could see you if you were under ground in a bunker. A house with a 4 inch fiberglass insulation filled wall reduces the houses heat losss through the walls. Air is a good insulater, I guess thats why a person would stand out on thermal imaging. If it was cold and rainy and you were cold and wet, would it be the same?

I like the coyote idea.

[edit on 18-2-2008 by Noah-What]

A cutout of a Rock or a shrub around this umbrella silouhette would Confuse a person watching it.the umbrella must be big enough to cover a person in its entirety. It should be lightweight and provide some area where the person can point and shoot his weapon. I think it can be done...

I think any POP up or POP out design can be used for such a device. IF the Imgae of the opened large umbrella looked like a cold boulder...insted of a cold UMBRELLA.....it would blend in.

couldt you use a blanket with room temperature water filling it? like a plastic bag. I would figure the room temperature water would be a shield for heat sensitive cameras. You could camo flauge it with grass and such. As long as your body heat doesn't heat the water. keep some ice cubes wit hyou and keep the water mixing. have a few thermometers to guage that its the same temperature as the surrounding air.

As for the radar... i dont think radar is too useful for searching for people.

train a cow so that it would walk with you riding underneath it then all they will see is the shape of a cow.

make a hot air balloon in the shape of a elephant and walk with it over you.

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