Thermal imaging

[Sniper-T]

I'm sure a few of you guys have played with em... how can you beat them? the old rub down with mud like Arnie in the original predator?

What about those space blankets, you know, the ones that are made out of tin foil? Would that work?

[helomech]

A good set of thermal, I don't believe you can hide from it. The only thermal I have dealt with is the one that hangs on the front of the Apache attack helicopter, and there is no hiding from that one. Unless you are inside.

[Sniper-T]

Helo, if I make the trip, would you take me for a ride in one of those?

let me fire the guns?

[ak474u]

I am not sure you can hide from the ultra high end thermal imaging gear, BUT... I can tell you, radiant barrier foil (think industrial grade space blanket) can obscure you from the $16000 camera is used inspecting insulation. I never got a chance to experiment outside of work, but if you were to make a tent or barrier out of it, you could obscure a heat signature. If you were covering a generator, or something with a plume of hot exhaust, it would give you away.

[helomech]

Helo, if I make the trip, would you take me for a ride in one of those?

let me fire the guns?

I wish, I don't work on them any more, and they stopped letting us fly when they went to the fly by wire controls.

- - - Updated - - -

I am not sure you can hide from the ultra high end thermal imaging gear, BUT... I can tell you, radiant barrier foil (think industrial grade space blanket) can obscure you from the $16000 camera is used inspecting insulation. I never got a chance to experiment outside of work, but if you were to make a tent or barrier out of it, you could obscure a heat signature. If you were covering a generator, or something with a plume of hot exhaust, it would give you away.

It would hide you, but the blanket would still be visible to the thermal. The blanket will have a different heat signature than the surrounding area. The blanket would stand out like a sore thumb.

[Stormfeather]

One thing I always wondered, how deep does thermal penetrate under water? I know if you are on the top of the water, you show up on thermal, but if you dove underneath the water, I wonder how well it could detect you? How deep would you have to be? Would someone with just a snorkel and mask be good to go? Anyone?

[jamesneuen]

i know that all the thermal imaging we use for fire fighting will not work on anything reflective. that's why space blankets work. they reflect the imaging to the surrounding area. never tried it on water. usually if there's water there's no fire. lol

[greg48]

Sniper T, a few years back we were doing some training with our TOW II systems, we had some blankets, they were OD green, lined with tin foil, they were pretty good well made blankets. I had a couple guys wrap up in those blankets, actually it took 2 to cover head to toe, front to back, making sure every thing covered, thru the thermal sights on our TOW system all could be seen was a heat signature where the eyes are. True story. I still have one of those blankets in my packed ready to go ruck sack. I think if a person put on heavy goggles like welders use there would be NO heat signature. Now the new ITAS System on the TOW systems I have no idea about. I would say for most of the rifles out there with thermal sights, your heat signature wouldn't be visible. But like HELO says, those Apaches can see thru about anything. I am guessing the thermals on an M1 are similar. I retired in '09, technology keeps growing so fast, it's amazing.

[ak474u]

Sniper T, a few years back we were doing some training with our TOW II systems, we had some blankets, they were OD green, lined with tin foil, they were pretty good well made blankets. I had a couple guys wrap up in those blankets, actually it took 2 to cover head to toe, front to back, making sure every thing covered, thru the thermal sights on our TOW system all could be seen was a heat signature where the eyes are. True story. I still have one of those blankets in my packed ready to go ruck sack. I think if a person put on heavy goggles like welders use there would be NO heat signature. Now the new ITAS System on the TOW systems I have no idea about. I would say for most of the rifles out there with thermal sights, your heat signature wouldn't be visible. But like HELO says, those Apaches can see thru about anything. I am guessing the thermals on an M1 are similar. I retired in '09, technology keeps growing so fast, it's amazing.

I did a radiant barrier install on the house of an engineer at L3, he swore that they had the technology to see what you do in your house from SPACE. Not sure if he overstated that, but I wouldn't be terribly surprised.

[helomech]

One thing I always wondered, how deep does thermal penetrate under water? I know if you are on the top of the water, you show up on thermal, but if you dove underneath the water, I wonder how well it could detect you? How deep would you have to be? Would someone with just a snorkel and mask be good to go? Anyone?

I would imagine with a snorkel you would still be seen. The SAR helos use thermal.