In History, wars have often been victorious when they have been innovative in terms of strategy or in terms of equipment. Access to certain war technologies has always made a difference on the battlefield. In this sense, France has rewarded, since 1992, personnel attached to the Ministry of the Armed Forces who present innovations in the military sector with the Audacity Prize. In 2024, among the eight winners, we find in particular PIKS, a thermal “invisibility cloak”.
On the importance of camouflage
Gone are the days of pitched battles where each side faced each other on “neutral” ground, proudly representing their colors with outfits highlighting the country, the city, the region for which they are fighting.
Today, if the military must adapt to new ways of fighting, the same goes for their clothing. So, if they are on a mission in the jungle or in a desert, or in the mountains, the goal is to see without being seen. To do this, combat outfits have evolved. But to get around this, military innovation, never stopping, saw the birth of thermal cameras. If you can’t see the person or the equipment, you can see the heat it gives off.
A fairly simple way to spot troops hidden in snowy mountainous plains for example. In fact, we must now know how to get around this, otherwise a simple camera could betray the presence of troops or equipment. Hence the development of PIKS.
PIKS, a thermal “invisibility cloak”
We do not know and we may never know if the member of the General Directorate of Armaments (DGA) who developed PIKS was inspired by the famous invisibility cloak of Harry Potter.
The latter therefore developed a “Adaptable thermal camouflage including multiple colorimetries and vectors allowing to deal with a maximum of threats (thermal monocular, optronic ball of fighter plane, drone, etc.)” we can read in the press release from the winners of the 2024 Audacity Prize from the Defense Innovation Agency (AID).
That may not be very telling. Except, if we are interested in the meaning of PIKS. So, this thermal “invisibility cloak” is an Infrared Poncho for Survival Kits. In a Linkedin post, the company PGM Précision gave some details on this particular equipment.
First, it will be equipment exclusively reserved for the armed forces. Second, the material is adaptable and tailor-made according to needs. This therefore implies that it could be used to camouflage personnel as well as to camouflage a helicopter or an airplane in hostile terrain.
PIKS capabilities
As we said just above, the PIKS thermal “invisibility cloak” can therefore be adapted to both people and much larger equipment which releases a lot of heat.
Because that’s the whole point of this thermal invisibility cloak. Its design allows it to “retain heat in cold environments and stay cool when it’s hot” declared PGM Précision in comments reported by Opex360. Enough to allow troops to easily camouflage themselves in snowy areas for example. But that’s not all.
Indeed, thanks to this ability, it can camouflage rising heat sources “up to 1000°C” explains PGM Précision. Thus, a helicopter could become completely invisible to the eye of a thermal camera when it has just landed, for example.
Source : AID / Opex360
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