We don\u2019t know how the coating works exactly, but it would have to lessen the absorption of thermal energy from a vehicle\u2019s heat-generating internal components, such as engines, auxiliary power units, and electronics. Modern armored vehicles, especially tanks and infantry fighting vehicles, have required steadily more significant amounts of power to support ever-improving sensors, communications systems, and other systems, which only increases their thermal signature. Heat builds up in places, such as the suspension and tracks, from normal operation, too, as well as just sitting out in the sun.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\nThis capture from a thermal camera of a Soviet-era\u00a02S3 Akatsiya\u00a0self-propelled howitzer offers a good example of an armored vehicle’s basic thermal signature. This vehicle has a front-mounted engine, but the heat radiates out from there. The tracks and suspension also build up heat as the vehicle moves. Additional electronics and additional systems only increase this signature.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n
This has increased the risk that an opponent with thermal or infrared imaging systems will be able to detect those vehicles faster and at greater distances and then engage or avoid them. These types of optics are increasingly part of the fire control systems on vehicles and man-portable weapon systems, such as\u00a0anti-tank guided missiles.<\/p>\n
Beyond the threat of detection, these thermal signatures also offer something for various guided weapons to home in on. Reducing the heat a vehicle gives off, could make it more difficult for a missile or a bomb with an\u00a0imaging infrared seeker\u00a0to spot it and lock on.<\/p>\n
At the same time, while the U.S. military has historically had an edge in optics that can exploit these heat signatures, especially after dark, this qualitative advantage\u00a0is steadily eroding. This isn\u2019t limited to developments among \u201cgreat power\u201d competitors, such as Russia and China, or small nation states, such as Iran, either. Non-state actors increasingly have access to thermal and night vision systems that, while not examples of\u00a0the latest generations\u00a0of the technology, offer a significant boost in their capabilities.<\/p>\n
Technology advances and miniaturization are making infrared sensors smaller and cheaper all the time and the technology is much more widespread and accessible than it has been in the past. The affordability of\u00a0Small dronescapable of carrying infrared cameras is a particularly notable example of how far things have come in this realm.<\/p>\n
Power generation requirements\u00a0for armored and other ground vehicles are only set to increase in the future, which will require even more efforts to conceal their thermal signatures. The GVCS paint jobs are only one part of a broader effort to address these threats, according to the Army.<\/p>\n
So far, the Army has applied the new paint on\u00a0M1 Abrams tanks\u00a0and\u00a0Bradley Fighting Vehicles\u00a0on a test basis. Pictures the service released of vehicles with the coating included one showing a prototype of the latest M1 variant, M1A2 System Enhancement Package Version 3 tank, or M1A2 SEPv3, which is also known as the M1A2C. The tank in question also appeared to have part of a new armor package on its turret, or a surrogate weight representing future added armor, a configuration that first publicly emerged\u00a0in February 2019.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n An M1A2 SEPv3 tank the Army says has the new paint job. The racks on the side of the hull and turret are for an\u00a0explosive reactive armor\u00a0package this isn’t installed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n The service says the new paint also simply offers important improvements over the existing\u00a0Chemical Agent Resistant Coating\u00a0(CARC) it uses now. As its name implies, CARC\u2019s major improvement over previous paints was its ability to limit the absorption of chemical and biological agents, especially liquids, to speed up the process of decontamination after an attack.<\/p>\n TALON has the same general attributes and personnel can apply it using existing facilities and equipment they use to apply CARC. Over the course of development, the Army says it was able to reduce the cost of the new coating per gallon by 75 percent.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n A Bradley Fighting Vehicle sits after having recieving the new coating.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n \u201cWorking with industry allowed for quicker implementation of manufacturing techniques, which enabled the product to be produced on a larger scale,\u201d Thomas Wagner, an engineer at the Ground Vehicle Systems Center, said\u00a0in an official interview. \u201cConcurrent Technologies Corporation’s long history of taking engineered products and optimizing designs and processes to reduce per unit prices will allow the Army to gain an advantage that it otherwise may not have.\u201d<\/p>\n There\u2019s no word yet on whether TALON is any safer than CARC, which contains chemicals that are so hazardous that it requires specialized paint houses and time-consuming application procedures. Many of the chemical components are so toxic that the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs\u00a0has a page dedicatedto handling claims of potential exposure to CARC during the painting and curing process, as well as during certain maintenance tasks. Prolonged exposure to the mixture can result in respiratory problems, such as chronic asthma, as well as kidney damage.<\/p>\n The Army also sees TALON, which already comes in a number of different colors, as having joint-service applications. The new coating would offer the same benefits\u00a0to ground vehicles\u00a0across the U.S. military, many of which are experiencing the same\u00a0growth in systems\u00a0that increase their heat signature.<\/p>\n The applications wouldn’t necessarily be limited to land-based systems, either. In 2018, the Army says it provided U.S. Special Operations Command with a gray version specifically for the U.S. Navy\u2019s\u00a0stealthy special operations boats. These craft, which\u00a0The War Zone<\/em>\u00a0has profiled in detail in the past, are also constantly adding to their thermal signature with new systems. Infrared signature control on boats is especially important as they operate against a cool, consistent background.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n US Navy special operations forces ride in a Combatant Craft Assault (CCA), in front, and Combatant Craft Medium (CCM) during a training exercise.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n CARC is also already in use on Army helicopters and a heat reducing variant could be especially valuable in that context given the increasing proliferation of short-range,\u00a0heat-seeking surface-to-air missiles, including\u00a0man-portable types. The service is already in the process of adding directional infrared countermeasures to its rotorcraft, including\u00a0the AH-64 Apache\u00a0and\u00a0CH-47 Chinook, to mitigate these threats.\u00a0Other rotorcraft fleets\u00a0across the U.S. military are facing the same threat environment.<\/p>\n Right now, the Army is planning to apply the new coating across it fleets of M1 tanks, Bradley Fighting vehicles, and\u00a0Stryker wheeled armored vehicles. The service\u2019s goal is to have the first unit fully equipped with vehicles covered in the new paint by 2021, but it didn\u2019t say what the specific vehicle would be.<\/p>\n Given that the Army will be able to use its existing painting infrastructure to apply TALON, and the obvious utility of the new paint, this schedule could very well end up accelerated. It\u2019s certainly a relatively simple addition to the service\u2019s tank and other vehicle fleets that could have an outsized impact keeping those vehicles hidden during future operations.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/imagesvc.timeincapp.com\/v3\/foundry\/image\/?q=60&url=https%3A%2F%2Fs3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com%2Fthe-drive-cms-content-staging%2Fmessage-editor%252F1553187151921-original.jpg\")
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