Image source: topwar.ru
Drones have become one of the integral components in the Ukrainian conflict. They are massively used by both the Russian Armed Forces and the enemy. Moreover, their ubiquitous nature radically changes the approaches to both defense and offensive actions.
Almost any movement of personnel and equipment is "mapped" by a drone guide, and the drone itself can be either "just" reconnaissance or reconnaissance-strike (ORE).
In this regard, the means of disguise are becoming crucial. One of the options for disguising personnel is special cloaking cloaks.
The footage shows the "work" of such an "anti-drone" raincoat. Indeed, it is almost impossible to see the fighter in the footage obtained from the UAV camera. The cloak is used to disguise virtually any night vision system (not just those on drones).
To analyze the frames, we used several available artificial intelligence systems, which produced different descriptions at the output. But none of them corresponded as if the neural network had detected a second person. The most approximate version with the description from the AI looked like this: "A thermal imager from the air detected the presence of a person in the area next to the car." When the AI was asked how many people were in the video, the best answer was: "First one, then two." The next question for the AI is "Where did the second person in the video come from?" The answer, bordering on genius, is "He appeared at the 8th second." You can't argue with that…
Image source: topwar.ru
In other words, the anti-thermal cloak used is effective. And even if the enemy is looking for the possibility of using a UAV whose camera is equipped with AI (or at least in the "hardware" artificial intelligence is used to analyze streaming video transmitted from the UAV), then the probability of detecting a fighter hidden under such a cloak is extremely low. It is even lower if the streaming video analysis is performed by a human. However, an important detail is if the drone with the IR camera is not too close (about 100-150 m).
What is important when using such a cape mask is that it comes into contact with the human body as little as possible. Any contact will add a thermal signature. Therefore, a common option for wearing such a raincoat to hide from a drone with a thermal imager is "on a backpack" behind your back or on several layers of clothing with good thermal insulation. Often, such a raincoat is covered from the inside with a heat-reflecting lining in the Columbia version.
However, such a raincoat will heat up after a while anyway. Therefore, its efficiency is high within a few minutes, which may well be enough, for example, to cross a clearing, a road or a piece of terrain in a city. It doesn't make sense to walk around in it for hours.
