Apparently, stealth technology is reaching further into the aspirations of
the U.S. Army. After working on ways to generate artificial fog and camouflaged tanks, the Army now wants “super-black” materials to render its stuff virtually invisible. As Danger Room reports,
“In its latest round of solicitations for small businesses, the Army is asking for proposals for super-black material. That is, material so black that it absorbs 99 percent of all light. But it isn’t really black paint, exactly. The plan is to use either an “antireflective coating or surface treatment process for metals” to absorb stray light “in the ultraviolet, visible, infrared, and far-infrared regions.” This, the Army hopes, will boost the quality of high-resolution cameras, while also cooling down sensitive electronics. Or to put it another way: The Army needs the color black to reflect its icy-cold heart. Continue reading “Invisible soldiers”