This is obviously worthless against radar detection or thermal vision, but useful against low tech visual shooting (that probably has a very low share of successful interception anyway).
So what’s the actual prevalence in night vision tech? Does (usually digitally based nowadays) low-light amplification make up a big enough share that this is not just another coping mechanism?
This can have a couple of useful effects given the very limited effort it takes to paint them black. Firstly it reduces the value of citizen intelligence that can be gathered during attacks. For example, drones flying to targets deep inside Ukraine will overfly many villages and homes where civilians will note direction and numbers to pass quickly to defence authorities. Black drones in the night sky make this less useful information. Secondly, Ukraine has attempted to increase the number of cheap gun based defence systems so that low and slow drones can be engaged without expensive missile launches. This is often as simple as spotlights and a heavy MG in the back of a truck. Dark paint could reduce the effectiveness of cheap solutions like that and force engagement from more expensive systems.
Obviously it’s pretty hard to say just how useful it will be, but generally reduction in detection increases the chances of slipping through.
Nightvision equipment is very common these days, I would expect a huge number of Ukrainian soldiers have it available at this point. Digital nightvision sucks though and isn’t really used for military applications, it’s still pretty much all analog.
They have night vision and ir clipons which are fucking radical and you aught to hope you’re never on the other side of. Probably not everyone but one or two per squad seems legit.
@Ooops@LaFinlandia The paint will certainly make detection harder. Night vision is impressive, yet still is worse than daylight in every way.
A narrower field of view, loss of colors, need to manually focus, loss of depth perception*, and increased difficulty in using weapons are all downsides. Black paint against a night sky won’t make any of those better.
Interesting question here:
This is obviously worthless against radar detection or thermal vision, but useful against low tech visual shooting (that probably has a very low share of successful interception anyway).
So what’s the actual prevalence in night vision tech? Does (usually digitally based nowadays) low-light amplification make up a big enough share that this is not just another coping mechanism?
This can have a couple of useful effects given the very limited effort it takes to paint them black. Firstly it reduces the value of citizen intelligence that can be gathered during attacks. For example, drones flying to targets deep inside Ukraine will overfly many villages and homes where civilians will note direction and numbers to pass quickly to defence authorities. Black drones in the night sky make this less useful information. Secondly, Ukraine has attempted to increase the number of cheap gun based defence systems so that low and slow drones can be engaged without expensive missile launches. This is often as simple as spotlights and a heavy MG in the back of a truck. Dark paint could reduce the effectiveness of cheap solutions like that and force engagement from more expensive systems.
Obviously it’s pretty hard to say just how useful it will be, but generally reduction in detection increases the chances of slipping through.
Nightvision equipment is very common these days, I would expect a huge number of Ukrainian soldiers have it available at this point. Digital nightvision sucks though and isn’t really used for military applications, it’s still pretty much all analog.
They have night vision and ir clipons which are fucking radical and you aught to hope you’re never on the other side of. Probably not everyone but one or two per squad seems legit.
https://youtu.be/7TLLXOpknd8?si=TZVv_ClbVOyr9-TA
@Ooops @LaFinlandia The paint will certainly make detection harder. Night vision is impressive, yet still is worse than daylight in every way.
A narrower field of view, loss of colors, need to manually focus, loss of depth perception*, and increased difficulty in using weapons are all downsides. Black paint against a night sky won’t make any of those better.
(*can vary based on the device/number of tubes)
I’m honestly a little surprised that there aren’t like “emp rifles” or something that can’t just handle this.