January 12, 2012

January 12, 2012. Baghdad. The idea of using a cloaking device to render oneself invisible isn’t new. The concept was shown to Americans in a Star Trek episode in 1966. Two years later, in another Star Trek episode, it was given a name – cloaking device. Some say the whole idea is pure fiction. Others say it is alien technology found at Roswell, just like America’s stealth technology. While still others consider the possibility that the US military watches Star Trek too. 45 years after its first appearance on TV, more and more signs point to the possibility that cloaking devices are real, and they’re being used by the US military.

First, open your mind and consider for an instant that the idea of cloaking, rendering oneself invisible or camouflaged, is physically possible. In reality, every morning when you look in your bathroom mirror, you’re being the victim, albeit purposely, of a cloaking device. Instead of seeing your bathroom wall when you look at it, your mirror makes your eyes see something else, typically whatever is behind you. Wall paper is a cloaking device. Touch-up paint is a cloaking device. Even the clothes we wear every single day are cloaking devices, hence the name – cloak.

The real question is, how have the world’s governments been using cloaking devices and are they in practice now, in our everyday lives?

Consider the following video that’s been circulating the internet since last year. Who knows where the video actually came from or if it’s real. The person who created the version we’re including with this article inserted in introduction about cloaking devices. But please, watch ‘til the end of the video. It shows what appears to be an invisible soldier, popping in and out of vision. We at Whiteout Press aren’t video experts. But we can say that we researched the topic quite a bit. Each and every video we found was the exact same incident from Iraq.

Video via YouTube

Assume for a minute that the video was actually unedited footage of Iraqi insurgents documenting their destruction of an attacking American tank. Also assume the vision of the running, climbing invisible soldier is also real. How the heck did they do it?

From all research, there are only a handful of known methods for rendering an object or person completely invisible. In all cases, the body is still there. It’s the vision of the viewer that’s manipulated.

The most basic forms of cloaking devices are standard camouflage such as clothing or even foliage. But scientists, physicists and inventors have actually come up with three very real and very science-fiction cloaking device methods. All have been successfully tested not only in theory, but in the laboratory as well. Also, the world’s governments and militaries have acknowledged charging forward on creating the technology on a battlefield level.

Active Cloak

The most documented type of cloaking device being tested in armies is what’s known as an ‘active cloak’. An active cloak is one that, for lack of a better description, uses video cameras to record a scene and then project it on the front of an object, making the object appear as whatever was being video taped. In July 2009, The History Channel aired a segment detailing British accomplishments in using this type of cloaking device.

In the 2009 example from England, the British military equipped a tank with the active cloak and actually made it disappear and reappear. In it’s simplest form, the tank would have either one large video screen mounted on it, blocking any sight of the tank from that angle, or a vast array of tiny TV sets. Most often, the tank is thought to be recording what’s going on behind it and displaying the scene on the screens mounted to the front of the tank. That was the method used in the British example. The most common problems with this idea are delays in the video feed and the fact that it is only effective when viewed from one angle.

Metamaterial Cloak

Metamaterial cloaking is the second concept being tested. In this method, the image a person sees is determined not by the physical properties and appearance of the object, but instead by the way the object is constructed. Here’s one probably fictitious example. When we view a tank, we see a square-ish, green, metal vehicle with wheels, tracks and a turret. We see that because those are the physical properties of metal and paint. We see whatever is refracted from the tank when light hits it and bounces back to our eyes.

Imagine however, if a tank could be constructed from a material whose basic molecular structure could be remolded. And in remolding the material’s structure, the refractive properties could be manipulated to give off a different image, or no image at all. One similar example being use by militaries across the world are modern stealth technologies. One method US aircraft employ to remove their visibility from radar is the shape. Having no right angles and being shaped like a flat V, somehow renders the object invisible, at least to radar. It’s the same science as Metamaterial cloaking, only on a larger scale.

Another example of metamaterial cloaking being used by the USAF is the actual construction and airplane coatings being used. These ‘space-age’ materials have the ability to absorb radar waves rather than reflecting them back. Still a top secret within the US military complex, these materials, or skins, have a similar, adjusted material make-up as mentioned above. Instead of reflecting waves, the materials merely absorb them.

Light-Bending Cloak

The final and most hoped-for type of cloaking is the method credited to Albert Einstein. Bending the space-time wavelengths, it’s been proven, can render an object invisible. Imagine looking at a wall. Your eyes don’t see anything in front of the wall, only empty air. That’s because there is no object there to reflect light back to your eyes. No imagine that there is an object there. But it’s constructed of a material or fitted with an electrical charge that can force light waves to go around it. That object would then be invisible to your eyes.

Like a large rock in a river or stream, the water goes around it and meets up again on the other side. That is the method known as light-bending cloaking. More importantly, it is very real. This type of cloaking is the method reported on by CBS News in the introduction of the above video. And in case you missed it, students at UC Berkeley were successful in using this method to render two small object invisible.

The Iraqi Insurgent Video

If you haven’t viewed the whole video above, please take a minute to do so. If it’s real, it provides a number of clues as to what type of cloaking device the soldier in question is using. First, he’s completely invisible against the light beige wall behind him. He’s also invisible against the long-range fields and trees off in the distance behind him. It’s not until he approaches the dark green tank and climbs onto it that the soldier appears enough that all of his features and extremities can be identified.