- Yes
- No
Hello, I would like to suggest the Fibrotex packages for the Merkava Mk.3, Merkava Mk.4, and possibly other vehicles. This modification could be quite interesting if it were to come to War Thunder. Not only does it make the visually appealing Merkava tank even more visually appealing, but it provides a wealth of benefits to the operating vehicle which I will go over in this post.
This is the companies video that goes over the basics of the technology. As you can see, this tech has many uses beyond mounting tanks.
This video shows how the technology works on a small scale
Who is Fibrotex?:
Fibrotex is an Israeli company that specializes in concealment technology. They have been around since 1965, and has previously worked with Israel’s Military delivering special uniforms to elite units of the IDF. Their goal is to provide protection from all known sensors that could be used to detect assets.
Protective Abilities:
The Fibrotex packages are not designed to provide protection from munitions of any kind, but rather protect from many of the electro-optic and electromagnetic wavelengths such as UV, VIS, NIR, TIR, SWIR, and Radar. While that can sound like a lot of confusing acronyms, what it all means is that the Fibrotex package protects against a variety of modern IR and radar sensors, as well as many others. A tank with these packages would benefit because one of the main factors of tank combat is not being spotted in the first place. While the IR and radar signatures are not completely removed from the tank, it would take more effort to spot one with the Fibrotex mounted as well as make acquisition with weaponry tougher. Another thing to note is that the IR protection is much more prevalent than the radar protection with these systems, as they require more addons to meaningfully reduce the radar signature. Beyond all of those benefits the package also works as generic camouflaging as it covers certain areas of the tank and helps it blend in with surroundings.
How this would affect gameplay:
As I said in the last section, this camouflage is intended to reduce the IR signature, and radar signature to a degree. In War Thunder, this would mean having to switch between the sight modes to spot the target, as relying purely on thermals would prove ineffective in many aspects. Another factor is that certain areas of the tank such as tracks, exhaust, and anywhere lacking camouflage would still appear on thermal sights and have enough contrast to spot somewhat easily. Something that may worry some players is whether or not this addon would affect the physical protection of the tanks which use them, but as I said earlier they are intended for reducing signatures of the tank and provide little to no additional protection. The Merkava Mk.3 and Mk.4 would also be good tanks to mount balance-wise as they are larger than many contemporary tanks and would still have areas which could give away the tank on thermal sights.
Pictures
Fibrotex with an Urban/Gray digital scheme
This sideshot gives a nice view of the pattern of the desert scheme (on a Mk.3B as well!)
A Chilean Leopard 2A4CHL seen mounting Fibrotex, as well as an extra package meant to further reduce the radar signature of the tank
Another Chilean Leopard, but this one is a Leopard 1 seen with a different scheme
Thanks for reading my suggestion! I am reposting this one from the old forum as it was accepted shortly before the forums transfered, so I figured I could move it here.
Sources
2018-2019 Israel Defense Directory, page 110
Source for new Mk.3 images
以色列梅卡瓦主战坦克部队全部换装新型伪装服_高清图集_新浪网
Sources for Mk.3 and Mk.4 images
Below The Turret Ring: Merkava 4 with Fibrotex camouflage system
以色列主战坦克沙漠隐身,不靠涂装靠几块布条,这是真正高科技_梅卡瓦
Fibrotex site. This is the original source for the image of the Urban Merkava Mk.4 with Fibrotex, but it was removed later.
La Infantería de Marina de Chile compra redes de mimetismo de Fibrotex