Nanotech Paints For Military

pmacwill wrote to us with a recent article on Pennet in regards to the U.S. military's proposed use of nanotech paints. Actually, it goes beyond proposal -- and beyond paint, as it would allow vehicles to change camo patterns very easily, and would also repair micro-cracks and fractures without the need for service.

Comments

Magic structure-fixing paint?

[MattCohn.com]

would also repair micro-cracks and fractures without the need for service

...? Does this sound... not right? I meen, yes, cosmeticly it would be repaired. But it would create structual week points. This could be a big danger to those inside under millitary conditions.

Sounds great

[Quasar1999]

But what about the automotive industry? Where planned obsolesence will no longer work if this technology is introduced? Sure it's military technology now, but in a few years, it'll trickle into the main stream... and then what? Are the cars of the future going to come with a monthly service fee? Cuz right now planned obsolesence is what keeps them in the black... If I could buy a car that would fix itself for years to come, I would. Why buy a new one every 3-5 years as we're required to now since all the damn parts break...

Re:Sounds great

[Moridineas]

Planned obsolescence bah. Changing styles and added features in cars do plenty to drive the industry currently. And besides which, do you really think if not for the greedy manufacturers today we'd all be driving mint condition 30 year old cars now? pssssh.

and also what cars are you driving that break down enough to warrant a new car every 3-5 years? I'm driving one of my families cars now, and the shortest we've had any car in my lifetime has been about 8 years--and most longer.

Re:Sounds great

[tswinzig]

But what about the automotive industry? Where planned obsolesence will no longer work if this technology is introduced?

Calm down, man, we're talking about paint that MIGHT be able to make repair cracks in the paint job. This is not going to keep your car working.

Sure it's military technology now, but in a few years, it'll trickle into the main stream... and then what?

No, it's not even military technology now... they are in the EARLY EARLY EARLY planning stages. You're looking at many years from now before this technology is available.

Cuz right now planned obsolesence is what keeps them in the black...

Strange, I thought selling cars for more than it cost to make them is what kept them in the black.

If I could buy a car that would fix itself for years to come, I would.

But you can't, so you won't.

Why buy a new one every 3-5 years as we're required to now since all the damn parts break...

fixing paint cracks != fixing cars

YIKES!

(I bet you don't even change your oil and oil filter every 3000 miles, do you? Then you wonder why your engine breaks down.)

Re:Sounds great

[tswinzig]

Nope. Car manufacturers are in the business of selling parts.

I know they are in the business of selling parts. They are also in the business of selling cars. They are also in the business of supplying car loans (most of the OEM's anyway).

Yet they stay in the black because they sell the cars for more than it costs to make them.

Many cars sell for less than what it costs to make them, Cavalier and Sunfire from the GM product line come to mind.

I don't doubt that some cars cost more than what they are sold for. My dad's got a Prius, which they are losing money on in the short term. But I seriously doubt "many" cars sell for less than what it costs to make them.

electroic signture.

[tcd004]

Ok, pure speculation here. Wouldn't a military vehicle buzzing with nanomachines likely give off some sort of electroic signature that would be easy to detect? Just a question. I'm sure there are ways around it.

tcd004
What would you do with your own Oil company?

Re:electroic signture.

[lommer]

I can't imagine that they would be stupid enough to make all of the coatings controllable by radio RC. Rather, they would make the paint controlled by hard-wired circuitry in the tank. Granted, it would be nice for HQ to be able to issue one command as a convoy moved from grass to sand (or a similar situation) but the potential for disaster would be unbelievable. A simple human control selected by the driver should be far more effective.

What I'd be looking forward to is when they mount cameras on the bottom of the tank, then switch the nano paint on the roof to match. Voila! your vehical just became completely invisible from the air.

What a ridiculous application

[happyhippy]

Nanotech is first going to be used as a weapon, not as an alternative to rust proofing.

We will be more interested on how clouds of nanomites can liquify a human in seconds than a hairline crack repairing coat of paint.

Re:Apply with fiberoptics

[kippy]

This idea is brought up every time /. posts a story about adaptive paints. As has been pointed out before, the best we could hope for with this tech is to be able to adaptively change colors to blend in with the colors of your surroundings like a chameleon. If you're in a patch of grass, you'd turn green, in the desert tan...

You wouldn't get Predator-style invisibility because the uniform would have no way of knowing what the viewer's vantage point is. Thus, the suit can't just paint what's "behind" you because it doesn't know where "in front of" is.

Re:Because you know they're going to get slashdott

[dave_mcmillen]

"What we hope this coating can do is amazing. We're also looking at making it seem invisible." . . . A prototype "smart" coating may be developed as early as 2005, she says.

I'm always unimpressed with this sort of "news". Of course what they hope it can do is amazing! And a lot of things "may" happen as early as 2005. But is there anything that indicates that they're making real progress? This is like a not-very-detailed grant proposal, in press release form.

To hear about cool things that one might do with nanotech, you're better off browsing the science fiction section of your local bookstore.

Re:As if the military wasn't ass kicking enough

[SuiteSisterMary]

See, therein lies the problem. The paradigm has changed, and the military needs to change with it.

Who cares if your chobham armour can shrug off 120 mm rounds, if the attack isn't coming from a T-80, but rather from a child who is willing to sacrifice their life to smuggle a small container of nerve gas into your bivouac?

Or, put another way, ask the Soviets how much help their tank armour was when they invaded Afghanistan.

Combine it with cameras, get a cloaking device.

[rebelcool]

Ever since reading about the print/paintability of OLED's and the like i've always wondered 'can you combine this with a camera and create a kind of cloaking device?'

Like have a rear facing camera which projects what it sees on the front end of the vehicle. It wouldn't be perfect, im sure there'd be quite a bit of distortion and the like, but surely better than just a mottled paint job.

Re:Because you know they're going to get slashdott

[plover]

As a matter of fact, they do.

Ever hear of DARPA? Ever use any of their inventions? (Hint: think Al Gore.)