VEIL LIDAR absorbing paint

[sunderland]

Snake oil? Anyone tried this? Click on videos to watch him paint VEIL on the headlights.

 

http://www.radarbusters.com/products/coatings/veil-details.asp

[Boffin]

In theory it may be possible to produce a paint that is nonreflective at NIR frequencies. If you have ever seen an IR filter for photography you will know they appear black to the naked eye but permit the passage of IR. All you need to have IR adsorbtion is a pigment that is near-transparent at the blue end of the spectrum but near opaque at the IR end. If this paint is that pigment then it will work as advertised.

So maybe snakeoil but maybe not, with a leaning to the latter from the descriptions in the text. Worth a try - remember no stealth technology makes a vehicle/aircraft/ship invisible to radar/lidar - it just reduced the strength of the reflections so you can get closer before they see you whilst your detector is getting the hit at full strength.

 

Andy

[chrisolson]

Worth a try - remember no stealth technology makes a vehicle/aircraft/ship invisible to radar/lidar - it just reduced the strength of the reflections so you can get closer before they see you whilst your detector is getting the hit at full strength.

From what I've read from various sources, that's pretty much spot on...it does reduce the strength of the bounce back from highly reflective target areas like headlights. Might mean some advance warning without the officer getting a reading, might not.

[smiller]

I just looked up a few tests of the Veil product on the various radar detector test websites and they all seem to agree and indicate something on the order of a 50% reduction in range. Looks like you have to re-apply the product every six months which may be a minor PITA and it does cause some reduction in visible light output from the headlight, but other those drawbacks it seems that it may be reasonably effective.

[velomoto]

I just ordered my Harry Potter cloaking cape. Will report back once I've had a chance to road test it!

[Jake]

I wonder what kind of paint the U.S. Navy plans to slap on their new stealth DD(X) Destoyer when they start building this little toy next year. The ol RT could use a quart or two...