Nakidka is a Russian

radar-absorbent material In materials science, radiation-absorbent material (RAM) is a material which has been specially designed and shaped to absorb incident RF radiation (also known as non-ionising radiation), as effectively as possible, from as many incident direc ...

(RAM) camouflage that "eliminates the use of precision-guided weapons". Nakidka reduces the

infrared Infrared (IR; sometimes called infrared light) is electromagnetic radiation (EMR) with wavelengths longer than that of visible light but shorter than microwaves. The infrared spectral band begins with the waves that are just longer than those ...

thermal A thermal column (or thermal) is a rising mass of buoyant air, a convective current in the atmosphere, that transfers heat energy vertically. Thermals are created by the uneven heating of Earth's surface from solar radiation, and are an example ...

, and

radar Radar is a system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), direction ( azimuth and elevation angles), and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It is a radiodetermination method used to detect and track ...

band signatures of an object. It can be mounted on

armored fighting vehicle An armoured fighting vehicle (British English) or armored fighting vehicle (American English) (AFV) is an armed combat vehicle protected by armour, generally combining operational mobility with offensive and defensive capabilities. AFVs can b ...

field fortifications Field may refer to: Expanses of open ground * Field (agriculture), an area of land used for agricultural purposes * Airfield, an aerodrome that lacks the infrastructure of an airport * Battlefield * Lawn, an area of mowed grass * Meadow, a grass ...

, command posts, permanent air and vehicle sheds, and

ammunition Ammunition, also known as ammo, is the material fired, scattered, dropped, or detonated from any weapon or weapon system. The term includes both expendable weapons (e.g., bombs, missiles, grenades, land mines), and the component parts of oth ...

and fuel depots by

infantry Infantry, or infantryman are a type of soldier who specialize in ground combat, typically fighting dismounted. Historically the term was used to describe foot soldiers, i.e. those who march and fight on foot. In modern usage, the term broadl ...

with no special equipment. According to NII Stali (Scientific Research Institute of Steel), which designed Nakidka, it reduces the chances of detection by day/

night Night, or nighttime, is the period of darkness when the Sun is below the horizon. Sunlight illuminates one side of the Earth, leaving the other in darkness. The opposite of nighttime is daytime. Earth's rotation causes the appearance of ...

viewers and TV systems and seekers by thirty percent, infrared seekers by two- to three-fold, radar by six-fold, and reduces the thermal-radar signature to near-background levels. Nakidka is efficient in the optical, IR and radar wavelength bands up to , and also reduces the

radar cross section Radar cross-section (RCS), denoted σ, also called radar signature, is a measure of how detectable an object is by radar. A larger RCS indicates that an object is more easily detected. An object reflects a limited amount of radar energy b ...

by 10 db. Nakidka weighs and can be deployed in 0.4–1.0 man hours per square meter. It is also capable of withstanding combat conditions, such as taking

small arms A firearm is any type of gun that uses an explosive charge and is designed to be readily carried and operated by an individual. The term is legally defined further in different countries (see legal definitions). The first firearms originate ...

fire or a

napalm Napalm is an incendiary mixture of a gelling agent and a volatile petrochemical (usually gasoline or diesel fuel). The name is a portmanteau of two of the constituents of the original thickening and gelling agents: coprecipitated aluminium ...

attack. It is said to have a long maintenance-free service life. In 2006, during the Russian Expo Arms and International Defense Exhibition of Land Forces, a T-72BM "Rogatka" (an upgraded

T-72 The T-72 is a family of Soviet Union, Soviet main battle tanks that entered production in 1973. The T-72 was a development based on the T-64 using thought and design of the previous Object 167M. About 25,000 T-72 tanks have been built, and refu ...

B) fitted with Nakidka was demonstrated. A T-72B and a

T-90 The T-90 is a third-generation Russian main battle tank developed from, and designed to replace the T-72. It uses a 125mm 2A46 smoothbore main gun, the 1A45T fire-control system, an upgraded engine, and gunner's thermal sight. Standard p ...

S fitted with a signature reduction package based on Nakidka were also featured. Since then, that "signature reduction package" has become a standard component of the T-72B. To reduce its visibility, the new 2S19M2 artillery self-propelled howitzer uses a set of camouflage system to reduce the thermal heat of the vehicle and increase protection against radar, thermal and optical detection by more than 1.5 times, thereby reducing the effectiveness of high-precision weapons. Because the addition of

cage armor Slat armor (or slat armour in British English), also known as bar armor, cage armor, and standoff armor, is a type of vehicle armor designed to protect against high-explosive anti-tank (HEAT) attacks, as used by anti-tank guided missiles (ATG ...

would normally negate the camouflage properties of Nakidka, NII Stali offers special rubber side screens which would fit over cage armor and reduce the vehicle's visibility further. Nakidka entered serial production in June 2023.

Combat use

On September 18, 2022, in

Kharkiv Oblast Kharkiv Oblast (, ), also referred to as Kharkivshchyna (), is an oblast (province) in eastern Ukraine. Kharkiv borders Luhansk Oblast to the east, Donetsk Oblast to the southeast, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast to the southwest, Poltava Oblast to the w ...

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

, a T-90M equipped with Nakidka was captured by Ukrainian forces. In early 2023 a Russian T-90M was supposedly targeted by a Javelin which engaged and disabled the tank normally, despite being fully equipped with Nakidka.

References

{{Camouflage Armoured fighting vehicle equipment Weapons countermeasures Military equipment introduced in the 2010s