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Stealth Smuggling

Literally, using water as a shield...
 
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I read an article a few years ago about a stealth warship called the Sea-Wraith Corvette, which generates a mist around the entire ship to hide it from radar and infrared detection, based on the fact that radar cannot penetrate water (this is the same fact that prevents pilots from using Terrain-Following Radar to land in heavy fog, they have to wait until the fog lifts).

I also read an article about somebody who got pulled over for speeding, and the defendent won in court when he demonstrated that the policeman could not possibly have tagged him with the radar gun (as the policeman claimed) because the heavy spray around his vehicle (behind from his own tires and to the front and sides from the other vehicles around him) created a physical shield from the radar.

And so I've been thinking, why not apply that stealth technology used in the Sea-Wraith Corvette to vehicles? Have a water tank in the trunk (or mounted to the underbody, or wherever you want it) with a distribution manifold running throughout the vehicle, with recessed spray nozzles situated strategically on the exterior, and when you need to speed, turn it on and render all forms of radar (and probably laser) detection useless.

21 Quest, Nov 12 2006

Cool. I had no idea that it would be invisible to radar too. http://www.halfbake...ea/Cloud_20Zeppelin
[2 fries shy of a happy meal, Nov 13 2006]

Vaporator Airflow Smoother http://www.halfbake...0airflow_20smoother
[bungston, Nov 13 2006]

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       Given that radar detectors have been banned in most states, I imagine spray devices would meet the same fate. As well as be much more obvious.
  

       But I am confused by your title...?
DrCurry, Nov 12 2006
  

       I assume he intends to use it for smuggling.
  

       EDIT: In which case the law will be irrelevant.
Germanicus, Nov 12 2006
  

       You may have noticed that a heavy spray of water also interferes with the visible spectrum. So, you can speed with impunity up to the point where you collide with an unseen object.
  

       Or does fog, like darkness, make your vision more reliable?
lurch, Nov 13 2006
  

       Then adjust the spray so that the mist in front is lighter than the sides and back. There are mutliple nozzles aound the vehicle's exterior.
  

       2 fries, that's awesome. I never would have thought to look in the aircraft category when I searched for similar ideas.
21 Quest, Nov 13 2006
  

       This could be achieved with a sprinkler option on the windscreen washers. Plenty of people seem able to wash the car behind rather than their own windshield so power is clearly not a problem, you'd just need a bigger water bottle.
DrBob, Nov 13 2006
  

       Just thought of this... but the added visual camoflage (I can never remember how to spell that) makes it harder to visually identify your vehicle over the radio to backup units.
21 Quest, Nov 13 2006
  

       //emember//

Is that some sort of internet-based memory storage?
DrBob, Nov 13 2006
  

       I thought this was Stealth Snuggling. It is not too late to change the title.
  

       But really, I like the idea. I wonder if this could conceal things as large as aircraft carriers and destroyers. It would be an impressive sight - a flotilla underway, each with an attachment in front of it generating an enormous spray up and over the ship. The sailors would need rain gear all the time.
  

       More seriously, the military applications are probably more important than the smuggling applications. You should change the title so that people googling around for these matters will run into this idea.
  

       I have linked another vaporator idea of mine - it might be used to increase speed as well.
bungston, Nov 13 2006
  

       I was thinking more about this idea. Instead of a mist, I wonder if this could be accomplished with more or less discrete jets of water which arc over the object in question. For example, imagine a large boat with flat sides and a huge radar presence. Now have the device in front of it create water arcs over and to the sides. Those arcs might break up the radar profile. They would be less tough on the sailors and ship (I am thinking about the salt encrustations the mist device would produce in the ocean) itself because hopefully most of the water would go back into the water.
  

       This idea in general should be testable with a handheld radar gun and a hose or sprinkler. Does a fan of water as generated by a sprinkler suffice to conceal objects on the other side from the radar gun?
bungston, Nov 13 2006
  

       Definitely not a bad idea for breaking up radar signatures... but with intersecting jets there's a decent chance the radar will find an opening. A mist is desirable because it provides solid cover. One benefit of either method could possibly be a cleaner car. Have a soap dispenser in the manifold, so the whole vehicle is doused in soapy water, then disconnect the soap dispenser and the whole vehicle gets rinsed with fresh water.
  

       NOTE: I actually wanted to call this idea "hide goods in water" but I wasted that title on another, less-clever idea.
21 Quest, Nov 13 2006
  

       //Given that radar detectors have been banned in most states
  

       As far as I know, they are legal everywhere except Virginia and Washington, DC
cowtamer, Nov 13 2006
  

       This just would not work. If you are speeding at lets say 70 mph what would keep the "mistic shield" around your car? The wind your car or others you pass would diffuse the shield, leaving the front of your car open to radar.
Chefboyrbored, Nov 13 2006
  

       I would like to point out that radar can still DETECT the water... Tsunamis generally show up as straight lines, with a measurable speed, and "sea Return" from large waves and fogs can appear as vehicles.
  

       You might need a mist significantly larger than the vehicle for this to work very well, not a major problem for watercrafts... but a rather serious drawback for drier vehicles.
ye_river_xiv, Nov 13 2006
  

       //No Sir, It couldn't have been my car that was detected because I have a device that sprays water everywhere to prevent such a thing//
  

       No, you simply say "No Sir, it couldn't have been my car that was detected because I was using a new car-wash sprinkler system, which coincidentally blocks radar."
  

       Kinda like getting around that annoying neighborhood rule that says you can't have a swimming pool by installing a "reflecting pool" and "accidentally" falling in.
21 Quest, Nov 14 2006
  

       The "Sea-Wraith Corvette" is a vehicle...
BJS, Nov 14 2006
  

       A 100-meter long aquatic vehicle, BJS. I want to see this on land vehicles.
21 Quest, Nov 14 2006
  


 

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