According to the agency, the MCS consists of camouflage panels mounted on vehicles and is designed to reduce the risk of detection rather than render equipment invisible. The system makes vehicles and personnel harder to detect with the naked eye, conceals thermal signatures from infrared cameras and heat-seeking sensors, reduces radar visibility and disrupts shapes so that a vehicle appears less recognisable as a military platform.
During the tests, sensors deployed on the ground, in the air and in space recorded thermal signatures, radar reflections and visual exposure from the equipment under evaluation. The results were compared with other products, with Brigadier General Tomas Beck, head of Land and Joint Capabilities at the Norwegian Defence Materiel Agency, stating: “The tests showed that the MCS system performed well compared with other products that were tested. We have thus confirmed that this Nordic mobile camouflage system remains highly relevant.”
Beck said a central part of camouflage work is signature management, which involves controlling what an adversary can see and hear, including body heat from soldiers, radio traffic or radar emissions that may reveal a military unit or individual. “The Nordic cooperation in camouflage and signature management is being continuously strengthened and constitutes a unique arena where the countries work together to address common challenges,” he said.
He added that in today’s security environment, where new sensor technologies are constantly being developed, it is important that Norway maintains up-to-date expertise in camouflage and signature management. “Going forward, the goal is to continue joint Nordic development and testing within the framework of the Nordic military cooperation NORDEFCO,” Beck said.
Source: NDMA.
