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I like this one better:

AIR_F-16_in_KA2-Desert_lg.jpg

Jordan-F16-KA2-Air-2-Air-Combat-painted.jpg

Don't foresee the technology will be available to any decal manufacturer to release a sheet any sooner than 20 years from now though! :cheers:

Jorge.

Edited by f4h1phantom
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f4h1phantom, those look horribly photoshopped... awful, really.

Yes, this goes all the way back to WW2.

mustang-1_dazzle.jpg

ac23.jpg

dazzle4.jpg

They tried these and many more schemes (look at the breakup patterns on german warships, for example!) as well as single colors (PRU blue, PRU pink, coral pink, etc) and even tried many lights around the frame of a B-24 to break up the shape and keep people from telling what a plane was.

It's a throwback to an older age. With the new focus on stealth technology, this digital camo is really obsolete, IMO. It's something for long range visual disruption, and generally speaking probably about as effective as standard camo.

It's much better for blending into closer colors rather than blending into skies, hence why modern US ground forces have uniforms with it (blending into trees, ground clutter, etc). IMO not really suited to aircraft.

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Yes, this goes all the way back to WW2.

It's older than that. But I don't think your "this" is what you think it is. Digital camouflage (which is new) is the complete opposite of dazzle camouflage (which is a century old). Even though the F-18 in question is done in rectangular shapes, it is much closer to the dazzle style rather than digital style.

Digital camouflage takes advantage of the dithering effect to create the impression of blending of colors at distance. It is designed to hide the object painted with that effect. Dazzle camouflage is designed to hide the outline and details of an object that is going to be seen anyway. Extreme contrasts of paint make shadows of intakes, pylons, flap actuators, cockpits, and so on difficult to see but does not try to hide the plane. Actually, Navy aggressor aircraft have a history of doing things similar to this, although instead of destroying the shape they try to create new ones, such as painting A-4's so they have outlines of MiG-19's or F/A-18's so they have the outlines and details of a Su-27. Painting false cockpits under aircraft is another example of camouflage that is designed to be seen, but screws with your perceptions when you see them.

With the new focus on stealth technology, this digital camo is really obsolete, IMO. It's something for long range visual disruption, and generally speaking probably about as effective as standard camo.

Paint is a stealth technology. Radar isn't the only way to detect an aircraft. They won't be painting F-22's in orange just because you can't see them on radar. Instead they got the hardest to see colors yet.

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