Nakidka is a

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

radar-absorbent material In materials science, radiation-absorbent material, usually known as 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 ma ...

(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 those of visible light. It is therefore invisible to the human eye. IR is generally understood to encompass wavelengths from around ...

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 detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance (''ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, w ...

band signatures of an object. It can be mounted on

armored fighting vehicle An armoured fighting vehicle (AFV) is an armed combat vehicle protected by armour, generally combining operational mobility with offensive and defensive capabilities. AFVs can be wheeled or tracked. Examples of AFVs are tanks, armoured cars, ...

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 (informally ammo) is the material fired, scattered, dropped, or detonated from any weapon or weapon system. Ammunition is both expendable weapons (e.g., bombs, missiles, grenades, land mines) and the component parts of other weap ...

and fuel depots by

infantry Infantry is a military specialization which engages in ground combat on foot. Infantry generally consists of light infantry, mountain infantry, motorized infantry & mechanized infantry, airborne infantry, air assault infantry, and marine i ...

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 (also described as night time, unconventionally spelled as "nite") is the period of ambient darkness from sunset to sunrise during each 24-hour day, when the Sun is below the horizon. The exact time when night begins and ends depends o ...

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), 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 back to the source. ...

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 designed to be readily carried and used by an individual. The term is legally defined further in different countries (see Legal definitions). The first firearms originated in 10th-century China, when bamboo tubes c ...

fire or a

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

attack. It is said to have a long maintenance-free service life. In 2006, during the

Russian Expo Arms Russian Expo Arms (or Russia Arms Expo, abbreviated as RAE) is the international exhibition of arms, military equipment and ammunition that is regularly held in Nizhny Tagil, Russia since 1999. According to organizers, the event is dedicated to " ...

and International Defense Exhibition of Land Forces, a T-72BM "Rogatka" (an upgraded

T-72 The T-72 is a family of Soviet/Russian main battle tanks that entered production in 1969. The T-72 was a development of the T-64, which was troubled by high costs and its reliance on immature developmental technology. About 25,000 T-72 tanks ha ...

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

T-90 The T-90 is a third-generation Russian main battle tank. It uses a 125mm 2A46 smoothbore main gun, the 1A45T fire-control system, an upgraded engine, and gunner's thermal sight. Standard protective measures include a blend of steel and compos ...

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 (ATGM ...

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.

Combat use

On September 18, 2022 in

Kharkiv Oblast Kharkiv Oblast ( uk, Харківська́ о́бласть, translit=Kharkivska oblast), also referred to as Kharkivshchyna ( uk, Ха́рківщина), is an oblast (province) of eastern Ukraine. The oblast borders Russia to the north, Luhans ...

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

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

References

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