Saab has been awarded an eight-year contract to provide Barracuda camouflage solutions to the French military.
The contract specifies that the company will adapt the system to the French Army’s operational requirements in phases.
“The first phase of this program will fine-tune the specification of the multispectral camouflage nets in order to meet the specific requirements of the French Army,” Head of Saab Barracuda Henning Robach said.
“The provided technology will enhance the user’s ability to remain undetected in the battlefield where the development of more capable and accessible sensors drastically increases the need for efficient camouflage.”
Features
Weighing less than 300 g/m², the multispectral camouflage textile is made of a “layer of textile material on top of a mesh layer that can withstand temperatures from -21°C to 80°C.”
The fabric protects “the potential target from being spotted by a radar, thermal and infrared sensors, binoculars or even the naked eye.”
The textile’s low gloss color and randomized pattern —“to avoid symmetrical shapes of the object and provide the visual camouflage performance”— helps to blend in with the terrain’s background.
The fabric is ideal for a range of battlefield environments such as “deserts, rainforests, jungles, snow-covered mountains, and savannahs,” and reduces the temperature of the protected object.
This means “greater comfort for troops, in addition to maintaining the weapons precision of combat vehicles, saving fuel and extending the endurance of the electronic equipment,” Sales Director of Saab Brazil Dielson Albuquerque said.