It might sound like the stuff of James Bond but news has reached today us of an invisible M113 APC that has been tested in the Nevada Desert. It seems that the vehicle was supplied in bare aluminium by FMC and taken straight to the facility at Groom Lake Nevada (AKA Area 51) where specially designed tiny plasma screen televisions were applied to all sides. Between the screens were place microscopic television cameras less than the size of a pin head. When activated the image from one side was displayed on the screens on the other rendering the vehicle invisible.
Things went wrong during initial testing when, due to restricted visibility the driver ran the vehicle into a gulley and was unable to extract it. The vehicle was not equipped with radios due to the difficulty in disguising the aerials, so the crew had no option but to abandon the vehicle and walk back to base. On their return they were unable to find the invisible vehicle.
“The US Army are proposing to ‘dock’ the cost of the lost vehicle (some 70 billion dollars) from my wages” said the driver,Private Partz (First Class), “but they are giving me time to pay”.
The military states that the batteries in the vehicle have a three year warranty so they will eventually run down and the vehicle will become visible again on 1st April 2028.
Dateline: 1st April 2025