Invisible tank

New technology that can make tanks invisible has been unveiled by Britain's Ministry of Defence. n secret trials last week, the army said it had made a vehicle completely disappear and predicted an invisible tank would be ready for service by 2012.

The new technology uses cameras and projectors to beam images of the surrounding landscape onto a tank.

The result is that anyone looking in the direction of the vehicle only sees what is beyond it and not the tank itself.

A soldier who was at the trials said, "This technology is incredible. If I hadn't been present I wouldn't have believed it. I looked across the fields and just saw grass and trees - but in reality I was staring down the barrel of a tank gun."

How the technology works in combat is very sensitive, but the Defence Ministry is believed to be also testing a military jacket that works on the same principles. It is the type of innovation normally associated with James Bond.

The brains behind the technology, Prof Sir John Pendry, said the next step was to make a tank invisible without the cameras and projectors.