"They [Ukrainian military] see [Russian soldiers] for sure in a thermal imager. At the moment, this problem is more relevant than ever. We have been seriously working on this issue for six years and even got quite encouraging results. However, at the final stage of testing, the camouflage 'invisible' to thermal imagers got into extremely unfavorable conditions, the so-called 'temperature and weather swing,'" he said.
Drobyak explained that, today, it is possible to reduce the visibility of a human figure in the thermal range, but only for a short period of time, with a stable temperature of the environment, standard climatic conditions, without a sharp daily fluctuation of these parameters.
He added that acquiring principally new camouflaging materials would have allowed making a breakthrough in this issue.
"Until we get them, we will not be able to achieve the desired result. Close interaction between science and industry is necessary, as well as consolidation of efforts in all related areas," the expert said.
The Sturm company was founded in 2001 near Moscow. One of the company’s main areas is the development of military camouflage systems, one of which, 6Sh122, has been supplied to the Russian Army since 2014 as part of the soldiers’ equipment "Ratnik." In addition, four types of bulletproof vests developed by the company are used by Russian law enforcement agencies, including assault units.