Who
Hyperstealth Biotechnology Corp.
What
A world leader in CCD (Camouflage, Concealment and Deception); Over two million military uniforms now use Hyperstealth patterns. While specializing in camouflage patterns for Individual Soldiers the company has also worked on CCD solutions for Military Ground Equipment, Aircraft, UAVs (Drones), Structures, Ships and Submarines.
Guy Cramer, President/CEO developed the KA2 digital camouflage in 2003 for the Kingdom of Jordan, under the direct commission of King Abdullah II. The country of Jordan has produced over 800,000 uniforms in this pattern and painted the pattern on over 3000 of their military vehicles.
In 2004 Cramer teamed with Lt. Col. Timothy R. O’Neill, Ph.D. (U.S. Army, Ret.), considered the world expert on camouflage, to develop the USMC Overwhite (snow camouflage) and the new Afghanistan National Army uniform camouflage, through the U.S. Government (1.1 million uniforms).
Cramer/O’Neill have worked together on CCD programs for over 40 countries and with W.L. Gore (Gore-Tex) on new science based hunting patterns under the “Optifade†line. Cramer/O’Neill collaborate on most projects, excluding those presenting a conflict of interest.
In March 2010, Hyperstealth completed the CUEPAT (Canadian Urban Environment Pattern) development for the Canadian Forces: Defenece Research and Development Canada (DRDC). Two of these Hyperstealth patterns are currently being field trialed.
They have over 10,000 camouflage patterns under international copyright. Cramer is now the top camouflage pattern designer in the world.
Where
Hyperstealth Biotechnology Corp. was established in 1999 in Maple Ridge, British Columbia, Canada. Hyperstealth Biotechnology Inc. was also established in 1999 and is located in Boulder, Colorado.
When
Unlike most of their competitors who began in commercial production, Hyperstealth started developing camouflage in 2003 for the military side and this still remains 95% of their core business; up to this point the company has had little reason to market their patterns to the general public or provide staged photos of their patterns in backgrounds which complement the pattern.
Using proprietary fractal algorithms (natural feedback loop patterns) Cramer was the first to successfully merge fractals into camouflage making the target harder to acquire than without the fractals. From 2003-Present Cramer has developed over 13 separate unique algorithms (fractals being only 1 of the 13) to optimize camouflage to disrupt the target shape while also blending the target into the background.
Hyperstealth has worked with all four branches of the U.S. Military and with various components of the Special Operations community. When lives depend on the effectiveness of your product, you need to give 110% to understanding what works and what doesn’t work. Hyperstealth is the only company which can set up objective testing (endorsed by the U.S. Government) of camouflage patterns and thus are aware of what works down to the millisecond and what fails to work. For reasons of security they do not share these results outside of the U.S. or Canadian governments.
Cramer corresponded on a number of programs at the request of Senator John Warner’s office, while he was chairman of the Armed Services Committee. A number of Cramer’s scenarios made it all the way to the President’s Science and Technology Adviser at The White House.
Due to the security surrounding much of what Hyperstealth does, most of it is not disclosed, or is delayed for public disclosure for many years. So while you may think you’re seeing the newest pattern from Hyperstealth at a tradeshow or on their web site, odds are, it’s already 4-5 years old.
What Else
In 2010 Hyperstealth announced “Smartcamoâ€; an intelligent textile which changes its color to match the background of the wearer in almost all environments. Further application of Smartcamo onto ground vehicles is expected to precede any wide scale uniform program as power and processors are one limiting factor for the individual soldier application.
In 2011 Cramer announced “Quantum Stealth†(Light Bending material) non-powered adaptive camouflage which portrays what is behind the user in-front of the user bending the light around the target. The cost is inexpensive, very lightweight and there are no power requirements. This technology was recently shown and sampled with a number of experts for the U.S. Military to verify the abilities of the material.
GHOSTEX
Hyperstealth and ADS Inc. initiated Ghostex last year, using new rapid production machinery; Hyperstealth can print any pattern to MilSpec fabric with inks that work in the NIR then send the material to ADS where they assemble 1 – 50+ uniforms in any of these new Ghostex patterns and colors with reasonable turnaround time.
Hyperstealth has been refining the system for short run production for field trial uniforms for countries military soldier upgrade programs. Current the company estimates they are printing 400 yards per month on these machines for Special Forces and country uniform programs.
For 2012 Cramer says there is a new technology he is working on which should be another leap forward in personal concealment with a material which can change colors allowing the user to dial in the closest colors by manually shifting through the camouflage color spectrum to match the background and/or time of day. More details to follow shortly.
In October 2011 HyperStealth signed a series of exclusive camouflage pattern licenses for SOPAT (Special Operations Pattern), SpecAm and CAMOPAT patterns and also the Passive Negative Ion Generator to Elba-Onyx Enterprises (an affiliate of The Onyx Group) with exclusive licenses for NATO, the European Union and non-exclusive licenses outside of these territories.
Hyperstealth also recently announced that the company has retained the services of The 132 Group as Advisers and Consultants. The 132 Group provide programmatic, equipment specific, and Business Development services to companies desiring to develop or increase their technologies or ability to provide their specific goods and services to the Government.
Bill Jarvis, the principle of The 132 Group, has accompanied Cramer on a number of briefings to different U.S. Special Forces Commands, British Military,and the Royal Navy earlier this year and is one of only a few people to see the actual SMARTCAMO (color changing) and also the Quantum Stealth (Light Bending) materials.
Just in the last few months, Hyperstealth has been featured in the “Atlantic†magazine, The Globe and Mail (Canada’s National Newspaper), Business in Vancouver, the Financial Times in London, Military Times, CNN and a live interview on the NPR (National Public Radio).
With Hyperstealth patterns being used in some upcoming large feature films, scientific documentaries and other large commercial companies upcoming pattern releases you may think you’re about to see it all, but it’s what the company can’t show you which really sets it above and beyond all others.
HyperStealth is referenced in the NATO Programme for Security through Science.
Tags: ADS Inc, GHOSTEX, Hyperstealth Biotechnology Corp, The 132 Group