Camouflage is a critical component of military operations, and Fibrotex is laser-focused on providing different types of signature management systems, including heat and RADAR, to its global clients. The US company, Fibrotex USA, has contracts with the US Army and US Marine Corps (USMC) and will expand its physical footprint in the US by opening a new research & development centre. At the Modern Day Marine (MDM), Zona Militar spoke with Eyal Malleron, CEO of Fibrotex USA, about the present and future of camouflage and its role in warfare.
Fibrotex’s family of multispectral signature solutions includes Visual, near-IR, shortwave-IR, Thermal RADAR, and Ultraviolet management systems, which are based on the triad concept of static, mobile, and individual solutions. So far, the company has delivered “hundreds of thousands of its systems” to the US Army and US Marines.
The company is providing static solutions for the US Marines, “they are being delivered as we speak,” the Fibrotex executive told ZM during our conversation in late April. Meanwhile, the Army is and has been receiving static solutions continually since 2019 to provide the needed layer to protect the US around the globe. Currently, Fibrotex is in year seven of a ten-year US Army program. “Since the beginning of the program, we have developed new iterations of our netting, making sure the US forces stay ahead of the game and constantly protected against new sensors and threats on the battlefield,” Malleron explained.
At the MDM expo, Fibrotex showcased individual solutions to protect dismounted troops. “We hope they will be [of interest] moving forward for the US Army and US Marines.”
Warfare is evolving, and protecting a soldier (or Marine), an outpost, a system, or a vehicle (static or in movement) is more challenging than ever before, given the more modern radars & sensors, and satellites. The proliferation of uncrewed systems, like drones, uncrewed ground vehicles, or loitering munitions, makes camouflage all the more challenging. The triad is “our holistic solution for the requirements of the battlefield today, it relies on and supports each other,” Malleron explained.
To protect warfighters, “we are designing new systems that are lighter, more durable and multispectral,” Malleron said. A work in progress is camouflage systems for mobile vehicles. “We are working on a solution for the US Army for vehicles in movement. It is a work in progress, but we have completed the work on some platforms already,” the company executive explained.
Fibrotex has developed various reversible camouflage solutions for dismounted troops, including light woodland/desert and woodland/urban. The new and most groundbreaking version is alpine/woodland. “They are all embedded into one layered system that provides concealment against uncrewed systems, thermal, visual, and other threats.” Hiding the signature of mobile solutions is a bigger but not impossible challenge. “While each vehicle is unique, the heat signatures of platforms are the same, and hiding them from radar remains key.”
For Malleron, the threats are growing. The evolving battlefield, as demonstrated in the war in Ukraine, “is pushing us to advance the capabilities of our netting regarding hyper-spectral imagery, not just multispectral,” for example. At the same time, the heat-management nets must remain “light and durable,” particularly for individual troops.
The sister company is Fibrotex Technologies, headquartered in Israel. Malleron oversees Fibrotex USA, which is focused on the North American market. To fulfill its contract with the US Army, the company opened a vertical manufacturing facility in Sterns, Kentucky, in 2019, the sole facility in the US and only the second in the world. Malleron told ZM that a “centre for excellence and research” will open later this year in Boston. The goal is to offer unique solutions to US partners and allies. However, the solutions will be slightly different. One version will be exclusive to the US military, and another will be for export purposes.
Expanding the physical infrastructure and developing new systems for export will help the company, as the primary contract with the US Army will soon end. “Thanks to the upgrades to our family of camouflage solutions, and the additional systems required to replace all Legacy systems that do not provide the necessary protection other than the fielding of one, we see the need to continue providing this family of products to the US DoD and divest from all old systems” Malleron said. “We have continued to modernize the systems throughout the program’s seven years,” to keep up-to-date with modern threats.
Regarding Latin America, the only military that operates Fibrotex’s heat-signature management products so far is the Chilean Army. Zona Militar asked Fibrotex about South America’s unique geographic challenges, like the Amazon Jungle, and the need for armed forces to engage in jungle warfare to combat internal and external threats. Malleron confidently said that, as done in the past, Fibrotex can develop to meet the requirements of South American armed forces.
Fibrotex offers various products. The static solutions include the Ultra-Lightweight Camouflage Net System (ULCANS), individual camouflage like the NOA, the Sophia (DYI – Field Expedient Camouflage), and customized mobile solutions. The NOA, for example, weighs less than 1.3 kg (3 pounds) and is fire- and water-resistant. The system is meant to be flexible for a variety of uses.
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