Creating an Invisible Man

Guy Cramer, Hyperstealth Biotechnology Corp. | BCBusiness
Guy Cramer’s camouflage patterns are derived from mathematical fractals and algorithms.

Ever wanted to be invisible? A paintball champ in Maple Ridge has figured out how and his company, Hyperstealth Biotechnology Corp., is bringing that technology to more than 40 countries around the world.

“This building is one of the top terrorist targets in Canada,” says Guy Cramer as we walk into the rather plain Maple Ridge edifice that houses his company, Hyperstealth Biotechnology Corp., as well as E-One Moli Energy Canada Ltd. The batteries made by E-One are critical for production of various American military-application electronics, he explains. “If this building was taken out, then all the M1 Abrams tanks and LAV vehicles they use would come to a grinding halt after a couple months.”

It sounds a tad alarming but Cramer, president and CEO of Hyperstealth, is not worried, perhaps because he could make the building practically invisible if he wanted to, which would certainly make it a tricky target.

As a camouflage designer, the art of invisibility is Cramer’s forte and he’s happy to tell stories of the more than 40 countries around the world – including the U.K., Canada, Jordan, Afghanistan and all four branches of the U.S. military – that have requested his design services in developing patterns for their military, government or police. Some two million military uniforms with his prints have been issued worldwide to date, he says, not to mention a Slovenian supersonic MiG-29 jet that bears his camouflage.

The global impact of Cramer’s designs is belied by the modest offices of Hyperstealth Biotechnology. (The company’s name bears testament to an earlier venture, when Cramer, a former plumbing agent and world-champion paintball player and long-time inventor, was developing personal negative-ion generators, which are reputed to increase alertness, balance, reaction and endurance.) A showroom filled with camouflage jackets, pants and hats reveals another of Hyperstealth’s revenue sources: a partnership with the makers of Gortex clothing to design patterns for hunting gear. Cramer can usually be found on the other side of the building in a large warehouse where he cranks out his designs on massive printers worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. He’s got one assistant who works part-time. “We can’t get big in personnel terms, nor do we need to be big. It’s about providing a design and that’s it,” he says.

Cramer, whose camouflage patterns are based on mathematical fractals and algorithms, describes his designs as “less of an art, more of a science.” Digital camouflage, he explains, tests better than traditional because of the way the eye blends it in with the background at a typical combat distance. “The eye perceives it as something that belongs in the background and it just creates that extra background noise that you’re looking for. [At] 10 yards, 20 yards, it doesn’t look correct because it’s artificial, but if you’re a combat troop and you’re 10 yards away from someone . . . your camouflage isn’t going to do much for you.”

While his digital camouflage is selling well, he’s always looking for ways to gild the lily. Cramer is excited about an adaptive camouflage he has dubbed “SmartCamo,” which changes colour to blend with the surrounding environment and another one he calls QuantumStealth, which uses light-bending technology so that what you’re seeing is actually what’s behind the target. It all sounds sci-fi and potentially dangerous in the wrong hands.

“Oh yeah,” Cramer says with a nod. He recently flew to Ottawa to discuss dissemination of QuantumStealth for use by the American military. “They’re all baffled. They said, ‘There’s no category to put it in. What do you do with an invisible cloak?’”