War has always been a pretty sneaky business – I mean, have you even read “The Art of War” by Sun Tzu? That guy was all about deception. And let’s face it, as weapons evolve, so must the shenanigans. Take Ukraine for example, those guys are getting seriously creative with their tactics – they’ve only gone and created dummies to throw off their enemies who are using drones. May the best decoy win!
Back in the day, when tanks were first invented during the First World War, soldiers had already cottoned on to the power of the fake-out – wooden frames covered in painted hessian were dished out to confuse the heck out of the enemy. Cut to present day Ukraine, where allegations are flying around that the Russians have taken out some precision rocket launchers (which were first supplied by America back in June) but the Ukrainians are all like, nuh uh – none of our launchers have been lost. Seems they’ve got a little team of replica HIMARS made of wood, mounted on trucks and rolling around behind the frontline. Genius, right?
Anton Gerashchenko, an advisor to the Ukrainian government, is all about this game of tactical innovation. He’s like, “sure, the drones and satellites can see everything in great detail, but it’s freaking hard to pull the wool over the enemy’s eyes when they’ve got cameras and live video” – and he’s not wrong. But what he’s saying is, a high-quality decoy can do the trick!
Now, the Ukrainians have tried to cobble together some DIY decoys in the past – you know, just hammering together some scrap metal like it’s arts and crafts hour. But Andrii Rymaruk, who’s the Director of Military Affairs for an NGO called Come Back Alive, decided to go a step further and create inflatable replicas. They’re way more cost-effective, easy to transport, and apparently super speedy to deploy – which is a definite plus. The best part? They can make inflatable replicas of almost any military equipment, from tanks to mortars to machine guns. The Russians ain’t got nothin’ on these guys!
As demand for these inflatable fakers starts to rise, technology is improving too. Apparently, these inflatable tanks are getting so darn realistic that you wouldn’t even know the difference if you were standing just five meters away. And they’re clever – trucks are used to create tracks in fields, comms traffic is broadcast to give the impression of military activity, and there are even reflective materials used to trick thermal imaging cameras. Pretty slick, huh?
In fact, these decoys are getting so good that they even have to create valid radar signals despite being full of hot air! Mr Rymaruk is keeping tight-lipped about the technical details, but suffice it to say that the Ukrainians aren’t the only ones using this tactic. If you’re not careful, you might find one of these inflatables sitting in your seat on the bus. Okay, maybe not that extreme…but you get the idea.
Serious News: economist
