As real weapons are repositioned amid the shifting demands of the war, decoys can be moved into place, drawing further fire and wasting enemy resources.
Even before Russia launched its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Ukrainians were hard at work creating decoys to stymie Russia reconnaissance efforts. Now, more than three and a half years later, the art of deception has increased on both sides.
The goal is to misdirect the allocation of valuable assets, making some positions appear more fortified or manned than they actually are, and more broadly to keep the enemy guessing as to their opponent’s actual capabilities. It is similar to the massive deception campaigns carried out during World War II, but today’s decoys and deception efforts are far more sophisticated.
As previously reported this past winter, both Moscow and Kyiv have deployed vast numbers of advanced decoy tanks. In the case of Ukraine, the efforts are to get Russian forces to expend a large number of their kamikaze drones, such as the Zala Lancet loitering munitions. The Kremlin sought built decoys of its own, with similar intentions.
World War II’s Inflatable Tanks Have Gotten an Upgrade
During the run-up to D-Day in 1944, the United States and Great Britain sought to confuse the Nazis into believing that the amphibious landing—which ultimately took place on the beaches of Normandy—was instead destined for Calais, further to the north. To this end, full-size inflatable tanks were employed opposite the French port city to deceive the Germans into believing there was a massive military buildup there. The operation worked; even days into the invasion, Hitler’s generals continued to believe that the Normandy landings were a feint for a larger operation to come, and only realized the truth after the Allied position was well-established.
Today’s decoys are far more advanced than those of the 1940s. Some “tanks” can move autonomously near the front lines, and even give off realistic heat signatures. The goal isn’t just to get the enemy to expend ordnance to protect high-value assets, but also to minimize the enemy’s ability to respond effectively.
According to a recent report from the BBC, upwards of half of certain weapons platforms now deployed throughout Ukraine are decoy imitations.
Ukraine’s Fake Cannons Help Hide the Real Ones
The way the decoys are being deployed has also changed since the war began. As previously noted, some decoys are autonomously or remotely controlled. However, even some forward positions are merely part of the deception effort. The BBC reported that one of the “most popular decoys used by the Ukrainian army is models of the British-made M777 howitzers”—an effective weapon that Russian forces have gone out of their way to destroy.
Kyiv has been supplied with around 150 of the 155mm artillery systems dubbed the “Three Axes” by Kyiv’s forces. A group of volunteers known as Na Chasi has begun to supply decoy mock-ups to help protect Kyiv’s guns. Made of plywood, the replicas can be assembled in a matter of minutes; so far, more than 160 have been deployed to the front lines.
It isn’t just the wooden guns that help “sell” the deception. To draw in the Lancet and other drones, the faux M777s are set up around wheel ruts, ammunition crates near the guns, and even portable toilets nearby. The BBC report claimed that the efforts have been so good that they have even fooled some visiting Ukrainian officers.
As real weapons are repositioned amid the shifting demands of the war, decoys can be moved into place, drawing further fire and wasting Russian resources.
Moreover, unlike real guns that can be rendered inoperable following a strike, it is easy to perform quick repairs on a false one and put it back together, making it appear that earlier Russian strikes missed or were inconsequential—and hence inviting new ones. One Ukrainian claimed a decoy was hit more than a dozen times by Russian Lancet drones, each of which costs around $35,000.
Russia Has Decoys of Its Own
It isn’t just Ukraine that has become a master of deception. While Kyiv has been employing everything from faux tanks to non-airworthy F-16 Fighting Falcons as decoys to fool Russia’s drone operators, Moscow has begun to launch decoy drones, which can be built cheaply but imitate far more expensive munitions and waste critical Ukrainian air defense resources.
Ukrainian officials have warned that many of the drones fired by Russia—including this past weekend’s strike on Kyiv, the largest of the war to date—functioned as decoys. Some attacks have seen as many as half of the unmanned aerial systems are decoys made to resemble the lethal Shahed drone on radar.
“It’s fifty-fifty these days. Fifty percent are real Shahed drones, and fifty percent are imitation drones. Their job is to overload our air defences and ideally get us to use a missile against a drone that costs peanuts,” Ukrainian Air Force spokesman Yuri Ihnat told the BBC. “Sometimes it’s a plywood thing that looks as though it was knocked together by some schoolchildren.”
Such decoys have made countering the massive drone swarms all the more complicated. As the Ukrainians cannot easily tell the difference between a real suicide drone and an inert imitation, Kyiv must either allow real drones through, or use up more of its relatively small supply of air defense missiles—meaning fewer will be available when they are really needed.
About the Author: Peter Suciu
Peter Suciu has contributed over 3,200 published pieces to more than four dozen magazines and websites over a 30-year career in journalism. He regularly writes about military hardware, firearms history, cybersecurity, politics, and international affairs. Peter is also a contributing writer for Forbes and Clearance Jobs. He is based in Michigan. You can follow him on Twitter: @PeterSuciu. You can email the author: [email protected].
Image: Shutterstock / Martin Hibberd.
