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Inflatable models, wooden missiles, ground portraits, air-launched decoy bombs… “decoy equipment is everywhere” in the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

The U.S. Navy News website said on the 17th that satellite photos found that the Russian Navy had deployed a full-size inflatable submarine model in the Sevastopol military port, which may be used to deceive the Ukrainian army's attack, which greatly reduced the authenticity of the Ukrainian army's recent claim that it had sunk a "Kilo" class submarine of the Russian Black Sea Fleet. In the Russian-Ukrainian conflict that lasted for more than two years, the two sides fought wits and courage in the field of "deception", and various decoy equipment emerged one after another.

Plastic artillery made by the Ukrainian army (left) and simulated D-20 artillery (right)

Fake submarine debuts

According to reports, satellite photos showed an inflatable model of a Kilo-class submarine next to the dock of the 13th Shipyard of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in the Sevastopol naval port. Western submarine expert Sutton said that Russian submarine models can be used to lure Ukraine into an attack in the future to avoid greater losses to the Black Sea Fleet.

Satellite photos show that the Russian military has deployed a submarine model

The report mentioned that the Ukrainian military had previously claimed that it had sunk a Russian submarine in the air strike on Sevastopol on August 2, "another major setback for Moscow in the Crimean Peninsula." However, according to the Ukrainian military report, the submarine that was sunk was the Kilo-class submarine "Rostov-on-Don" of the Russian Black Sea Fleet. What is even more suspicious is that the submarine was severely damaged in the Ukrainian air strike in September last year, and the British Ministry of Defense claimed that it suffered "catastrophic damage" that could not be repaired. However, the Ukrainian General Staff said that the "Rostov-on-Don" has now been repaired.

There has been much doubt about whether the Ukrainian Air Force had hit the real Rostov-on-Don on August 2. CNN said that the severely damaged submarine was unlikely to be repaired in just a few months. Since the Ukrainian military has not provided actual evidence of sinking the Russian submarine, this suspicion has been further amplified after satellite photos proved that the Russian Navy deployed an inflatable submarine model.

Make it difficult to distinguish true from false

The U.S. website Business Insider said that in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, both sides used a large number of simulation models as battlefield bait to consume the opponent's ammunition as much as possible. For example, the Russian army regarded the Ukrainian army's "HIMARS" rocket launcher as a top threat, and even used expensive ammunition such as "Iskander M" and long-range cruise missiles for targeted strikes. The Ukrainian army seized the opportunity and used wood and inflatable equipment to make a lot of decoys imitating the "HIMARS" rocket launcher, which effectively attracted the Russian army's firepower. In 2022, an American diplomat said, "The Russian army claimed to have hit more "HIMARS" than the total number we provided to Ukraine."

According to statistics from various sources, the Ukrainian army deployed various decoy targets on the battlefield, including imitations of main battle tanks, Patriot air defense systems, HIMARS rocket launchers, MiG-29 fighter jets and other Ukrainian main battle equipment. Even in the Bakhmut offensive and defensive battle, the Ukrainian army placed dummies in Ukrainian uniforms next to the trenches to trick Russian snipers into shooting. In addition, the Ukrainian army also widely used the ADM-165 air-launched decoy bombs provided by the United States, which were used to confuse the Russian air defense firepower and cover the real cruise missiles to hit the target.

Ukrainian army disguised cars as anti-aircraft missile launchers

The Russian army also used various decoys. Last September, a video showed an inflatable tank model deployed by the Russian army. An account claiming to belong to the 116th Mechanized Brigade of the Ukrainian Army commented on the social media platform "Telegram" that the Ukrainian army should be cautious about such fake targets to avoid wasting ammunition, and should not fire at the decoys at will to avoid exposing its position. In order to achieve a realistic effect, the Russian army also deployed some scrapped equipment in field positions after simple camouflage, which also attracted a lot of Ukrainian army firepower.

However, some of the Russian military's deception methods are too crude. For example, the Austrian newspaper "News" website disclosed in April that the British Ministry of Defense found through satellite photos that the Russian military painted the outlines of fighter jets on the concrete runways of many airports, but "Russian helicopters often landed on the runways where fighter jets were painted, thus exposing this deception." Previously, the Russian Aerospace Forces also painted a proportional portrait of the Tu-95MS strategic bomber on the airport apron of the Engels Air Force Base to confuse the incoming Ukrainian long-range drones. However, the US "Power" website believes that such simple deception methods are unlikely to be effective.

The Russian military has painted the outlines of fighter jets on the concrete runways of many airports

Due to the large number of decoys deployed by Russia and Ukraine, the outside world even had to carefully distinguish the results of the battles announced by both sides. For example, on the 16th, the Russian Ministry of Defense released a video of the successive destruction of the Ukrainian army's "HIMARS" rocket launcher, IRIS-T and "Patriot" air defense system. However, the outside world had to distinguish the authenticity of these results by the explosion effects after they were attacked - the ammunition of the "HIMARS" rocket launcher exploded after being attacked, and the "Patriot" system tried to intercept the incoming missiles, which should be true, but there was no explosion after the IRIS-T was hit, so its authenticity is very questionable.

Identification technology is also improving

With the update of battlefield deception technology, the corresponding identification methods are also being upgraded. The "Business Insider" website mentioned that the Ukrainian army admitted that with the improvement of battlefield reconnaissance methods, it is no longer as easy to create "convincing fakes". For example, the popularization of portable infrared imaging equipment helps soldiers to distinguish those crudely made fake targets more quickly. In the face of close observation drones, inflatable tanks without tracks can easily be "exposed".

At the same time, in order to deceive the opponent, the placement of these decoys must also be carefully arranged - if a cannon is placed alone in an open space instead of in a bunker, then no matter how exquisite its workmanship is, it is difficult to deceive people. The Wall Street Journal quoted a Ukrainian company as saying that relying solely on "decent imitations" can no longer achieve the purpose of deceiving the enemy. Fake targets must also be covered with camouflage nets and surrounded by trenches to make the opponent think that it is a real target as much as possible. The US think tank "War Research Institute" said that both Russia and Ukraine need to deploy fake targets more wisely while observing their opponents at close range. As the conflict continues, this process of using increasingly complex fake weapons to consume enemy firepower and enhance one's own survivability has become a "bait arms race."

Global Times special correspondent Wu Yan