Russian army 'inflates' itself with fake tanks

Russian army 'inflates' itself with fake tanks

www.russiatoday.com

Security is not all about super modern technology and powerful weapons. The Russian Army is being equipped with dummies and decoys: inflatable tanks, planes and rocket launchers.

Even from a distance of only100 metres, fake military hardware looks exactly like the real thing and it’s effectively used on battlefield positions and to protect Russian strategic installations from the eagle eye of surveillance satellites.

Their main task is to distract attention and protect real combat units from strikes.

(visit the link for the full news article)



[edit on 30-3-2009 by baseball101]

i think this is quite funny, and kind of smart ... i guess it could also be used as a scare tactic to the untrained eye ... i say it's smart because it may or may not keep their real war technology from being attacked, but with military intelligence, and this story it will be hard for them to keep the real one's from getting attacked ... just my opinion ... what are your thoughts?

www.russiatoday.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Nothing new about inflatable tanks. The US and UK did the same thing as cover for the Normandy invasion on D-Day.

reply to post by moonwilson


interesting point,
but there's no invasion is there?

[edit on 30-3-2009 by baseball101]

reply to post by baseball101


Nope, no invasion, at least -not that we know of. Using prop weaponry makes some sense- inflatable tanks are cheaper than real ones after all. But I don't know how useful they are nowadays. Back in WWII, when surveillance was limited to cameras on spyplanes, fake equipment worked great. But with satellites that can see very well in multiple spectrums, who knows how effective they will be. Loitering satellites would likely be able to tell real tanks from fake ones. Fake tanks don't move- they don't have the same heat signatures as real ones- they don't leave tracks, they don't have the same support crews etc. If satellites were somehow removed from the equation- this might signal something.

It's interesting at any rate.

That's just brought back a funny memory, as kids we were up on dartmoor doing a bit of training for the ten tors event, we came across a couple of tanks... They wern't inflatable they were canvas and poles - looked pretty good from a distance - we saw another team right up close to them picking up one corner and ruining the illusion!

Think they were ment for target practice - but none of the flags were up so we were confident we wern't gonna get shelled!

Noting unusual about this - I bet the UK and the US have loads of these type things and they have fun and games moving them about for the spy sats

Its an old trick and some decoys can give off heat signatures, fire off hoffman charges etc to complete the illusion.

However craft like the JSTARS are designed to watch for this. Decoys do not move on thier own and to move alot of them is labor intensive and leaves a foot print of its own.

This tactic goes back even further to WWI, the allies would build fake artillery guns out of telephone poles, fake trucks, fake tanks, and even managed to create the illusion of entire brigades on the move when it was just a platoon of men moving fake equipment around and creating false radio chatter and even starting cooking fires with the purpose of fooling the eyes in the skies.


The question is, why is Russia doing it? Maybe the Bear is starting reclaim its place again? The next few years will be quite interesting.








[edit on 30-3-2009 by A NeWorlDisorder]

newsimg.bbc.co.uk...

^^ T72`s

englishrussia.com...

^^ S400

reply to post by Harlequin


Thats awsume My 6 year old would love that in our front yeard for sure.

reply to post by moonwilson


indeed this smoke and mirrors propaganda has bot been forgotten.
Russian tanks and Washington are todays model

Well it's nice to see Russia finally getting something out of WW2 .

But it is a smart move, in today's military battlefield the only thing they have left is to attempt to deceive the enemy into attacking fake targets.

The element of surprise is still one of the most highly valued tactics in modern combat, the Russians could potentially have an advantage if these things are used correctly.

~Keeper

you all bring up good points and most are pointing to the fact that this was used way back in WWII ... but my question is, as also brought up by a previous poster,

why are they doing this? are they expecting something?

they would be great on tank training firing ranges...
i think the us has 3-d photos of tanks they use on target ranges also...

reply to post by fatdad


they would be great on training grounds, but these aren't for that ... these are designed to distract attention away from real one in the case of an attack...

I might be wrong, but i see nothing threatning in this. Decoys could be a lesson from Georgian conflict, or could simply be oriented for export. If Russian federation would increase its army instead of decreasing ,and really invest in offensive technologies (like a gozillion of carriers they promissed to build to 2020) it might turn on red lights.
Right now it is new fashion line of cool decoys. Probably made in China,too.

Cool

Maybe this explains the upsurge in UFO sightings across the world.....those sneaky Russians aren't checking their blow-up tanks are tethered properly!

Like many say, this is an old trick.

Around my part of the world, they even stand cardboard cut-outs of traffic policemen along the roads sometimes....it certainly makes people slow down.

Just as long as i don't see an blow-up tanks in my village though, then all the best to em!

CX.

Originally posted by baseball101


i think this is quite funny, and kind of smart ... i guess it could also be used as a scare tactic to the untrained eye ... i say it's smart because it may or may not keep their real war technology from being attacked, but with military intelligence, and this story it will be hard for them to keep the real one's from getting attacked ... just my opinion ... what are your thoughts?

www.russiatoday.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Ok, they fool my iphone camera, but wouldn't any thermal image ruin their tricks?

Actually fake artillery was already used in the US Civil War!

Quaker Gun

But yes, the Russians are the masters of deception. They call it Maskirovka.

Ah, isn't it useful to read military history?

What with the price of a T-72 on the international market currently running at around fourteen dollars and sixty two cents, it has to be a toss-up if you go with a blow up or the real thing.

Of course you could apply that statement to any number of things