The Prague-based milblogger Praise the Steph, posting on X / Twitter on Aug. 18, drew attention to Russian claims from the day before that its forces had tracked down and destroyed a Ukrainian M270 Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) after it had fired off a salvo of rockets in support of Kyiv’s operations in the Kursk region.
After the M270 moved off, the Russian forces lost sight of the vehicle before one of their drones thought it had found the launcher hiding in trees a few kilometers away from Chervona Dibrova, in Ukraine’s Sumy Oblast. They then called in a $3 million Iskander-M missile to destroy it.
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However, according to the Czech blogger, what they hit was actually an inflatable M270 decoy, made by the Děčín based company Inflatech, whose slogan is “The art of war is deception.” Unlike the first inflatable decoys that appeared on the battlefields in the 1960s theirs are much more than “tank-shaped balloons.”
It should be no surprise to know that Ukraine understands “maskirovka,” the art of deception, which featured in all aspects of Soviet military planning, and is taking the art of deception on the battlefield to new heights.
Inflatech decoys replicate over 30 types of Western and Soviet/Russian military vehicles that can be used for both complex training and battlefield operations. Examples include the High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), BM-30 Smerch, Pantsir-S1and Patriot air defense systems, Abrams, Leopard, T-72, T-80, and T-90 tanks. Their products also include infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs) and armored personnel carriers, fighter aircraft, military trucks, radars, and even naval targets.
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On July 7, Moscow posted a video that it said showed how they had struck two Ukrainian Patriot air defense launchers and an associated radar, also with an Iskander-M ballistic missile near the Black Sea port of Yuzhne. In response, Ukraine’s air force commander Mykola Oleshchuk said Moscow had hit decoy targets designed to squander expensive enemy missiles.
As Kyiv Post reported in September 2023, Ukraine has been making extensive use of decoys manufactured by the Metainvest company that uses scrap materials to make fake copies of advanced weapon systems that fool Russian operators into expending artillery, drones and missiles to destroy them.
Inflatechs decoys are life-sized, self-propelled, mounted on small, tracked platforms controlled by radio and GPS, that allows them to simulate, limited vehicle movement.
On top of being mobile and visibly resembling their real equivalent, the plastic construction contains metallic fibers that give off thermal, infrared (IR) and radar signatures close enough to the real thing to fool even the most sophisticated enemy. They can be erected and put into place rapidly for quick setup, providing an alternative to using actual military vehicles.
Inflatech has demonstrated its products to military leaders, defense contractors, and government representatives at defense exhibitions such as Eurosatory and the World Defense Show. It says it is continually carrying out research and development (R&D) into new materials and technologies to further enhance the realism of its decoys, as well as expanding the range of models including those being used in Ukraine.
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