UK sends Flat-Packed Decoys to Ukraine to Confuse Russia About Arms Supplies

The United Kingdom is providing Ukraine with flat-packed decoys of military equipment to help mislead Russian forces about the true scale and nature of weapons deliveries.

According to The Times, these decoys are also designed to prompt Russian troops to waste valuable ammunition and drones on fake targets, thereby preserving real military assets on the battlefield.

The mock-ups replicate, in particular, the Challenger 2 main battle tanks and AS-90 self-propelled artillery systems that the UK has supplied to Ukraine as part of its military assistance.

“We haven’t gifted a huge amount of these, so anything we can do to make the quantities look greater on the front line is advantageous to us,” explained Lowri Simner, the RAF squadron leader, as her team unveiled Raven, a novel air defence system created by the Ministry of Defence.

This deception tactic is being employed as Russian forces increasingly rely on satellite imagery and advanced drones to survey the battlefield in search of targets.

In response, the United Kingdom has stepped up its support by producing mock-ups that are difficult to distinguish from real weaponry.

First, digital photographs are taken of British military equipment and printed onto lightweight materials. The mock-ups are then shipped to Ukraine in disassembled form.

They can be quickly assembled and deployed by Ukrainian forces on the front lines to confuse the enemy.

Colonel Oliver Todd, a Royal Marines officer and procurement lead for Task Force Kindred, stated that the UK can supply up to 30 decoy mock-ups for every five real systems delivered.

“They look exactly like the real thing. It’s quite easy to be fooled,” Todd said, noting that even from a distance of 25 meters, it is difficult to tell them apart from actual weaponry.

In the autumn of last year, it was reported that Ukrainian forces were using mock-ups, including of the British Stormer HVM short-range air defense system, to deceive the Russians.