Inflatable tanks are being used on battlefields in Ukraine. How hard is it to tell the difference?

Elias ChavezJan 13, 2024, 04:04 IST

An inflatable tank designed by the British next to a United States Army medium tank, Mark IV.Gallagher, 163rd Signal Photo Company/ National Archives Gallery

Dummy tanks have been used since WWI and were used to great effect during WWII.
One of their primary purposes is to get the opposing army to waste money and ammunition on a decoy.

Recent videos appear to show inflatable tank decoys being used on the battlefield in the conflict between Ukraine and Russia.

A drone spotted a cluster of tanks in a forest, but a tank spotted away from the trees shattered the facade. The cluster of tanks turned out to be a group of inflatable decoys, a military tactic used in an attempt to get the enemy to waste ammunition.

The use of decoys is not new. As far back as World War I, armies would use dummy tanks — the materials were just different, and the fidelity wasn't always as high. In a more technologically-advanced era with heat sensors, drones, and radar, decoys need to be better at deceiving the enemy.

One of the purposes of a decoy tank is to get the opposing army to waste time, ammunition, and money.

People walk past an inflatable tank placed outside a metro station in Ukraine.SERGEI SUPINSKY/AFP via Getty Images

Some decoys cost as little as $10,000, and some as much as $100,000.

A worker sews the material for an inflatable decoy of a military vehicle.MICHAL CIZEK/AFP via Getty Images.

For an inflatable from Inflatech, it takes four soldiers 10 minutes to set up the decoy. Other inflatables can take up to 20 minutes to set up.

An employee spreads a fabric of a mockup of a multiple rocket launcher decoy on the floor.Michael Heitmann/picture alliance via Getty Images

For drone operators, spotting the difference between a real and a fake tank is relatively easy.

Employees display a replica of a Western-style main battle tank.Michael Heitmann/picture alliance via Getty Images

Some other big giveaways of a decoy lie in its lack of detail, its 2D elements, and the air pumps that inflate them.

An inflatable decoy of an M1 Abrams tank.MICHAL CIZEK/AFP via Getty Images

A real tank reflects light, emits frequencies and heat, and often has people surrounding it.

A real M1 Abrams tank in the field in Ukraine.Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Decoys were also once used to fake the size of an army or the amount of tanks an army had.

British soldiers hoist an enormous inflatable tank on their shoulders.Bettmann/Getty Images.

WWII saw a significant increase in dummy tanks, and decoys were even integral to D-Day and the storming of Normandy.

A soldier examines a dummy tank constructed with wood.Photo12/UIG/Getty Images

Decoys today are still used in tactics of deception — and even if they aren't highly realistic, they can still be successful.

Two men carry an inflatable tank across a snowy field.REUTERS/Thomas Peter (RUSSIA MILITARY SCI TECH ODDLY BUSINESS)

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