🔷 Decoys

Decoys

Sun Tzu said, “All warfare is based on deception.”

And decoys are part of selling the deception.

Military decoys are fake equipment that tricks enemies into wasting time, resources, expensive weapons, and even shape war plans.

Illusions that have real impact.

Origins

One of the earliest modern decoy examples occurred during World War I, when the British deployed wooden and canvas dummy tanks, misleading the enemy about armored strength and positions of the new Mark 1 tanks.

During World War II, decoys were used much more extensively.

On the small side, things like chaff were invented to fool radars, “paradummies” were dropped to mimic paratroopers, inflatable tanks supported ghost armies, and decoy airplanes were placed near fake runways.

Cars were even disguised as tanks to mimic armored movements.

These were all part of larger, long-running deception campaigns.

Operation Mincemeat disguised the Allied invasion of Sicily; Operation Bodyguard did the same for the Normandy invasion.

These battlefield deceptions proved quite effective.

Modern Usage

Today, deception remains a crucial aspect of modern military operations and is now part of what’s generally called CCD (Camouflage, Concealment, Deception).

But as sensors evolved considerably, so must the quality of the decoy.

An inflatable tank must not only create the necessary shape and shadow, but it must also mimic the heat and radar signatures.

In some cases, decoys also need to mimic the electronic signature.

It’s a delicate balance of making it as real as possible, but also doing so as cheaply as possible.

Ukraine

Decoys are widely used in Ukraine.

Plywood-and-drain-pipe howitzers with inflatable HIMARS mimic fighting positions, which also use wheel ruts, ammunition crates, toilets, and even fake troops to sell the ruse.

Volunteers from the Apate group create a variety of decoys to support Ukraine.

Decoys have continually evolved and remain a key part of the tactics and counter-tactics on the battlefield.

The latest example: Russian FPV operators started placing their drones at the sides of roads to wait for traffic to ambush. Ukrainian drones in the air caught on and started attacking them.

However, instead of mimicking the Russian tactic, Ukraine built FPV drone decoys to spread out across roads.

This forces Russia to expend resources on attacking them, pulling resources away from attacking real targets.

Well played.

Move out

In an era dominated by precision strikes and advanced surveillance, decoys continue to play a vital role in military operations.

If you want to go deeper on that, check out this article on next-gen decoys for the Marine Corps.

In That Number

401

The Pentagon established Joint Interagency Task Force 401 to centralize and accelerate counter-drone efforts for the US military.

Why the “401” moniker: 400-feet is the typical coordination altitude for Army unrestricted maneuver, but 401 feet and above requires joint coordination.

That’s straight from the Army CTO [@5:34 in the linked interview]

TRIVIA

On this day in 1973, the third and final crewed mission to the Skylab space station launched. Skylab was unique in many ways, but which of these is NOT true?

A) had a full shower
B) was made from a Saturn rocket
C) had a small greenhouse
D) had a stationary bike for exercise

On the Radar

New Tail-Sitter Drone. EDGE Group and Anduril announced a production alliance in the UAE to develop and produce advanced autonomous systems. The first product is Omen, a large Group 3 tail-sitting VTOL drone, and is anchored by a UAE acquisition of 50 Omen systems.

• The Merge’s Take: Omen’s twin-rotor hybrid propulsion is unique, and so is its size. Most Group 3 drones live on the low end of the weight class and tend to be a race to the bottom, but Omen is on the opposite end—it reportedly has 3-5X the payload and range. We love the fact that this isn’t a ‘paper airplane’: it rolled out as a production-bound prototype with a signed contract, reinforced by 5 years of flight-test footage that makes clear this isn’t a mock-up—it’s real. (LinkedIn video / IG video)

NATO E-7 canx. NATO scrapped its plan to procure 6 Boeing 737-based E-7 Wedgetails to replace its ancient E-3 AWACS fleet, concluding that the program no longer makes strategic or financial sense.

• The Merge’s Take: The US participation—or lack thereof—was the nail in the coffin. The US Air Force’s plan to buy 26 Wedgetails is in turmoil over cost and survivability concerns, and as a result, the US pulled out of the 7-nation consortium that was supporting the NATO purchase. But NATO still needs an airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft, and Bombardier stands to win in several scenarios. Its Global 6500 business jet is the basis for South Korea’s new AEW&C program (with side-mounted arrays) as well as Saab’s GlobalEye. The latter is operated by the UAE and Sweden, on contract with France, and in discussions with Denmark and Germany.

They Said It

“We’re emphasizing speed, but we’re not mandating speed.” 

— Michael Duffey, Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment, clarifying that the Pentagon's acquisition overhaul prioritizes speed while still requiring program leaders to balance it with risk, cost, and system performance.

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Knowledge Bombs

• CHAOS Industries raised a $510M Series D funding round at a $4.5B valuation to advance its coherent radar tech

• Forterra closed a $238M Series C funding round to advance its ground autonomy tech

• Hypersonix raised $46M for the world’s first hydrogen-fueled hypersonic flight

• Circus established a defense subsidiary to expand robotics and AI for military applications

• WB Group (Polish company) sold 1,000 WARMATE one-way attack drones to an undisclosed Asian customer

• The Air Force is looking for a $500k counter-air missile

• Anduril was selected for the Army’s IBCS-M program (counter-drone systems)

• XTEND won a multi-million-dollar Pentagon contract for one-way attack FPV drones

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ANSWER
C. Skylab never had a greenhouse for growing crops, but it did have a shower, a bike, and was made by re-purposing a Saturn V rocket’s third stage.