London (Agencies): The British military is supplying Ukraine with flat-pack decoys designed to mimic real military hardware, aiming to deceive Russian forces and exaggerate the amount of modern equipment on the battlefield, The Times reported on Saturday.
The initiative, led by Taskforce Kindred, a 20-person unit within the British Defense Ministry, focuses on crafting lifelike replicas of British-supplied tanks, artillery, and air defense systems. These so-called “Ikea-style” kits are designed to stretch Russia’s surveillance and strike capacity by making it appear as though Ukraine has received more weapons than it actually has.
RAF Squadron Leader Lowri Simner explained that the decoys help create an illusion of greater military presence, stating, “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.”
Taskforce Kindred works with industry specialists, relying on digital images of real weapons to create highly realistic replicas printed on flat materials. These decoys, including Challenger 2 tanks and AS-90 self-propelled guns, are quickly assembled near combat zones, making it difficult for Russian surveillance drones to distinguish between actual weapons and fakes.
According to Colonel Olly Todd, a military lead with Taskforce Kindred, Ukraine receives up to 30 decoys for every five real vehicles, ensuring that Russian forces waste valuable resources targeting false equipment. “You could be quite easily fooled,” Todd remarked, calling decoys a “fundamental” aspect of modern warfare.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s Deputy Defense Minister Katerina Chernohorenko noted that Russia is also using decoys, particularly in drone strikes. She revealed that many UAVs launched by Moscow carry minimal explosives and are designed to bait Ukrainian air defenses into wasting ammunition, which is already in short supply.
Despite the £13 billion ($17 billion) in UK military aid sent to Ukraine so far, British defense officials have expressed concerns that the country is not adequately prepared for a large-scale war due to years of underinvestment and procurement delays.