One of the main methods of camouflaging and misinforming the enemy is the creation of fictitious military bases, on the territory of which models of real military equipment are located, from aircraft to artillery pieces. But in recent years, there has been a controversy about the adoption of special pneumatic models of aircraft and armored vehicles on the balance of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. Many point to the inexpediency of adopting inflatable devices on the balance of troops, which cannot mislead enemy intelligence services.
The leadership of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation continues to assert that pneumatic models are necessary for equipping false positions of combined arms units, visual imitation of transporting tanks over long distances by rail and truck tractors with heavy trailers. In addition, dummies are used to equip false concentration zones of aircraft (airfields). These measures are designed to divert the enemy's attention from the real, covert redeployment of aviation units from active military airfields.
The creators of the mock-ups claim that their products are not just an exact copy of real military equipment, but also reproduce radiation in the near infrared, thermal and radar ranges, similar to night vision devices. In the near future, the reproduction of the radio technical range will also be added. Of course, behind all these statements about the technical capabilities of the so-called "rubber" military equipment, its developers forget to mention that all these features are provided with additional systems and special materials, which is not only difficult, but also expensive pleasure for deceiving the enemy.
The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation made a decision on annual deliveries of about 100 models of real military equipment to the balance of military units. In the near future, the total number of "rubber" military equipment will reach 800 units. But in this case, first of all, the prices for certain samples look surprising, so, in particular, the model of the aircraft is estimated at 1.2 million rubles, the tank is somewhat cheaper - 450 thousand rubles. Is this really a normal price for a layout, albeit with additional features?
But there are a lot of nuances in this issue, and they are connected, first of all, with the transportation of models, which should resemble the redeployment of real military equipment. As you know, there are subtleties in the transportation of military equipment, which the intelligence centers of all states are well aware of.
It seemed that it could be difficult to organize the transportation of mock-ups of military equipment on railway platforms - load and carry. But not everything is so simple. Sending a military echelon is a difficult task, it is a whole complex of events in which a large number of representatives of both the Ministry of Defense and Russian Railways take part. At the same time, one should not forget that a potential adversary can have an agent network both in these structures and among local residents. After all, the appearance of a tank battalion in a certain area will raise a number of questions from the enemy. What kind of battalion? Where was your previous deployment? Which way? The total number of tanks? Accordingly, unnoticed by the enemy, immersed pneumatic tanks on the platforms of railway transport is a rather difficult and difficult task. At the same time, it is necessary to take into account the fact that after all the previous reorganizations in the Armed Forces of the "new look", an extremely limited number of tank regiments and tank battalions remained in individual motorized rifle subunits, the potential adversary is quite well aware of the points of their permanent deployment. Another important issue is the peculiarity of the transportation of tanks by rail: the tower is turned back 180 degrees, and the cannon is locked with a tow rope. Accordingly, the layout should be made with a swivel tower.
The most difficult activity is air transportation, as it will require a huge number of performed flights of transport aircraft. One plane, of course, can take out all the folded models, but after all, it is necessary to simulate the transportation of not one tank, but an entire tank battalion, which is at least 30 tanks. So it will be extremely expensive in terms of cash.
When transporting military equipment by water transport, there are also obvious vulnerabilities. If, for example, a military echelon passing through the western part of the country can easily get lost in a rather dense railway network, then you cannot say anything like that about water transport, its path is quite easy to control.
Mockups can, of course, play a role in misinforming the enemy, but nothing more. For example, in combat, their need is reduced to zero. It is not possible to use a "rubber" tank in a real battle in any way, including a distracting one. Modern armies are armed with equipment capable of distinguishing real heat signals from imitation ones.
In general, there is no special sense from the models, even perfectly imitating real military equipment, and it is obvious that all these developments are nothing more than an ordinary trick, when the armies sell balloons that can be blown away by the wind at any time. But, despite this, the Ministry of Defense continues to order "rubber" military equipment and claims that this is an extremely necessary means of misinforming the enemy. Or maybe it's not about the benefit of the army, but about personal benefit?
