We all know that the winner in a war is the one who succeeds in imposing himself on the enemy on the battlefield. In order to reach this point, the winner should make as few and minor mistakes as possible compared to the loser, applying the basic principles of war. In addition to the above, we point out that a key component for achieving victory is misleading and deceiving the opponent.
Wooden Russian drones mislead and weaken Ukrainian air defenses
This is what Russia is trying to do, in order to weaken Ukrainian air defenses by distracting them and consuming their precious anti-aircraft missiles by building wooden drones and launching them into Ukrainian skies.
The press service of the Joint Forces Command reported on May 4, 2023, the Ukrainian military shot down an unidentified Russian drone, which could probably be used for reconnaissance.
At the same time, the structure of the UAV itself looks as simple as possible, since there is no body cladding, the structure is made of wood and plastic, the power unit consists of two low-power motors (probably similar to gliders).
In recent days, claims have been circulating on Ukrainian social networks that the Russian military has begun to actively use such drones, possibly to distract Ukraine’s air defenses.
It may suggest that the Russians may have a “standard” project to mass produce such UAVs.
It is not yet known how such drones are controlled and what functionality they can actually perform. Perhaps, in a short time, experts will be able to give an answer to this question.
Other means of deception of the Ukrainian air defense
Before Russia’s full-scale invasion, it was believed that the Russians would try to copy “Karabakh” tactics, turning the An-2 into drones to decoy Ukraine’s air defenses.
But in the spring of 2022, it turned out that the Russians were using a much more primitive aircraft for similar tasks, which was the E95M with a gasoline engine and a flight duration of up to 30 minutes, which can simulate the flight of a cruise missile.
The cost of E95M at pre-war prices was only 50 thousand dollars. Obviously, a ‘step up’ has been taken to create an even more simplified cheap drone.”
From the above, it follows that Russia succeeds with cheap wooden drones and other equally cheap means, to deceive and weaken the Ukrainian air defense, causing over-consumption of its precious anti-aircraft missiles.
