Wooden decoy tank fools Russians in Ukraine conflict
A video showing a destroyed Leopard 2A4 tank in Ukraine appeared on social media. As noted by Military Portal on its official Facebook account, this was a tank in Polish camouflage that actually turned out to be a wooden dummy, mimicking real military equipment.
Military dummies of various types are nothing new. Both Russians and Ukrainians use them to mislead their opponents and encourage them to waste ammunition on targets of minor significance. For example, inflatable models of HIMARS, Abrams tanks, or F-16 fighters appear in Ukraine. Many of these decoys are equipped with built-in heating systems to deceive the enemy's thermal imaging systems.
Russians were fooled by the wooden Leopard dummy
A significant portion of the decoys consists of wooden solutions, such as the Leopard 2A4 tank in Polish paint visible in the video below. The wooden tank was likely intended to mislead the Russians, which it seemingly succeeded in doing.
The Leopard 2A4 is a third-generation German main battle tank, an evolution of the Leopard 2 model. Its combat weight is about 55 metric tonnes. It is powered by a 12-cylinder MTU MB 873 Ka 501 engine with 1500 horsepower, allowing it to reach a maximum speed of 72 km/h on paved roads and 56 km/h off-road. The tank's operational range is about 550 km on the road.
The main armament of the Leopard 2A4 is a 120 mm smoothbore Rh-M-120 gun produced by Rheinmetall, capable of firing modern anti-tank ammunition. Additionally, the tank is equipped with an advanced fire control system, enhancing its combat effectiveness.
Ukraine received Leopard 2A4 tanks from its Western allies. Among them was Canada, Poland, Spain, and Norway.
