The Russian military has been painting images of fighter aircraft on the tarmac of its airfields in an attempt to deceive Ukrainian forces, as revealed by a recent UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) intelligence report. The move comes after the invading forces suffered a significant loss of warplanes due to Kyiv’s sophisticated air and ground defense systems. A satellite picture included in the intel report shows an Su-30 fighter aircraft decoy painted on the concrete of Kirovskoe Airfield in occupied Crimea, with similar paintings found in at least 12 other Russian air bases.
The MoD suggests that Ukraine’s successful strikes on Russian military locations have pushed Moscow to implement decoys to confuse Ukrainian targeting efforts. However, a costly mistake in the deception tactics was revealed when a Russian Air Force helicopter landed on one of the painted planes, undermining the efforts to confuse Ukrainian drone surveillance.
In the past month, the Ukrainian military reported downing 13 Russian warplanes, including 10 Su-34 fighter bombers, two Su-35 fighter jets, and a rare A-50 military spy plane. Furthermore, a powerful Ukrainian drone attack destroyed at least six Russian military planes at the Morozovsk air base in Russia’s Rostov region, with another eight heavily damaged. Since the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Russia has lost a total of about 670 aircraft, including 345 planes and 325 helicopters, according to Kyiv’s General Staff.
