UK's game-changing decoys: Secret weapon in Ukraine’s fight against Russia

The UK Ministry of Defence is supplying Ukraine with flat-packed decoy weapons designed to resemble British air defence systems and tanks, in an effort to mislead Russian forces and protect high-value equipment on the front line.

The decoys—described by UK officials as “Ikea-style”—are made from printed materials based on real UK hardware and are assembled by Ukrainian troops in a matter of hours, Caliber.Az reports, citing foreign media.

The initiative, part of a broader deception effort, aims to exhaust Russian missile supplies by encouraging strikes on false targets rather than actual weaponry.

Lowri Simner, a squadron leader with the Royal Air Force, told reporters the approach was aimed at inflating the perceived scale of the UK’s military support to Ukraine. “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,” she said. The technique is part of a broader programme known as Taskforce Kindred—a dedicated Ministry of Defence (MoD) unit responding to Ukrainian requests for unconventional military solutions.

In collaboration with defence industry partners, the taskforce has developed detailed mock-ups of UK-supplied systems, including Challenger 2 tanks and AS-90 self-propelled artillery units, both of which are in limited supply. “They look just like the real thing. You could be quite easily fooled,” said Colonel Olly Todd, a Royal Marine who leads procurement for the unit. He noted that the days of simple inflatable decoys have evolved into highly realistic printed designs that appear genuine from 25 metres away.

According to Todd, if five real vehicles are sent to Ukraine, the UK might provide up to 30 decoys to enhance their strategic impact. He emphasized that decoys are now “fundamental” to battlefield operations. One recent target of Russian strikes—Stormer air defence vehicles fitted with Starstreak missiles—was identified as a “significant threat” by Moscow. In response, UK forces quickly developed and delivered mock-ups of those vehicles. “Within a week we were able to get the system scanned, get the decoys printed, and send the decoys forward,” Todd said.

The UK’s latest innovation, the Raven system, was also unveiled publicly for the first time. Built from a mix of decommissioned air-to-air Asraam missiles and repurposed components from legacy aircraft such as the Hawk, Jaguar, and Tornado, Raven is a mobile air defence platform mounted on Supacat vehicles. Though the Asraam missiles are no longer in operational use in the UK due to shelf life limitations, they have been adapted for effective deployment in Ukraine.

The Raven system has already demonstrated notable battlefield success. Ukrainian forces have reportedly launched around 400 missiles using the platform, which has achieved a 70 percent effectiveness rate against Iranian-made Shahed drones and cruise missiles. Early models of Raven were deployed to defend key government sites in Kyiv, including the presidential palace. The system can be remotely operated with controllers similar to those found in consumer gaming consoles like PlayStation or Xbox.

In the coming weeks, updated versions of Raven will be sent to Ukraine along with a new series of decoys—including fake missiles equipped with heat emitters—to bolster Ukraine’s layered defence network.

Kateryna Chernohorenko, Ukraine’s Deputy Minister of Defence, confirmed during the London Defence Conference that Russia is also deploying decoys on the battlefield. Some drones used by Russian forces are essentially hollow, containing only minimal explosives. “Decoys are a very needed element of warfare today,” she said, noting that Ukraine is sometimes forced to expend valuable resources to intercept these fake threats.

As modern surveillance technologies such as satellites and drones make concealment increasingly difficult, both British and American military leaders are reassessing the future of battlefield strategy. In a recent speech at the Royal United Services Institute, General James Rainey, head of the US Army Futures Command, warned that future forces should operate under the assumption of “constant observation.”

Meanwhile, UK defence planners say some of the damage Russia claims to have inflicted on Raven systems may, in fact, be the result of attacks on decoys—further demonstrating the strategic value of deception in today’s high-tech wars.

By Tamilla Hasanova