🎯Decoy darts: How Russia’s secret weapon fooled Ukraine
The mysterious munitions behind deadly attacks in Kyiv and Kharkiv have never been seen before in combat until now – But what are these so-called 'decoy darts'?
Thread 🧵
telegraph.co.uk/world-news/202…
The mysterious munitions behind deadly attacks in Kyiv and Kharkiv have never been seen before in combat until now – But what are these so-called 'decoy darts'?
Thread 🧵
telegraph.co.uk/world-news/202…
🇷🇺 Moscow is deploying specially designed decoy systems not used in previous conflicts to ensure they reach their targets, according to US intelligence officials.
Iskander-M missiles are deploying decoy systems to fool Ukraine’s air defence systems...
Iskander-M missiles are deploying decoy systems to fool Ukraine’s air defence systems...
💭 They were initially thought to be cluster bombs, based on their size and shape.
However, weapons experts believe that they are decoys that Russia has refused to sell to foreign nations as part of the Iskander system, so they would not be reverse-engineered by Western nations
However, weapons experts believe that they are decoys that Russia has refused to sell to foreign nations as part of the Iskander system, so they would not be reverse-engineered by Western nations
🚀 These 'decoy darts' are thought to be fired from mobile launchers in Belarus and Russia.
How do they work? ⬇️
How do they work? ⬇️
The darts are designed to protect ballistic rockets from air defence missiles that home in on their target with heat-seeking or radar technology.
📻 Each decoy contains electronics to send out radio signals to make Ukrainian radar-seeking missiles think the it's the main weapon
📻 Each decoy contains electronics to send out radio signals to make Ukrainian radar-seeking missiles think the it's the main weapon
📡 Intense heat sources in the base of the decoy rounds also emit powerful thermal signatures – thought to be by burning magnesium – which will attract these Ukrainian heat-seeking missiles
🟠 The Iskander missiles.
The devices are each about a foot long and coloured white with an orange tail and are powered by solid-fuel rocket motors.
Those in service with the Russian military can hit targets up to 500km (311 miles) away
The devices are each about a foot long and coloured white with an orange tail and are powered by solid-fuel rocket motors.
Those in service with the Russian military can hit targets up to 500km (311 miles) away
US intelligence officials said that darts found in Ukraine are similar to Cold War decoys called “penetration aids”.
🎯 Fitted to nuclear warheads since the Seventies, these decoys were designed to allow weapons to evade anti-missile systems so warheads could reach their targets
🎯 Fitted to nuclear warheads since the Seventies, these decoys were designed to allow weapons to evade anti-missile systems so warheads could reach their targets
🗣️ According to Professor Prof Jeffrey Lewis, a non-proliferation expert at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in Monterey, California employing the decoys suggests “carelessness or urgency” by Russia as they will collected and studied by Western intelligence
Read more about Russia's 'decoy darts' here 👇
telegraph.co.uk/world-news/202…
telegraph.co.uk/world-news/202…
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