07/03/2023 16:41 (act. 07/03/2023 04:41 pm)
Czech Republic Inflatable Tanks – Here is a mockup of an American Abrams tank. ©AP
The war in Ukraine not only increases the demand for weapons, but also for dummies.
Inflatable tanks, fighter planes and weapons from the Czech company Inflatech are selling like hot cakes. On Monday, managing director Vojtech Fresser declined to say whether they will also be used in Ukraine. However, business increased by more than 30% last year.
100 kg tank made of artificial silk
Inflatech adapts dummy weapons from rayon and other lightweight materials. However, a fake tank weighs up to 100 kilograms. It takes four soldiers about ten minutes to unfold and assemble.
“If you don’t use binoculars, you can’t tell from a distance of 150 to 200 meters whether it’s real technology or a dummy,” says Fresser. It’s much more important, however, to mimic the warmth and radar signature true to the original. How exactly that happens, he doesn’t want to reveal. Just this: a specially designed device ensures that areas that should be hot are hot.
A bait for the enemy
Dummies can serve as decoys for enemy projectiles. The trick is to give enemy drones, thermal imaging cameras and radars the impression that they have found a high-value target. This should tempt the enemy to shoot better balloons with expensive rockets and cruise missiles. Inflatech products such as inflatable battle tanks and armored vehicles cost between around 10,000 and 100,000 euros.
Dummies can serve as decoys for enemy projectiles. The trick is to give enemy drones, thermal imaging cameras and radars the impression that they have found a high-value target. This should tempt the enemy to shoot better balloons with expensive rockets and cruise missiles. Inflatech products such as inflatable battle tanks and armored vehicles cost between around 10,000 and 100,000 euros.
Currently, Inflatech in Decin (Tetschen), close to the border with Germany, produces around 50 inflatable baits per month. The company also has a mockup of the US Himar multiple rocket launcher for sale. Last summer, the Russian military proudly reported repeatedly that it had destroyed Himar’s systems.
150 million euros of turnover
The company started in 2014 as a garage company that occasionally also made bouncy castles for kids. Fresser doesn’t see the fact that two of his co-founders hail from Russia as a problem. They have long been integrated into the Czech Republic. Deliveries to NATO, EU and partner countries. The company now has 20 employees – soon there will be twice as many. Sales of at least 150 million euros are expected for this year. That’s a lot of money in the structurally weak region bordering Saxony.
In Ukraine? No comments
Fresser doesn’t want to say directly whether Ukraine uses Inflatech products to deceive Russian invaders. He prefers to put it this way: “I see us sending inflatable baits to a partner country that is in difficulty if we want to support them.
A cost-benefit calculation
The dummies were originally developed so that soldiers could train on them. They cost up to almost 100,000 euros per piece. It’s expensive, says Fresser, but a real tank can cost 20 times as much. Anyone who tempts the opponent to fire their expensive rockets at something like this is the economic winner.
Fresser expects his company’s double-digit sales growth to continue for another three to five years. In fact, he prefers to build children’s toys, he says. “But first we have to make sure there’s a safe world for them. Then hopefully we can get back to civilian projects.”
Russia also uses “balloons”
In Ukraine war, inflatable military vehicles are also known as Russian side know-how to deceive the enemy. Already in 2009, the state news agency Ria Novosti reported on dummies of Russian main battle tanks T-72 and T-80, the S-300 air defense system and Su and MiG fighters. Moscow is also trying to protect strategic missile systems like Iskander or Topol-M with the replicas.
Russian military bloggers have reported that there are special units in the Russian army that specialize in such deception maneuvers. Devices were also used in warfare. In late January, the Ukrainian general staff announced that Russian troops in the Zaporizhia region were trying to use inflatable tanks to simulate a larger presence.
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