War is a path of deception
(c) Sun Tzu
In August, an interview with the Reactive Post charity foundation was published on the pages of Defense (a project of Ukrainska Pravda). In it, the founder of the organization, Pavlo Narozhnyi, spoke about the place of artillery on the modern battlefield, the technological leap in artillery systems, and evaluated Ukrainian Bogdan howitzers.
Our attention was particularly drawn to the story of plywood mock-ups that imitate real towed artillery. The Russians see them on the battlefield and try to destroy them, spending their resources on it. One of the record-breaking mock-ups, called "Tolya", withstood being hit by 16 Lancet drones.
Readers of Defense supported the collection, which allowed the purchase of three such models. Now we will tell you in more detail why they are needed and how they will work on the front.
You can support the new collection for layouts from Reactive Post at this link.
How do mock-ups save military lives?
Replicas of real weapons have been used to deceive the enemy for a long time. As early as the American Civil War of 1861-1865, generals used so-called "Quaker guns," made of wood. They were placed on the battlefield to create a false impression of enemy firepower and divert fire from real guns.
Quaker cannons from the American Civil War
Time has passed, and intelligence tools have evolved significantly. Drones with high-quality cameras have appeared on the battlefield, broadcasting live images. Paradoxically, even in such conditions, the method with wooden cannons remains effective.
The thing is that the art of camouflage has also evolved. Now a lot of artillery on the front is towed, that is, trailered. Such guns are easier to "bury" and hide in the bushes. On well-camouflaged artillery positions, only the barrel sticks out.
Accordingly, to create a false position, it is enough for the camouflaged position itself and a piece of artillery barrel to look plausible.
The false positions are set up by engineering units. "The mock-ups are placed precisely in those places where, according to military logic, real artillery should be. The engineers do it very quickly and as believably as possible: they put up nets, scatter garbage, equip everything, and then move on. This is not just a cannon in the bushes," Pavlo Narozhnyi, the founder of Reactive Post, told Defense.
Artillery models are very durable. This is because even to destroy a real towed gun, it is desirable to make a direct hit on the target. And to destroy a model, even that may not be enough, because it is just a "blank".
Even if there is damage, the military can fix it, glue it up, paint it, and put it back in place to catch enemy Lancet strike drones. Every drone that hits a position with a mock-up could kill a Ukrainian defender.
One of the most common Ukrainian towed howitzers is the British-American M777. According to Narozny, our army receives mock-ups of the M777 howitzers from the allies, but they are made of steel.
"The disadvantages are obvious - a metal model of the gun can only be pulled by a truck. And getting to the position by a heavy vehicle is a big problem, because drones are flying everywhere," he noted. That is why Reactive Post prefers plywood M777 models, because they can be brought in a pickup truck, quickly assembled like a puzzle, and driven back.
The advantage of plywood models is also in the price. The charity buys models at a price of 17-25 thousand UAH per unit. So models are also a way to put pressure on the enemy economically.
"Over the entire time, we have built about a hundred plywood models. If you calculate mathematically, it would be enough to hit just a few Russian "lancets" to pay for them all together. It is impossible to count how many "lancets" they actually pulled on themselves, but the count is definitely already in the hundreds," Narozhnyi noted.
We need much more mockups
Reactive Post contractors are capable of producing 20-30 units per month, but there is no funding for this.
According to Narozhnyi, if there was money, the company could hire people very quickly and significantly increase its volume. The production of such models involves a special jigsaw that cuts everything into the necessary shapes, and several workers who screw everything together and paint it.
"The need for these models is limitless. We supply only 5 brigades, and they all ask when the next batch is. But without money, we cannot scale this whole thing. The queue for new ones is about a month, and this is only among those units that we help. To cover the needs of our artillerymen as much as possible, we need to supply about 50 units every month," Narozhnyi concluded.
To distract at least some of the strike drones from Ukrainian defenders, we urge you to join the Reactive Post collection for M777 mock-ups. You can do so at this link.