Russian forces have started covering some of their attack aircraft with car tires,

a reply to: Zaphod58

I wonder if just painting wide black rings would have had the same effect….

Perhaps the 3 dimensional thickness depth height of the tires is necessary?

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a reply to: Ophiuchus1

The tires do change the SAR return. They don’t absorb the radar completely, but they do absorb some of the radar, with a noticeable change to the return.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Tires would definitely add time to a scramble……imo

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a reply to: Zaphod58

Why would you camouflage decoys? I'd camouflage the good aircraft and leave the decoys alone so that the decoys would be targeted.

a reply to: JIMC5499

No. That's just what they'll be expecting us to do....

originally posted by: JIMC5499
a reply to: Zaphod58

Why would you camouflage decoys? I'd camouflage the good aircraft and leave the decoys alone so that the decoys would be targeted.

The "camouflaged" or tire-covered planes are sometimes missing propellers or even entire engines, so regardless of the reasons, they appear to be trying to hide aircraft that aren't airworthy. Maybe down for major maintenance or else used for spare parts and won't fly again. I don't know if a "spare parts" carcass can be considered a "decoy", but they'd rather have that destroyed than an airworthy plane.

I think most of the good aircraft were moved even further from Ukraine, though if Ukraine is launching these drone attacks from inside Russia, it may not be possible to locate them far enough away to be safe.