Potemkin Jets Unlikely To Fool US Satellites
By Patrick Tucker
October 14, 2016
According to legend, in 1787, Crimean governor Grigory Potemkin created fake houses along the banks of the Dnieper River to impress Russian Empress Catherine the Great, giving rise to the phrase “Potemkin village.” Today Russia appears to be attempting something similar, with giant balloons made to look like tanks and jets. The audience, this time, appears to be the West. So would Potemkin MIGs actually work? Experts say: kinda.
The balloon decoys come from a Russian company called Rusbal, which sells “Life-sized air models of military machines and armour…designed for imitating various objects and creating fake military bases and positions of forces.”
This cheery commercial video explains, in Russian.
October 14, 2016
http://www.defenseone.com/technology/2016/10/potemkin-jets-unlikely-fool-us-satellites/132350/
