Wooden Leopard tank dummy fools Russian forces in Ukraine
A recording has surfaced on social media depicting a destroyed Leopard 2A4 tank in Ukraine. According to Portal Militarny on its official Facebook account, this vehicle in Polish camouflage was, in fact, a wooden mock-up masquerading as genuine military equipment.
Military mock-ups of various types are not a new phenomenon. Both Russian and Ukrainian forces use them to mislead their opponents and encourage them to waste ammunition on targets of little importance. For instance, inflatable replicas of HIMARS, Abrams tanks, and F-16 fighters are present in Ukraine. Many of these are equipped with built-in heating systems to deceive the enemy's thermal imaging.
The Russians were deceived by a wooden Leopard mock-up
A significant number of the decoys are also made of wood, such as the Leopard 2A4 tank in Polish livery seen in the recording below. This wooden tank was most likely designed to mislead the Russians, which it apparently did.
The Leopard 2A4 is a third-generation German main battle tank, evolved from the Leopard 2 model. Its combat weight is approximately 54 tonnes. It is powered by a 12-cylinder MTU MB 873 Ka 501 engine with 1,479 horsepower, allowing for a top speed of up to 45 mph on roads and 35 mph off-road. The tank's operational range is approximately 340 miles on roads.
The main armament of the Leopard 2A4 is a 120 mm smoothbore Rh-M-120 gun produced by Rheinmetall, capable of firing modern anti-tank ammunition. Additionally, the tank is equipped with an advanced fire control system, enhancing its combat effectiveness.
Ukraine has received Leopard 2A4 tanks from its western allies. Among these contributors was Poland, Canada, Spain, and Norway have also reached Ukraine.
