Beating the Sensor Symphony: Why Decoys Still Matter

Army University Press | Col. David Acosta, Christopher Paul

Unmanned aircraft systems and loitering munitions are accelerating battlefield transparency and kill-chain efficiency, making modern combat environments exceptionally lethal for command-and-control nodes. To counter this sensor-saturated reality, military forces are increasingly deploying multi-spectral decoys to distract adversary sensors and trigger the premature expenditure of high-value precision munitions on false targets.

Historically, Serbian forces during Operation Allied Force in 1999 successfully used physical mock-ups to deplete NATO's precision-guided missile stockpiles and preserve their core armored capabilities. Modern high-fidelity decoys now replicate visual, thermal, radar, electromagnetic, and acoustic signatures to deceive advanced intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance networks. As Russia and China integrate these deceptive technologies into their formal doctrines, the tactical balance is shifting back toward the obfuscation of real systems. Consequently, future defense acquisitions will likely require the simultaneous procurement of robotic, mobile decoys alongside primary combat platforms to ensure survivability in highly contested theaters.

Comment

Azerbaijan’s conversion of Soviet-era AN-2 biplanes into remote-controlled decoys during the 2020 Second Nagorno-Karabakh War demonstrated how low-cost platforms can systematically expose sophisticated air defence networks. This tactical integration forced Armenian radar operators to activate their systems, immediately exposing their coordinates to loitering munitions and unmanned combat aerial vehicles. This operational success reveals that the primary value of modern decoys lies not in passive concealment, but in actively manipulating the adversary's sensor-to-shooter timeline. This shift elevates deception from a passive survivability measure to an active component of offensive suppression of enemy air defences.

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