Recent satellite imagery reveals more details of the unique measures Russia has taken in hopes of protecting its long-range bombers against Ukrainian attacks. Sattelites images reveal that Russia is placing tires on the upper surfaces of the aircraft in various patterns.

  • derpo@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I was really curious about the thought process here, but now I understand slightly more lol

    A covering of tires could well be calculated to break up the infrared signature of these aircraft, to confuse cruise missiles using image matching for targeting. This technique is also frequently referred to as DSMAC (Digital Scene Matching Area Correlator) or ATR (Automated Target Recognition) when used in cruise missiles. As we have previously discussed, using DSMAC/ATR would provide land attack versions of Ukraine’s homegrown Neptune missiles with a significant advantage, making them largely immune to electronic warfare jamming. At the same time, their approach to the target would not involve any telltale radio-frequency emissions, thanks to the passive nature of the targeting.

      • CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org
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        1 year ago

        Honestly I wonder if they could just train another, smaller model on widely-available aerial pictures of tires and develop a classical algorithm that steers towards things that look like a pile of tires on top of a plane shape. This is pretty shitty as adversarial patterns go.

      • ColorcodedResistor@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        wait wait. so you’re saying the missile not only knows where it is/isn’t but it can also Learn from Visuals? …fuuu

  • Etterra@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Wait wait wait wait wait. Wait… Wait.

    They’re using tires. Not paint, not tarps. Tires.

    I’m not sure which combination of vodka and drugs this idea required but the fact that some senior officer signed off on this speaks almost as loudly as Russia’s comically bad officer k/d ratio.

    • Ulara@sopuli.xyz
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      Українська
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      1 year ago

      The main concern of a Russian officer is to keep his position. And the way to do this is to produce optimistic reports to the faraway high command, or be fired. He can’t procure any valuable resources due to sanctions, so he uses anything he has just to show he does something. He cares about his position above everything else, so this decision is quite rational for him.

  • CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org
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    1 year ago

    Unclear exactly what it is but could be to confuse missiles using digital image matching for terminal guidance, like the land attack Neptune that’s supposedly now in play.

    So would a land Neptune just be a Jupiter? I eagerly await the Pluto burrowing missiles, too.

  • ii_winters_ii@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    I wish this was true because it would be funny, but it is likely camouflage. Not tires.

    • Echo Dot@feddit.uk
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      1 year ago

      Well it’s pretty crap camouflage, it’s the big plane thing. If in doubt fly into an engine.

    • AnAngryAlpaca@feddit.de
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      1 year ago

      Why would you attempt to camouflage airplanes on an Airport with tires? Besides, the government agencies will get a much better resolution from their spy satellites than what you see in the pictures here, making it easy to spot planes with or without tires…

      • ii_winters_ii@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        It’s paint. Not tires. There are pictures of these planes on a runway with the same colors. I really doubt they would take off with tires on the wing. It’s probably done to mess with drones that are manually flown into them.

  • cheese_greater@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Sad! For realsies, though, I cannot wait for the Sacha Baron Cohen style comedic treatment this is setting them up for to the same absurd effect as “Grab 'em by the pussy” was comedically reinterpreted as “Grab 'em [the rats]. Buy the pussy [cat to hunt them]”.

    No the soldiers were simply tired, thats all. They just needed a good long dirt nap which we made sure they were well-equipped for. Putin always provides