Mystery Munitions Have Been Found In Ukraine, And Their Discovery Will…

A recent event where Russia deployed a mysterious munition in Ukraine has left ballistic experts completely stumped.  These munitions often acts as decoys, meant to trick air-defense radars and heat-seeking missiles.

An American intelligence official provided details of the munitions, which are each about a foot long in length, appearing to be shaped similar to a dart with white body and orange tail.

The official also explained that these munitions that were spotted are released by the Iskander-M short-range ballistic missiles that Russia has been employing and firing from mobile launchers across the country’s boarder once the missile senses that it has been spotted by an air-defense system.

The decoy munitions are said to be filled with electronics and produces radio signals in an attempt to trick enemy radars attempting to pinpoint the Iskander-M and also contain a heat source to steer incoming missiles toward its direction.

The official offered their description of the devices under the condition of anonymity, as they were not authorized to speak publicly about intelligence matters.

The Drive reported:

An automotive website with extensive coverage of military matters, PENAIDS was originally deployed on long-range missiles carrying nuclear warheads. They were created in response to the development of anti-missile defense systems.

The idea is to overwhelm enemy air defenses with multiple potential threats, so the real devices have better odds of striking their targets.

These so-called short-range weapons still have a range of 310 miles, according to The Drive.

Per reports from the Times, the Russians have become innovative once they added in the decoys to their short-range Iskander-M missiles, which noted, “The incorporation of the devices into weapons like the Iskander-M that have conventional warheads has not been previously documented in military arsenals.”

The outlet also mentioned that when the Iskander-M detects it has been targeted by air defense systems, the decoys will begin to launch.

It comes to no surprise that the Iskander-Ms were already hard to defend against, due to their highly elusive missiles flying at a low trajectory. The PENAIDS identified a variety of different ways for them to counter the antimissile systems.

The Daily Mail also reported:

Michael Duitsman, from the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS), said: ‘Generally speaking, penetration aids (PENAIDs) can work three different ways: physically, as a decoy, using its radar return; thermally, using a flare to spoof heat-seeking weapons, and electronically, spoofing or jamming radars and electronics. 

‘The Iskander-M PENAID does all three.

  • ‘The body’s radar return adds clutter around the missile.
  • ‘The end of the PENAID has a flare to create a strong thermal signature. 
  • ‘The interior of the PENAID has a radio transmitter to jam or spoof radars.

The Western Journal added that:

Lewis told the Times that Russia has now given away a secret of its military abilities because the Russian military has to know that the missiles will be studied by Western experts to devise effective countermeasures.

We must hope so…

Ukraine has not been effective in countering the ballistic missiles. It is unknown how much of that failure is due to the use of PENAIDs.

Despite pressure from many nations, Russian President Vladimir Putin has persisted with the invasion. The response from the West has been inconsistent at best. As the combat continues, Russia will give away more of its secret abilities and technology. We must learn to counter them before it’s too late.

Sources: WesternJournal, The New York Times, Daily Mail, The Drive

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