“It’s still just like a toy” – The Czech company that leads the high-end military decoy market
Inflatech Decoy is a Czech company from Děčín which has become a market leader in the production of high-end inflatable models of real military equipment that can be used to deceive the enemy about real troop deployments. Their products are used for training purposes and, possibly, also in real ongoing conflicts. I spoke to Inflatech’s CEO Vojtěch Fresser and began by asking him how the decoys work and what their purpose is on the battlefield.
“Deception is very important for any type of conflict. Historically, [the ancient Chinese general] Sun Tzu said that the art of war is deception. For me the best solution to a conflict is one that never starts.
“Our inflatable military decoys can be used for training and practice. Especially, during electronic warfare training exercises when pilots need visual contact with the target and have to identify objects on the ground via their optical, thermal and radar sensors.
“This is how our inflatable decoys work. They work on three basic levels – they can generate a signature on the optical and thermal levels. This allows them to mislead the thermal cameras of the enemy and they can produce radar signatures that are same to those of real objects.”
That’s what struck me about your product – that it’s not just a simple decoy, but that it can generate all of these other footprints such as the thermal one. Is that something that is common in contemporary decoys, or is it something unique to your products?
“What is common is that they have to be very light because the difference between using the real metal object and the inflatable one is that the latter has higher mobility. It is important that these decoys can be inflated, deflated and packed within a space of 10 minutes. In order for the equipment to be considered effective, the team that operates the decoy needs to be made up of just two or at most four persons.”
And it weighs very little, right? Around 43 kilograms…
“Yes. The inflatable part is 43 kilograms. Then we have some engine like a pump and some spare parts. However, loaded all onto a pallet it weighs no more than 100 kilograms altogether.”
Obviously, if you are in a war, you want to deceive your enemy about where your troop deployments are. So, if someone is looking from an aircraft or satellite they might think that there is a squadron of tanks somewhere where it actually isn’t. But I understand that there is also an economic benefit to this, right?
“Yes. The maximum economic benefit is when the enemy uses some sort of very expensive weapon. For example, a radio controlled missile and hits our decoy which is 20 times less expensive than the missile itself.
“To give you a further example, the javelin anti-tank missile is very popular nowadays. I recall visiting a producer at an expo and they told me that the price starts at USD 80,000, which is still three or four times more expensive than our inflatable tanks. This is the effectiveness of using high quality inflatable military decoys.”
Are these inflatable decoys that you produce being used in Ukraine right now?
“That’s something that I am not able to answer. Perhaps that is a question for the Czech Ministry of Defence.”
But business has been booming over the past year?
“Since the end of the Cold War, the market was quite finished as far as inflatable decoys were concerned. Inflatech re-established it and we have been growing every year.”
“Yes, but for Inflatech it has been growing every year. Since 2014, when Inflatech was established, we have seen growth every year. Unfortunately, I think this is because since 2014 there are conflicts across the world.
“Inflatech created the market with inflatable decoys. Since the end of the Cold War, the market was quite finished as far as inflatable decoys were concerned. Inflatech re-established it and we have been growing every year. I can confirm that last year saw our company grow the fastest since 2014.
“It’s hard to say whether it is just because of the conflict in Ukraine. It could also be because we are advancing very quickly in terms of our innovations and technologies. We have a lot of research and development programmes and some grants from EU funds, so it could just be a combination of all of these factors.
“Perhaps we could say that one of the most important parameters is that the global defence market is growing. This is because it now has public support. It was hard to come to the bank and ask for credit two years ago. Now, however, since the conflict in Ukraine broke out, governments and the public sector now understand that putting 2 or more percent of their GDP on defence is very necessary.”
Decoys have of course been used for centuries in various ways. Especially since the development of aerial photography in the First World War they have been used on a mass scale, originally as just simple rudimentary structures. You have already talked about all of these new additions, such as thermal footprints, could you tell us about what’s on the cutting edge of new technology when it comes to decoys? How are they being improved further?
“It is necessary to keep up with the acceleration in the development of air sensors on aircraft and drones. The latter is something new to appear in conflicts and so we need to make our decoys more mobile. They need to be lighter.
“It is necessary to keep up with the acceleration in the development of air sensors on aircraft and drones.”
“Also, transportation costs need to be lowered because, if I have one decoy, it’s not such a difference if the weight used to be 100 kilograms and now it’s 43. You still need the same number of personnel. However, if you are traveling with 200 of these decoys you may need to use aircraft. You may need to travel fast from point A to point B.
“So, yes, we need to make it lighter and more effective from the signature point of view. The thermal signature especially needs to be improved in combination with the radar signature. It needs to look more realistic on multispectral cameras.”
Your production facility is based in the North Bohemian town of Děčín. Tell me, how did this small town end up housing a company that produces this kind of technology?
“The region in the north of Czechia is very interesting from the point of view of textile production. It has a very long history.”
“We basically had the technology and the resources. The region in the north of Czechia is very interesting from the point of view of textile production. It has a very long history. At that time, we understood military needs and we are a reliable and trusted party for the government and army.”
Excuse me, but when you said you understood military needs, was that caused by some sort of crisis? Perhaps the war in Syria, Russia’s annexation of Crimea, or was this something that emerged over the long term?
“Personally I would prefer to produce something that kids can have fun with.”
“In the beginning there were ideas to produce civilian inflatable parts for sports, such as gymnastics, or for camping. At that time we knew that there was some need for inflatable decoys, but there were no competitors on the market. To enter a non-existent market sounds very interesting of course and we still remain so many years on. Our closest competitor is about four years behind us with their technology. So, yes, it was several years ago and now our production is 100 percent focused on military decoys.
“It’s hard to say whether this is a good thing or a bad thing. Personally I would prefer to produce something that kids can have fun with.”
Indeed, that must be the dilemma for anyone who deals with armaments or related military technology. Do you see your inflatable technology as contributing to global instability or not?
“It’s still just like a toy.”
“It’s very interesting because it still is just synthetic textile that is just connected in the right manner. It’s still just like a toy. However, we are recognised by governments as military producers and our products as military equipment, so we have to follow all of the regulations.
“On one hand it’s very interesting because we cooperate with almost all of the departments of the army, of the Ministry of Defence. For myself, it’s very easy to come inside with just a bag of textile. It’s much easier than for a missile producer for example.
“However, at the same time, I still speak with the same high ranks and they recognise our goods, especially over the past two years, as strategic equipment. This is because wars are now based around information sharing and misleading. It is therefore a very strange combination, but we are already a part of this game.”
You already spoke about how your product was the first on the market. But in terms of the global trade in decoys, what is the typical product on the market?
“The typical legacy decoy is from Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), it’s very heavy. It’s more like a sort of bouncy castle. It is hard to find a producer who follows the most high end technology.
“The typical legacy decoy is from Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), it’s very heavy. It’s more like a sort of bouncy castle.”
“For example, we use machines that were given to us by the producer and they told us: ‘We are sorry, but we don’t have the user manual. You have to make it because we are hungry for new technologies regarding material connections.’
“Sometimes it has happened that some producer developed a new technology of sewing, for example, and they told us that they don’t know how to set it up. That we have to test it.
“In any case, if I go back to your question, we know that the only producer is in China. They sell globally and other competitors just put their trade mark on their products from China. So it looks like: ‘Designed in country X, but produced in China.’”
I know that you produce Abrams tanks for example, or various forms of Soviet equipment. Tell me a bit more about the products that you make.
“We already produce more than 30 models, but there are no limits because we have a development team.
“We developed the T-72 and T-90 tanks, the Tor and Pantsir missile systems, the HIMARS or M-270 missile systems. For example, we can produce a replica of a civilian bus if you need it.”
When you were speaking about the future of modern warfare earlier on, you mentioned the importance of information. How important do you think decoys will be in 10 or 20 years?
“I see that there is very dynamic development when it comes to the use of decoys. This is why we expect our production to grow. We are producing 35, almost 40 decoys a month and we plan to double that this year.
“The typical legacy decoy is from Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), it’s very heavy. It’s more like a sort of bouncy castle.”
“I’ll give you an example from the frontline: When the enemy understands that we have something like 10 anti-aircraft systems, these will be the first targets that they will aim to destroy when entering the country. However, if we show them 30 of these systems, it will confuse them. Of course they will know that 20 are decoys, but which ones? They are very important wild cards in the game.”
So mixing decoys with real tech?
“Yes, absolutely. Another scenario I could imagine is that I put a decoy somewhere and my enemy doesn’t know that it’s a dummy in the beginning. However, if I leave it there for three or four days, don’t move it, they finally realise that it’s a decoy. Especially if it’s deployed with some mistakes. They will pass it every day not being afraid of it, but one day I can change that decoy with a real piece of equipment and they will be surprised.”
