Photos coming out of the Ukrainian strikes in Luhansk, which are speculated to be from UK-supplied “Storm Shadow” cruise missiles, show that American-supplied ADM-160B decoy missiles were also used.
ADM-160B decoy missiles were developed under DARPA’s Miniature Air-Launched Decoy (MALD) program back in the 1990s and use a Signature Augmentation Subsystem (SAS) to simulate the signature of various aircraft or airborne systems.
This means is that these decoy missiles were likely launched to draw out and distract anti-air defenses over the city before the missiles struck their target, which has been identified in a previous post as a storage and repair facility for Russian forces.
This is the first instance of ADM-160B use and may be a precurser for future deployment against critical infrastructure far from the frontline.
