Kathrine Frich
When most people think of wooden tanks, the image that comes to mind is a child’s toy or a museum model.
But during recent US Army training, the wooden vehicles involved were anything but playful.
According to reports on the Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Center (JPMRC) exercises, soldiers in Hawaii trained against full-size wooden tank replicas designed to mimic real combat threats.
Simulating armored threats
The drills took place in November at Schofield Barracks, where the Army used mock-ups built from fiberboard, structural timber and basic construction materials.
Mounted on commercial pickup trucks, they served as stand-ins for enemy armor during large-scale combat simulations.
These replicas formed part of the opposing force tank simulation set, a system used to recreate hostile mechanized units as realistically as possible.
Troops from the 25th Infantry Division were required to locate, track and respond to the mock vehicles as if they were genuine armored platforms.
Across multiple scenarios, the improvised targets forced soldiers to refine reconnaissance skills, adjust tactics and rehearse rapid responses under battlefield pressure.
Saving money in training
Army officials note that using lightweight wooden models reduces wear and tear on real tanks, which demand extensive maintenance and logistics support.
The approach also allows for larger and more diverse simulated enemy formations without inflating costs.
According to the US Army, the simplicity of the mock-ups makes them ideal for replicating the size, movement and presence of armored threats during demanding exercises.
This strategy is widely adopted because it creates realistic training challenges at a fraction of the expense of deploying active vehicles.
A global military practice
Similar techniques are common in Europe and Asia, where wooden, metal and inflatable models are used to imitate tanks, rocket launchers, artillery systems, air defenses and command posts.
These decoys enable mass training without using real, high-value equipment.
At Germany’s Grafenwoehr training grounds, US and Ukrainian personnel have built full-scale wooden tank targets for drone and reconnaissance drills.
Ukraine has taken the practice to the battlefield, deploying wooden and inflatable replicas of HIMARS, howitzers and anti-aircraft systems to mislead Russian drones. Officials say some Russian strikes have been wasted on these decoys.
Sources: PortalTechnologiczny.
