The Original Plastic Tank Storefront

[Johnified America]

Originally posted: 26-07-2004, 23:36
JSA DARPA has developed plastic decoy tanks.

These tanks are hollow plastic shells which look exactly like the real thing.
A 15hp engine and 4 wheels placed underneath the "tracks" propels them to the top speed of the real deal. They are operated remotely and a video camera system allows for obstacle avoidance. They're not very good at traversing rough terrain but they can go off road. They are totally vulnerable to all weapons, even 9mm pistols. A heat generator gives them the same IR signature as a normal tank, making them indistinguishable from real tanks. This will cause your enemies to waste countless IR missiles on these fake tanks while your own tanks continue on.
They cost $3,000 each and are available in a variety of types.
A small sample of what we offer:

T-90 Tank

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SA-13 SAM

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M-1A2 Tank

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M-48 SAM

We also do custom requests! Available in multiple camouflage patterns. Buy now!
ALSO AVAILABLE:
Non-Flying Aircraft models for $2500-6000 (details soon)
Most types of ships for $10,000-45,000
NIMITZ CLASS CARRIER WITH FULL FAKE AIRWING $1 million




NOW also available:

Inflatable tanks: non moving visual decoy only 700$ for a 3 pack (also available in NS tech-models)

[Grittonia]

OOC: Fail!
IC:
Montana Defences, Grittonia's biggest weapons company, wishes to buy your company for $100 million USD.

[Johnified America]

There is no company to buy. These were developed by JSA DARPA, and are sold directly by the government.

[Grittonia]

There is no company to buy. These were developed by JSA DARPA, and are sold directly by the government.

Then they wish to buy teh goverment.

[Turkish Federation]

OOC: Fail!
IC:
Montana Defences, Grittonia's biggest weapons company, wishes to buy your company for $100 million USD.

OOC:

1. If you think that this storefront is fail, why do you want to buy it then?
2. It's not fail. Ruse and decoy are very important tactics and can trap enemy troops if used wisely.
3. It's a storefront by an Antique nation, not a n00bish storefront. 100 million dollars won't be enough.

IC:

We would like to purchase a million of each plastic land vehicle available for $9 billion USD.

[Johnified America]

Grittonia
You can not afford to buy our government and we are insulted by your suggestion. Since our nation is has astronomically more wealth than yours does, If you don't watch it we might be tempted to buy your entire country and turn it into a plastic tank factory.



Turkish Federation
The order is confirmed but be advised it will take a while to fill becasue it is so large.

[Jeuna]

There is no company to buy. These were developed by JSA DARPA, and are sold directly by the government.

Then they wish to buy teh goverment.

[ This is really getting out of hand. Seriously, stop spamming.

Anyway, it's a decent idea for a quick diversion, and I don't think this is useless (fooling aerial photography being one field this could excel in more than your usual inflatable tanks), but the moment they sail through the air after hitting a bump, or handle oddly during a sharp turn, it would be apparent they're not 'indistinguishable'. Identification is equal parts looking at the vehicle and observing how it behaves—otherwise I could call a Toyota MR2 kitted to look like a Ferrari F355 'indistinguishable' from...a Ferrari F355. ]

[Johnified America]

From 10 miles away at 4,000 feet in the air going 400 knots an A-10 pilot is not going to have time or be able to distinguish the fake tank (plastic models w/ IR spoof) from a real one. All it takes is a split-second and he wastes an expensive maverick missile on a $3000 decoy.

[Jeuna]

[ A-10s almost never achieve more than 830 km/h (430 knots) to start with, and certainly not with an anti-tank load; anyway, the time between acquisition and firing is markedly long, especially at the ranges you're talking about (which don't usually occur either; Warthog pilots like to wait until they can have the added benefit of their gun, unsurprisingly); lastly, Warthogs don't fly at 4,000 feet when they're on approach—it's more like 2,000 at the high end, and 200 feet at the low end. ]

[Johnified America]

That's good to know, but does nothing to my point. These tanks are deceptive enough to fool attacking aircraft, even moreso than stationary decoys. There's nothing to argue about or prove. If I'm not able to explain it so that you understand, too bad, go make your own dummies.

[L3 Communications]

OOC: Fail!

((OOC: Read about ultrabadass/general Erwin Rommel, he used wooden tanks to fool Commonwealth forces in North Africa. Operation Overlord is another good example, where the US and Commonwealth used decoy tanks to fool the Germans into thinking that the landings were going to take place at Pas-de-Calais instead of Normandy. It's called "Operation Fortitude", and it was one of the largest and most elaborate deception campaigns ever staged.))

IC:

To the "Plastic Tank Storefront",

We at L3 Communications would like to purchase four-hundred (400) inflatable Lyran LY7 tank decoys and two-hundred (200) Lyran LY4 tank decoys. This should come to roughly around $139,800 USD for all six-hundred (600) tank decoys.

Also, if you have any decoys of the Northrop F-23 Black Widow II, we would like to purchase two-hundred fifty (250) of them for $1,250,000 USD.

[Johnified America]

Order confirmed. We will need time to gather photographs of the Lyran tanks, but if you could allow our 3D engineer to take some dimensional scans of these tanks, the process will be much faster. Luckily, the F-23 is in service with the JSA Air Force so we can produce a very close replica for you very quickly.

[Reijvajik]

OOC: Fail!

OOC: NO U

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To: JSA DARPA
From: The Defense Ministry, the Greater Republic of Reijvajik
Subj: Purchase of Decoys

Dear Sir/Madam:

The Republic of Reijvajik wishes to purchase the following:

We wish to purchase fifty (50) plastic models of the Ticonderoga class Cruiser and seventy-five plastic models of the Arleigh Burke class Destroyer. For both orders, please include a plastic non-functioning Sea Hawk helicopter, if possible. Please inform us of the cost of the order.

Payment shall be wired upon delivery.

Sincerely,



The Hon. Ardon Wyjsten
Representative for the Ministry of Defense of the Greater Republic of Reijvajik
Member of the Order of the Republic of Reijvajik
Fellow of the Federal Government of the Greater Republic of Reijvajik

[Johnified America]

To: The Defense Ministry, the Greater Republic of Reijvajik
From: Johnified American Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (JSA DARPA)
Subj: RE: Purchase of Decoys

Your order is confirmed. The Ticonderoga class ships will be $9000 each and the Arliegh Burke ships $8000 each. With each helicopter at $5000 each, that will be a total of $1,675,000. All prices in Universal Standard Dollars (USD). You are also the last customer to receive these 2004 prices, all future orders will cost more due to inflation.

[Dostanuot Loj]

OOC: Modern thermal imaging systems can basically see exact images in heat. It's no longer some form of blob of brightness, and hasn't been since the late 1980s. You can physically distinguish details only able to be seen in daylight in modern TI systems. A "heat generator" will not be able to match that at all. Your decoys will show up as blobs to the high-def eyes of a modern TI system and be spotted as decoys right away.

[Johnified America]

OOC: Modern thermal imaging systems can basically see exact images in heat. It's no longer some form of blob of brightness, and hasn't been since the late 1980s. You can physically distinguish details only able to be seen in daylight in modern TI systems. A "heat generator" will not be able to match that at all. Your decoys will show up as blobs to the high-def eyes of a modern TI system and be spotted as decoys right away.

No they won't because all the heat generator does is mimics engine and exhaust placement of the actual vehicle being feigned. The skin of the tank mimics the thermal signature of tank's materials exactly also. See your TG.

[Dostanuot Loj]

OOC: Modern thermal imaging systems can basically see exact images in heat. It's no longer some form of blob of brightness, and hasn't been since the late 1980s. You can physically distinguish details only able to be seen in daylight in modern TI systems. A "heat generator" will not be able to match that at all. Your decoys will show up as blobs to the high-def eyes of a modern TI system and be spotted as decoys right away.

No they won't because all the heat generator does is mimics engine and exhaust placement of the actual vehicle being feigned. The skin of the tank mimics the thermal signature of tank's materials exactly also. See your TG.

OOC: So your plastic magically has the exact same heat transfer properties, density, and reflectivity of RHA?
That's absurd from any material science stand point, not even alchemy would claim they can find a way to do that. Not without the decoy weighing the same or more as the tank, and being much more bulky.

[Skibereen]

OOC: Modern thermal imaging systems can basically see exact images in heat. It's no longer some form of blob of brightness, and hasn't been since the late 1980s. You can physically distinguish details only able to be seen in daylight in modern TI systems. A "heat generator" will not be able to match that at all. Your decoys will show up as blobs to the high-def eyes of a modern TI system and be spotted as decoys right away.

No they won't because all the heat generator does is mimics engine and exhaust placement of the actual vehicle being feigned. The skin of the tank mimics the thermal signature of tank's materials exactly also. See your TG.

OOC: No, it will fool systems 20 years old and no longer used in any modern military. These wont fool any genuine recon effort at all.
There is a reason nations dont utilize this type of decoy any longer but rather utilize system obscuration and obfuscation.
What did you have an old copy of Time laying around in the garage?

[Johnified America]

The plastic skin of the tanks, is lined with a thin plastic film first developed by a civilian company as a heating element for ceiling panels. By mixing the concentration of the plastic sheets, we can create thermal images of a vehicle's wheels, engines and armor. The thermal and visual images are so realistic that it can fool trained eyes. At a glance they decoys look remarkably real, which in battle is all an enemy would get before deciding whether to fire. Guess what, most modern aircraft are using the same IR sensors that were around 20 years ago- or more- (the Maverick was developed in 1972). If not they are derivatives.
This fools satellite recon.
This fools attack aircraft.
This fools artillery spotters.
This works.
Don't like it, too bad, its real.

[Johnified America]

OOC: So your plastic magically has the exact same heat transfer properties, density, and reflectivity of RHA?
That's absurd from any material science stand point, not even alchemy would claim they can find a way to do that. Not without the decoy weighing the same or more as the tank, and being much more bulky.

You either have bad reading comprehension or trying to put up a strawman: It doesn't have the same properties, i never said that. It mimics them with heat panels. It's not absurd, it has actually been done in real life. And the decoys weigh about 25-50lbs fyi.

[Kopania]

Kopania would like to buy 1 million of these plastic tanks from you. The T-90's we mean since we use them as our MBT. I think about half of yesterdays oil revenue should fund this (we gained massive oil colonies from a recent war).

[Johnified America]

Order confirmed.

[Kopania]

Order confirmed.

how much is it. We need to wire the money to you.

[Johnified America]

That will be three billion dollars.

[Myakoo]

The grand nation of Myakoo would like to purchase one million plastic M-48 SAM's for a total of 3,000,000,000 $