The Russian Deception

CHAPTER 37

Stephanie studied the latest satellite and drone images of Western Russia and the Ukraine. There were hundreds of photographs of Russian military personnel and equipment staged along the border of Ukraine.

She focused on an encampment near Voronehz, east of the Ukrainian border. She could see orderly rows of tanks, all of their cannons pointing neatly westward. Stephanie had identified most as older T-80s, along with a few T-90s and some of the new Armata T-14s. The T-80 was a fast tank capable of reaching Kiev in under two days but was being phased out of the Russian arsenal. Ammunition for the autoloading cannon was badly protected. A hit from an antitank missile above the road wheels would detonate the explosive with spectacular results, as the Russians had found out to their dismay in Chechnya.

The Armata was a different kind of animal. Possibly the best tank in the world, it had never been tested in battle. It featured a combination of steel and ceramic plating that reduced weight and provided increased strength and protection. The Kremlin boasted that the armor could withstand any of the West's antitank missiles, including those with high explosive warheads.

The three-man crew sat inside a heavily shielded compartment with a 360° view of the battlefield relayed by high definition cameras. The view inside the capsule was unsurpassed in tank warfare but the system was vulnerable. Damage to the cameras would leave the tank blind. Armament included a fully automated turret that mounted a 125 millimeter, autoloading cannon capable of ten shots a minute.

The Armata was a milestone in tank development, guaranteed to dominate on the ground. The builders claimed that the tank was impervious to antitank missiles fired from the air. That was debatable. What was certain was that the T-14 was a formidable weapon.

The Federation wasn't supposed to have many of the new tanks ready for combat but there they were.

As Stephanie moved through the pictures something caught her eye in one of the photographs. It had been taken at dusk and it was difficult to make out the details but something was definitely out of place. She magnified the picture. It looked like there was a door in the side of the tank, where no door should be. The door was partly open. She zoomed in again. The picture was grainy and blurry but she was able to make out a metal shape inside the tank.

A truck!

She went to the next picture in the sequence. The door was closed. The tank looked perfect, just as a tank should. She put the two pictures up side-by-side on her monitor.

Son of a bitch. The tank isn't real. It's a fake.

She called upstairs. "Elizabeth, I think you'd better come down here and look at this."

"Is it important? I'm in the middle of something."

"It's important."

"On my way."

A minute later Elizabeth entered the computer room.

"What have you got, Steph?"

"Take a look at these two satellite shots."

Elizabeth studied the pictures. "I'll be damned," she said. "The tank is a phony. It's probably made of wood and they move it around using the truck. If there's one, there are others. I wonder how many of them are fakes?"

"I'll bet a lot of them are. Maybe all of them. Probably all of the T-14s. If the satellite hadn't caught it at the right moment we'd never know. You can't tell, even with the high definition cameras. The illusion is perfect."

"The allies did something like this in World War II," Elizabeth said, "before the Normandy invasion. Eisenhower created a ghost army in the south of England to confuse the Germans. He used phony trucks and tanks that looked like the real thing from the air. He didn't want the Nazis to see the actual force he was building for the invasion."

"What do you think the Russians are doing?"

"They want us to think they're going to invade the Ukraine," Elizabeth said. "Why they want us to think that is a different question."

"Maybe they're trying to distract everybody from what's happening in Albania."

"I don't see why they'd go to all this trouble over Albania. There has to be another reason."

Elizabeth looked again at the two pictures.

"I have to tell the president about this. Whatever Orlov is playing at, it isn't good."

"All those troop movements weren't fake."

"No, they weren't. But if those men and all their equipment aren't where we thought they were, where are they?"