Ukraine’s Fighter Jets Have a Sneaky New Weapon! (video commentary)

09/17/2025

Ukraine’s Su-27s just got a deadly new trick up their sleeves, and it doesn’t even explode. I’m talking about the American-made ADM-160 MALD, a miniature air-launched decoy that’s now riding under the wings of Ukraine’s Flanker fleet. On paper, it looks like a small cruise missile. In reality, it’s an electronic phantom, built to trick Russian radar operators into wasting their precious S-400 interceptors on a $300-pound fake.

If things look different, I’m filming at my desk while the main studio is getting renovated. Back to normal for the next video.

In this video, I break down how the MALD works, why strapping it to the Su-27 is a genius move, and how it completely upends Russia’s so-called “layered air defense” strategy. We’ll dive into:

How MALD mimics real aircraft and cruise missiles to overload Russian radar screens.
Why pairing MALD with Storm Shadows and SCALPs creates a brutal bait-and-switch that Russia’s air defenses can’t keep up with.
The intelligence angle: every time a MALD flies, it provokes Russia into exposing its radar and SAM sites, data that Ukraine and NATO analysts scoop up in real time.
The Su-27’s new role as a decoy delivery truck, reinventing a Soviet-era air superiority fighter for the drone-and-decoy battlefield.
The psychological warfare factor: Russian operators never know if they’re tracking a ghost or the real thing, forcing hesitation, panic, and waste.

Ukraine is rewriting the rules of air combat with improvisation, Western tech, and sheer ingenuity. What looks like “just a fake missile” is in fact a spy, saboteur, and battlefield stress test rolled into one.

If you want to understand how Ukraine keeps punching holes in Russia’s defenses, and why every wasted S-400 interceptor brings Kyiv one step closer to victory, this is a video you don’t want to miss.

Glory to Ukraine. Glory to the heroes. Crimea is Ukraine.