Russia’s Use of Car Tires on Military Jets Finally Explained

Wes O'Donnell
5 min readSep 17, 2024

Reduce fragmentation damage, confuse infrared imagers, or just the newest Russian fashion statement hitting the tarmac? Now we know!

Satellite image ©2023 MAXAR via DoD

Last fall, many defense analysts, myself included, pondered the wisdom of Russia putting car tires on the fuselage of their expensive military aircraft.

Russia was first observed using tires to help shield Tu-95 and Tu-160 bombers at the Engels-2 Air Base from attack in the fall of 2023.

At the time, Ukraine had been having great success hitting Russian aircraft parked on the ramps at Russian air bases using long-range drones.

Right about that time, in September, Ukraine has also recently retooled its Neptune cruise missile, (normally used as an anti-ship weapon), to strike targets on land.

I imagine the Russian conversation happening like this:

Russian Army General Valery Gerasimov sits at his desk in Moscow in deep concentration as he works on the newest New York Times crossword puzzle.

Suddenly, his aide runs into the room.

“General! The Ukrainians have modified their Neptune anti-ship cruise missile to hit targets on land! They have a range of

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Wes O'Donnell

US Army & US Air Force Veteran | Global Security Writer | Intel Forecaster | Law Student | TEDx Speaker | Pro Democracy | Pro Human | Hates Authoritarians