Decoys.

This is coolbert:

Yet more from the Internet web site of H I Sutton "Covert Shores".

Smoke screen not alone as a measure to protect the Kerch Strait bridge from Ukrainian attack. Barge and corner-reflectors at work too.

"Russia Deploys Unusual Decoys To Protect Strategic Bridge To Crimea"

By H I Sutton 04 July 2022.

"The Kerch Bridge, built by Russia to join Crimea to mainland Russia, is a strategic link. It is vital infrastructure for the war in other parts of Ukraine. And it makes Crimea much more defendable. So it is seen as a strategic target."

"Now Russia has deployed several countermeasures systems to protect it."

"On around June 29 two target barges, normally resident in the naval base at Novorossiysk, were towed there. They have been moored on the east side of the main bridge, towards the Sea of Azov."

"These barges are covered in radar reflectors. In other circumstances they are used as a targets for the Black Sea Fleet. Now they appear to be used as radar decoys to confuse Ukrainian missiles."

See also the tweet from IntelCrab with a short video of the towed barge with corner reflectors:

* The Intel Crab @IntelCrab

"Not entirely sure what we're looking at here, but it seems a barge full of mirrored reflectors is being moved to sit in the middle of the Kerch Strait Bridge. Seems Russian fears of an attack on this bridge are growing by the day..."

Corner-reflectors: "in radar interpretation, an object that has multiple reflections from smooth surfaces produces a radar return of greater magnitude than might be expected from the physical size of the object."

Towed barge festooned with numerous corner-reflectors the mission of which is to confuse the radars of incoming Ukrainian missile.

coolbert.