Inflatable tanks won WW2.
this post was submitted on 01 Apr 2026
67 points (98.6% liked)
UK Politics
5424 readers
120 users here now
General Discussion for politics in the UK.
Please don't post to both !uk_politics@feddit.uk and !unitedkingdom@feddit.uk .
Pick the most appropriate, and put it there.
Posts should be related to UK-centric politics, and should be either a link to a reputable news source for news, or a text post on this community.
Opinion pieces are also allowed, provided they are not misleading/misrepresented/drivel, and have proper sources.
If you think "reputable news source" needs some definition, by all means start a meta thread. (These things should be publicly discussed)
Posts should be manually submitted, not by bot. Link titles should not be editorialised.
Disappointing comments will generally be left to fester in ratio, outright horrible comments will be removed.
Message the mods if you feel something really should be removed, or if a user seems to have a pattern of awful comments.
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
Captain on standby for the jets
That's the grin of a man getting "blown" by the air hostess 😄
A Downing Street source suggested that if successful, this scheme could be expanded to include inflatable army tanks and fighter jets, allowing for a fully air-powered military by 2035.
Inflatable tanks are a real thing as decoys.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dummy_tank
Inflatable dummies consisted of a fabric covering supported by a network of pressurized rubber tubes that formed a kind of "pneumatic skeleton". These were generally preferred in the field, despite their tendency to rapidly deflate if punctured by accident or shellfire. In one operation in September 1944, the British deployed 148 inflatable tanks close to the front line and around half were "destroyed" by fragments from German mortar and artillery fire, and by Allied bombs falling short.[9]
EDIT: In fact, if the British Army keeps any in inventory, they might have more inflatable tanks than they do real tanks at this point.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_equipment_of_the_British_Army
Challenger 2 is currently being modernised and reduced to 148 upgraded Challenger 3 by 2027.[154][155]
I feel like that is kind of part of what makes this joke so funny, it is a joke but it also it really desperately isn't the more you think about it which is undeniably absurd.
The more expensive the equipment the more genius idea it is to produce blowup mockup decoys. The cost to benefit analysis is astronomically in favor of spending a bit on big blowup floaties if there is even a chance the deception will work.
For example if you put a 30 foot blowup skeleton in your yard, most people who aren't experts in D&D will not know it isn't actually a real skeleton demon. Try it yourself! I don't recommend trying this at home with decoys of Cruise Missile launchers however.
Great April fool!
In order to make them more stealthy they will be camouflaged in the shape of a duck with an orange beak and yellow body.
It always seemed pretty stupid to make boats of out something that does float when have had this technology for centuries.
Why didn't we think of this sooner!?! There are so many advantages to inflatable warships. Lower cost, easier repair, less destructive to the environment, less harmful to people.
Guy I knew back in college had an inflatable sheep he'd take to parties...
Maybe we should all carry inflatable military gear, so when ICE comes for us, they will be intimidated by our Battleship, or Tank or Amphibious Landing Craft, etc, and just go away.
This is exactly what the Founding Fathers had in mind!
I do recall Thomas Jefferson's screed on inflatable armory; truly inspiring.
So glad I noticed this was posted yesterday before I made my original comment, that would've been embarrassing