Everyone has heard about the use of inflatable tanks to deceive the enemy’s intelligence work.
Today’s idea takes that approach a step further.
Dummy tanks can be made for a tiny fraction of the cost of a real one, but these have only been used as static decoys. So imagine making a huge number of them from say plywood with a thin steel skin, each one equipped with a remote controlled chassis from some kind of quadbike. They might have internal loudspeakers and smoke generators too.
Quadbikes and skin kits could be airdropped beside conventional armour for a sudden attack if necessary.
Now equip all your real tanks with an outer skin of plywood and thin steel, so that they are indistinguishable from the fake ones (even using eg thermal imaging).
When battle commences, an enemy army will be intimidated and confused by the size of their opposition and waste ammunition firing at many fake, rolling tanks.
Some of these vehicles will be surprisingly fast moving, adding to the confusion and making target selection much more difficult.