A Sukhoi Su-27. At Creech Air Force Base, Nevada.

Update, Jan. 11 13.00 GMT

Look at the following image Lazygranch.com has found on Imageshack.us.

Taken by Ethan Miller/Getty Images on Apr. 16, 2009, the photograph depicts an MQ-1B Predator at Creech Air Force Base, in Nevada, taxing with a Sukhoi Su-27 in the background.

Actually, the Russian plane (whose shape seems to be a mix of a Su-27 and a Mig-29 with a Russian Flanker’s color scheme) is one of the few mock-ups believed to be used at the former Indian Springs Auxiliary Air Force Base for drone crews’ target recognition training.

Such decoys were first spotted inside the airbase in 2002.

Here are the coordinates for at least two of such decoys clearly visible on Google Earth recently released imagery:

36°37’20.54″N 115°39’42.64″W

36°35’46.14″N 115°40’55.84″W

Image credit: Ethan Miller/Getty Images (highlight mine)

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David Cenciotti is a journalist based in Rome, Italy. He is the Founder and Editor of “The Aviationist”, one of the world’s most famous and read military aviation blogs. Since 1996, he has written for major worldwide magazines, including Air Forces Monthly, Combat Aircraft, and many others, covering aviation, defense, war, industry, intelligence, crime and cyberwar. He has reported from the U.S., Europe, Australia and Syria, and flown several combat planes with different air forces. He is a former 2nd Lt. of the Italian Air Force, a private pilot and a graduate in Computer Engineering. He has written five books and contributed to many more ones.