A British RC-135 ‘Rivet Joint’, a dedicated electronic surveillance aircraft, has again conducted a patrol from northern Poland all the way to southern Romania at the Black Sea in order to monitor Russian forces.

This isn’t the first deployment, this has been ongoing for months now but activity has increased recently due to the Russian invasion.

There have been a significant number of surveillance aircraft in the region today in addition to the British RC-135. British, American and Dutch refuelling, command and control, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft were over Poland with many close to the border with Ukraine.

What does the RC-135W do?

According to the Royal Air Force website, the RC-135W Rivet Joint is a dedicated electronic surveillance aircraft that can be employed in all theatres on strategic and tactical missions. Its sensors ‘soak up’ electronic emissions from communications, radar and other systems.

“RC-135W Rivet Joint employs multidiscipline Weapons System Officer (WSO) and Weapons System Operator (WSOp) specialists whose mission is to survey elements of the electromagnetic spectrum in order to derive intelligence for commanders.”

The Royal Air Force say that Rivet Joint has been deployed extensively for Operation Shader and on other operational taskings. It had been formally named Airseeker, but is almost universally known in service as the RC-135W Rivet Joint.

The UK operates three of these aircraft.

George Allison
George Allison
George has a degree in Cyber Security from Glasgow Caledonian University and has a keen interest in naval and cyber security matters and has appeared on national radio and television to discuss current events. George is on Twitter at @geoallison
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64 COMMENTS

  1. I hope the value of ISR isn’t lost on the government at this time and that they’ll increase capability in this area

    • Probably only of value when they can fly in non contested airspace like now. Much less use if they can only operate 2-300 miles behind the front line.

      • Oh really?

        Clearly you don’t have a clue how these things work: fortunately for the Ukrainians!

        But there again nobody working for Mad Vlad appears to have much idea how to do conventional warfare……or build weapons…..or maintain them…..or run a logistics operation….

          • Its only 13 days and the Ukrainian army is, as I have said elsewhere a tough nut to crack.We will see.

          • Like I said, Mickey Mouse military who have shown the world just how fucking shite they are! An embarrassment to the profession!

          • So that would explain why the Russian military are trying to ‘crack’ civilians would it ?

      • Should be alright though going by Russian Airforce performance , the skies would be in control by NATO in one hard day lol , silly Ivan.

        • That long?!

          I’d have thought that NATO would have air superiority around lunchtime, total air supremacy by maybe 3pm ;-p

          • Does 3 pm include a break for lunch? Just heard on Sky news that Poland are to fly there MIG 29 to Ramstein US airbase in Germany.

          • That includes a 1-hour lunch break and 2 minute coffee breaks.

            Funny you mention that I literally just read that article on their website! Good on Poland! I hope it makes a difference.

            Are the Polish ones modernised? Do they fire Western weapons?

          • So far its only an offer and its subject to getting up to date s/h equivalents in return.
            EDIT
            U.S. Under Secretary of State Nuland says Poland’s decision to put all its Mig-29 jets at U.S. disposal was not pre-consulted with the United States

          • They would say that obviously. Hence going to Rammstein. Not pre consulted give me a fkn break, who do you think has the final say in any of this?

          • Good news though isn’t it John, as surely you being a 73 year old Englishman from Milton Keynes, who was brought up in an RAF family, as a pad brat, and who’s father was an aF controller, who spent time in the deep one near High Wycombe, that you applaud this excellent potential transfer of Mig 29s, in order to give the Ukrainian AF some acceptable platforms in its fight against an illegal invasion which has been condemned by the UN? Good news yes?

          • I do need to say thank you for the upgraded quality reply. Apart from getting my age wrong, I’m 76, that’s pretty much correct about me. Not sure where the ‘applaud’ came from tho’ as I don’t since it will almost certainly result in the deaths of 29 more pilots plus sundry others. I think the Polish offer is more to do with the Poles getting fed up with US and other politicians harping on about it and calling their bluff.

          • Ha ha ha ha hilarious! That’s a no then trollskie? The Polish are the tip of the NATO spear and they won’t be seeing any more crap Russkie dregs on their soul any time soon, hence the massive effort to assist Ukraine. And methinks it will be 29 more dead Russkie pilots, as about 90hrs flying per annum means they are so untrained and low quality they are lucky to fly in a straight line.

          • JIMK wrote:

            I think the Polish offer is more to do with the Poles getting fed up with US and other politicians harping on about it and calling their bluff.

            If that was true the Poles wouldn’t have ordered the following US weapon systems these past few years:
            48 F16V
            32 F35
            8 Reaper drones
            2 Patriot Missile Batteries
            250 M1A2 SEPv3 MBTS
            20 M142 HIMARS
            And
            70 AGM-158B JASSM-ER
            If Warsaw was disgruntled with Washington, they would have purchased European weapon systems for all of the above.

          • Polands relationship with the EU isnt exactly harmonious most of the time which is probably why!

          • His cover was blown the moment he said he said he moved to MK as it has a nice cathedral…….

          • Milton Keynes Cathedral just down the Rd from their world famous Castle a great tourist attraction that looks after and milks those Cows that graze around the town Airbourne

          • I thought for a moment that you has grown up but no, your’re back to your ad hominem attacks.

          • I’m grown up, quite mature actually but enjoy calling out and trolling trolls, as they usually revert to a new avatar and slink off! Anyway back to the subject matter in hand, any condemnation of Putins illegal invasion of Ukraine?

        • Your being to nice about the Russkie AF! They get 90-100 hrs per annum to lean to take off, fly in a line and land, all the while hoping the bucket of rust they are sat in doesn’t fall out of the sky!!!!! Fucking abysmal if we are honest. Thanks Putin for showing to the world how un fucking scary your shite military is!

          • True. However I do feel genuinely sorry for those airmen and soldiers that have been sent out in scrap equipment to die in a war on the orders of the world’s richest man, the leader of a mafia gangster state. For nothing. Even their families don’t get a funeral, the bodies are burnt in mobile crematoria

      • Oh dear oh dear, see my reply to you below as can’t be bothered to write it again, but flapping a bit now then, as Pukin Putin has bitten off so much more than he, and his rather useless (and farcical) military can chew! I suppose any condemnation of Putins illegal invasion of Ukraine, in line with the United Nations condemnation, is out of the question?

      • JIMK wrote:

        Probably only of value when they can fly in non-contested airspace like now. Much less use if they can only operate 2-300 miles behind the front line.

        The River Joints mission statement is to suck up electronic emissions (As George kindly points out above) so actually it doesn’t need to fly over the FEBA in which to do its task, which has been made a lot easier as Moscow has issued the vast majority of its troops with bog standard off the shelf analogue-tech walkie-talkies made by Baofeng. (this is well reported with many photos (and vids) of Russian troops carrying those walkie-talkies on their vests, not only that but many radio hams are reporting that they are actually listening in to Russian troops talking up and down the chain of command. If you are internet savy, you will be able to find the numerous stories on the subject, 
        https://i.postimg.cc/ncvvhXB2/FMy-Aspb-UUAI1q4m.jpg

        For an ELINT asset such as Rivet Joint which is world class, listening into Russian comms will be easy, relaying such information to a centralised HQ, which then passes that onto the Ukrainians on a much more secure network might explain how the Ukrainians have started taking the fight back to Moscow. (Such as the Commando raid last night on a Russian Helicopter park on Chornobaivka airfield destroying 30 helicopters)

        Then there’s the more secure systems used by Moscow usually found inside brigade HQ vehicles (identifiable by the mass of extra antenna they sport) With the mass of vehicles captured, I suspect a load of their crypto along with codes has now found itself been taken apart in NATO countries.
        So in answer to your claim that the Rivet Joint is pretty much useless, it isn’t

  2. Well this one is interesting, the U.K. will stop importing Russian gas and Oil by the end of 2022 ( so 10 months)…8% of our hydrocarbons come from Russia and our market needs time to adjust…….which is lovely but

    we actually export around 36million tons of crude oil and from a gas point of view if we stabilised gas exports we could manage as well.

    So it’s not so much about a critical dependence ( like Germany) but about how our producers and wholesalers sell and buy on the spot markets.

    • It’s also an excellent excuse to spur short to medium-term climate action. Putin’s undoing could bring positive change in so many ways it’s really quite something to behold.

      • I think what it is showing is that critical infrastructure and supply like energy, food, water, information ( and covid showed public health) etc really need to be considered as part of the national security infrastructure and if one part of this is not secure it could potentially be exploited by an geopolitical adversary.

        As you say hopefully it will spur on removal of dependence on hydrocarbons.

        • I like that you say information is critical national security infrastructure that’s a great way to think about it. It’s true for a democracy but we forget it. It’s a wake up call to those that just believe what they want to believe because of the proliferation of technology and media that suits their predispositions.

      • The green lobby is probably part funded by the Russians as another political distraction for the West. I suspect people will care less about the enviroment if the current conflict escalates.

        • Daddy wrote:

          The green lobby is probably part funded by the Russians as another political distraction for the West. 

          Not probably, it is as reported by the Guardian 8 years ago:

          • You are plainly peddling disinformation here Farouk. The Russians funded the groups, “TO MAINTAIN INDEPENDENCE ON IMPORTED RUSSIAN GAS”, as stated in the article you source by the head of NATO no less (!) in the 3rd paragraph. What gall you have to post something so blatantly false.

          • Ron wrote:

            You are plainly peddling disinformation here Farouk. The Russians funded the groups, “TO MAINTAIN INDEPENDENCE ON IMPORTED RUSSIAN GAS”, as stated in the article you source by the head of NATO no less (!) in the 3rd paragraph. What gall you have to post something so blatantly false.

            I think you need to go to specksavers mate, here is what is written in the Third para as a screen duump.

            https://i.postimg.cc/fbg9YSb3/123.png

            Dependence not independence.

          • How thick are you? What does the Russians giving aid to anti-fracking groups 8 years ago so they can keep Europe on Russian gas have to do with the legitimacy of climate change? You are living in a prior century if you think the “Green Lobby” is why climate change is an issue. It is one of the top, if not the top, concerns of voters in western societies. This is because climate change is happening right now, the empirical evidence is only mounting, and people are already, suddenly suffering through biblical storms. It is very clearly no longer a warning about future consequences to anyone paying attention. To dismiss the findings of science and actual scientists who have roundly and irrefutably concluded the planet is in danger, putting future generations at ultimate risk, and blaming it on a Russian disinfo campaign is a level of stupidity or evil I can’t even speak to. But it’s really telling you have to reference almost decade old articles loosely related to climate change that you have no idea how to interpret.

  3. The Ukrainians are fighting hard and well but I wonder how much of that output is down to western intel and forewarning? Those Russian conscripts are getting very hungry and scared right now. If only the Uks could muster some kind of counter offensive; I bet there are plenty of vulnerable Russian units at the moment.

    • I keep wondering why they aren’t attacking the Russian artillery positions shelling Kiev et al.

      Either counter-artillery barrages or a small, well-equipped unit could probably sneak up on Russian artillery positions and take them out with Javelins or NLAWs.

      • The Dutch have donated 5 old school locating radars! That should do the job, plus plenty of int (I’m sure) coming from NATO assets mate! Good show all round!

        • Of course, now the US have pulled out of this MiG29 deal with Poland. I don’t know what to say… Those MiGs could have really made a difference to Ukraine.

          *Shakes head*

          • Can Poland no just put them on a few flat beds and drive them to the border with Ukraine? Surely the US cant stop them doing it!

            Appreciate Poland needs replacement aircraft but it is a Nato member so wouldnt be attacked.

          • The issue seems to be with Poland using the US as an intermediary. The US has said that that’s the issue; they were expecting Poland to hand them to Ukraine directly.

            I don’t think there’s an issue of replacement aircraft; the US did say they’d replace the Polish MiGs with F-16s.

            Seems to me the US doesn’t want to risk Putin’s ire by being directly involved. Worrying if that’s an indication they’d leave Poland out to dry if Poland went ahead and delivered them direct as you say. I hope I’m overthinking this!

          • The only way the US is being used in this is via the air base in Germany from what I can see?

            Poland could easily deliver directly or just use a different airbase in Germany thats not US controlled?

            Surely it cant be that simple.

  5. Ben Wallace looking into sending S streak AA missle system’s to the Ukraine that should cause even more upset too Vlad well his Pilots

      • 👍 just watched a YouTube video where a Ukrainian soldier is thanking the Queen for Anti Tank weapons Whoops Putin won’t be sending a Platinum best wishes card now

          • I KNOW he spoke after PMQs but Skynews have just said he’d be speaking again whether he’s got the go ahead or he’s got too get the cheque book out first

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