A British RC-135 surveillance aircraft joined an American RC-135 and an Italian G550 in conducting patrols over almost the entire length of the NATO border with Russia.
The RC-135W Rivet Joint and its sensors are designed to undertake ‘signals intelligence’ missions. In other words, they ‘soak up’ electronic emissions from communications, radars and other systems.
Two Rivet Joint RC-135, 🇺🇸 JAKE11 and 🇬🇧 RAF RRR7208, and the 🇮🇹 G5 AEW/SIGINT IAM1945 all departed within 90 minutes of each other. pic.twitter.com/OLGF0Y87E2
— JSLINT (@TheLimpCrane) February 9, 2023
As we need to post this each time, here’s the usual disclaimer. This isn’t a new occurrence. It is pretty routine. The UK has long been gathering intelligence about Russian forces since long before the invasion of Ukraine, and it should be noted that these flights are designed to be visible so that the public and Russia know they’re happening. If it were a secret, I would not know. Also, for those remarking, ‘this isn’t new’, that’s right, but people only know this often happens because it is reported often.
British surveillance aircraft being over the area isn’t unusual, but we are seeing a significant increase in the frequency of the flights over the last few months for obvious reasons.
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.
Routine sorties perhaps, but presumably assisting in the supply of high quality, near real-time, actionable targeting Intel/coordinates for high value items of interest to the Ukrainians (per published reports). Not a bad day’s work…
Including Chinese Balloons! And now another one has been discovered.
“The suspected Chinese reconnaissance program also existed during the Trump administration but was only recently discovered by the U.S. intelligence and military communities, according to Schumer.
“It’s wild we didn’t know, isn’t it?” Stephanopoulos said.
“It is wild that we didn’t know, absolutely,” Schumer said, adding, “Now they are learning a lot more.”
Slimeball ChiComs pushing the envelope, playing hardball. Really could have proved interesting if ChiComs had tried this maneuver when RR was in office; even Trump would have reacted quite negatively to this violation of sovereignty.
I posted the answer to the problem in another thread.
First Laser Weapon For A Fighter Delivered To The Air Force
“The news came today when Lockheed Martin disclosed that at least one of the weapons, which it developed, has been delivered to the Air Force for test work. This effort falls within the wider framework of still-evolving plans to have laser-armed fighter jets that can engage enemy missiles, and possibly other targets too.”
LINK
Or use an F22. Job done.
“US surveillance data crucial for Ukraine, top commander says Gen. Nayev said the surveillance helps accurately pinpoint Russian targets.
He said an exchange of data between the Ukrainians and Americans helped the Ukrainian military to pinpoint targets using U.S.-supplied HIMARS rocket systems.
“This work goes perfectly in real-time,” he said.
Nayev spoke with ABC News at a series of Ukrainian military exercises held Saturday in the Rivne region of northern Ukraine, approximately 40 miles south of the border with Belarus.”
Nigel,
Thanks for the timely citation. 👍😊
Good to see everyone sticking by Ukraine, long may it continue!
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