A British RC-135 ‘Rivet Joint’, a dedicated electronic surveillance aircraft, is once again conducting surveillance of Russian forces in occupied Ukraine.
The UK has been conducting these flights to gather intelligence about Russian forces in the area.
🚨 A British RC-135 'Rivet Joint', a dedicated electronic surveillance aircraft, is once again conducting surveillance of Russian forces in occupied Ukraine 🇺🇦. The UK 🇬🇧 has been conducting these flights to gather intelligence about Russian forces in the area. pic.twitter.com/mijMtUhMwB
— George Allison (@geoallison) September 13, 2022
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.
This isn’t the first deployment of this type by any means, this has been ongoing for months now, but activity has increased recently due to the Russian invasion. The UK has been increasing the frequency of such flights over the last few months in order to gather intelligence. US aircraft are also present.
As we need to post this each time, here’s the usual disclaimer. This isn’t a new occurrence. In fact, 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.
This has got to be rubbing merde into the faces of the orcs.
As things go tits up for the brave, wonderful, fantastic orc Army, I hope they enjoy the fragrance.
However, I hope the crew can evade any unwanted AAM that might be lobbed their way by the surely phished off orcs, because, I can see it happening.
If the orcs do that they will end up fighting a real military, I don’t think they would last long. From the performance of S400 so far I can see the defence aids on RC135 being easily able to defeat it as well.
I thinks is fair to say the Ukraine military is a real military, they have after all managed to defend their nation against an enemy 10 times their size.
From a Twitter poster. The General Staff of Ukraine reported that to date, 5,000 Ukrainian servicemen have completed basic training in the UK. This fact should not be underestimated. Even a slightly trained soldier is better than an untrained one. But it shouldn’t be overestimated either.
They also have a hard core of veterans who have been fighting since 2014. It’s a great advantage that Ukraine had and probably one of the reasons it survived the beheading attempt in the first campaigns of the Invasion. The Russian army is still mainly a conscript limited service army so it tends not to have the same core as more western style professional armies. I would also always bet with the volunteers fired up to protect their own nation on the soil of their own nation, who have had basic training from a professional cadre of the British army.… Read more »
More generic chuff, no propaganda screaming from the rooftops about t how great your orc rapists are doing both at tactical and strategic level? Hard for even the most brainwashed leash led Putin lapdog to make a good news story of the current situation in Ukraine! I love it, it’s great news, yes?don’t you think so, being such an impartial Englishman from Milton Keynes aged 76?……mmmmmm
A also see as more and more of Ukrainian land is reclaimed we are seeing yet more evidence of atrocities, murder, torture and general scumbag activities from your fav rape squads! So your silence and lack of posts, and attempts at excuses and propaganda is now appreciated! Silence is golden, keep it as it is!
Oh, and I see your troll boss Prigohzin is out and about at jails being secretly recorded getting scumbag prisoners to join Wagner wankers! Jeez it’s all coming out now isn’t it…….
With $84 billion military aid being given to them, endless latest military hardware, 20,000 foreign trained mercenaries, whole of EU, UK and USA supplying and supporting them, real time satellite info and intelligence supplied. No, we are the real military, not Ukraine, anyone with that backing could beat what Russia has cobbled together (just a fraction of their capabilities).
All the aid and commitment in the world cannot keep a nation in the fight if it’s population and army not able able and willing to fight. Of course Ukraine needs support it’s a tenth of the size of Russia. But to say it does not have a real military is a bit inappropriate and disrespectful considering the number of Ukrainian soldiers who have died defending their country.
The Orcs would be scared to turn the S3/400 on as it is currently the No1 missile magnet. They might as well tweet their coordinates!
So it is considerably more dangerous to its own crew than to the opposition.
The 135 would fry it with RF/EW never mind anything else.
Watching the Orcs trying to fight in the face of platforms like Rivet Joint and against weapons like HIMARS is almost funny. They are so backward they don’t even realise how far behind they are. They have spent decades with western media blowing smoke us their ass about how effective they are THAAD they bought their own lies. The Soviet Union and Imperial Russian army’s we re always shit, their version of winning a war was, loose enough people and land until your enemies logistics collapse the claim victory. A nation of complete donkeys. Hopefully the Russia empire is on… Read more »
Perhaps the Orc army will understand their real enemy is behind them.
As much as I’d like Russia to fail after what they have done to Ukraine industrial belt, natural resources but in particular the nukes. This would be very dangerous to the World in general. As you would have factions fighting over who controls the nukes. Plus, with a very weakened Russia, China would swamp over their Northern borders and take most of Eastern Russia.
In this case, it might be better the devil you know!
The Orcs are always going to fail at some point as their demographics collapse and what’s left of their resources is exploited. At some point we need to go through it.
Agreed, somewhat paradoxically, we collectively may be entering the most dangerous phase of this conflict as the Ukrainians gain battlefield advantage. Does anyone seriously believe Mad Vlad and the slobbering Orcs will accept defeat w/out resorting to desperate measures? Personally hope the progression starts w/ chemical munitions which are relatively constrained in effects, as opposed to tactical nukes, which could spiral up the escalatory ladder very quickly.
I would be very cautious in dropping chemical or nuclear weapons on a contrary with as many nuclear reactors as Ukraine. They may not have a nuclear weapon in the conventional sense but they could probably knock up an improvised radiation device and they have aircraft just a few hundred miles from Moscow.
Exactly my point. If Ukraine retaliated in kind, reasonably certain Russia would eliminate Ukraine. In toto. Permanently. Then events could become messy. Very easily, very fast.
Acrually, the diplomatic phrasing might be something on the order of ‘Ukraine is terminated, w/ extreme prejudice.’ Same result, bureaucratic phrasing.
… Actually…
President Lyndon B. Johnson told a gathering in 1967: “We’ve spent $35 or $40 billion on the space program. And if nothing else had come out of it except the knowledge that we gained from space photography, it would be worth ten times what the whole program has cost. Because tonight we know how many missiles the enemy has and, it turned out, our guesses were way off. We were doing things we didn’t need to do. We were building things we didn’t need to build. We were harboring fears we didn’t need to harbour.” It would appear that many… Read more »
And to think the Wehrmacht had the same well laid plans in 1941. So much for the US lend-lease arrangements and the North Atlantic convoys to Murmansk, to aid the Russians. Just saying …
Thankfully they were a lot of bother for the Nazis in WW2
Off topic, but has anyone else heard of the apparent German plans to purchase Arrow 3?
Yes. But this is in the very early stages of discussions. With regards to military purchases and Germany it’s best not to hold your breath. Would be a very welcome addition to the EU defending itself. Would allow American to shift more of it’s limited ABM systems to the pacific and places like Guam that desperately need missile defense.
Off Topic slightly , C-17 being used to fly Her Majesty back to Northolt hope the RAF provide escort either TYphoons or Red Arrows! That IMHO would be appropriate.
Currently over Birmingham area. I wondered if they’d spoof the flight trackers but apparently not.
I’m surprised at a flight. I thought they would of run the royal train down the country. Let’s people watch her go past.
Agree. As It is not many have the chance to see her.
I’m going to attempt it Thursday PM, queue might be 30 hours according to some reports.
She should have been driven, then all could see her. Imagine the flowers 💐 RIP Lilibet.
The Royal Train has a carriage thatg’s been converted to carry a coffin and transporting the coffin by train is in the existing plan thatg deals with the death of the monarch in Scotland.
However, the police believed that it was too risky, both from a public safety perspective and an attack perspective hence the move to flying the coffin back
Using Train would mean only 2 days lying in state
With far left (militant) unions such as the RMT, the train option was never going to happen.
Don’t be daft
Landed safely.
She’s home. ❤😢
Could the A330 MRTT with the Union flag have transported the Queens coffin and Princess Anne’s entourage in greater comfort?
Hour flight, but you can’t unload with pall bearers would ned to use handling equiplment and unloading with a forklift not good 🙁
The Brits are getting a lot of good use out of their Rivet Joints. Glad they made the purchase years ago.
Yes, but, I’m equally unhappy we purchased so few!
We have always operated 3 of these aircraft. Just like the 3 Nimrods we used in the same role for decades before RC-135.
👌
Which doesn’t detract from the fact that we don’t have enough.
I think the point is David we had 3 when we had a big military, and 3 Comets when we had an even bigger military before that.
In this particular area I’m not concerned by the number, as they operate in conjunction with other assets, by land, sea, air, space, fixed, mobile, manned, unmanned, multi national, in all spectrums, which all input into the widest, most comprehensive intelligence operation the world has ever seen.
Which the UK is a part of.
Knowledge is power.
I wonder if these are just about the most cost effective military assets the U.K. owns at present. I would imagine the amount of harm caused to the Russian war effort from the intelligence gathered by those 3 aircraft has been immense.
It’s a an almost daily mission, co ordinated with the USAF Rivet Joints, which use Mildenhall, Germany, Sicily or Crete as their FOBs. Interwoven with the USAF Drone version out of Crete or Sicily!
It will continue daily for many years now.
The only problem with our RJs, is to prolong the mission, they need Mildenhall to provide a KC135 for AAR for all the current missions.
We need another SDSR now that Russia is no longer a conventional miltiary threat. Its now much more likely there will be a break up of Russia and resulting civil war / UN peacekeeping missions on our horizon. Ironically the decision to reduce the number of tanks might have been the right one, as tanks are a struggle logistics wise if used at extreme range, which it seems to me that a proxy war with China somewhere in Asia or Africa is the most likely war outside further counter insurgency in the middle East. I just can’t see how Russia… Read more »
I think Russia is a threat for as long as they have a large European based military with nuclear weapons, Putin in charge, and have a track record of waging aggressive war. If Russia disintegrates, that does not mean there is stability in Europe and may mean the opposite. I don’t follow your point that it is logical to reduce the number of tanks on the grounds that supporting them at long range from peacetime loc is a bit difficult. If you need tanks at distance from the home base, then you deploy them and support them as we have… Read more »