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.
🚨 #UKRAINE | 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. pic.twitter.com/t4AQDjvgel
— George Allison (@geoallison) March 8, 2022
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.
🚨 #UKRAINE NEWS | There are currently a large number of British, American and Dutch refuelling, command and control, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft over Poland with many close to the border with Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/XJoYyEnMyr
— George Allison (@geoallison) March 8, 2022
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.
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….
Agreed, pretty much totally Mickey Mouse military with less ability than the Iraqis or NK crap!
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:
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!
Careful Airborne don’t blow his cover.
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
By two microlights, a glider and 99 red balloons….silly little Ivan, but he is at least amusing!
lol
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?
That’s just nonsense but ok.
That seems to be what the Russian Air force is doing.
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?
To quote yourself “Yawn”
You need to work on your replies, as I’m not tired at the moment my little useful sheep!
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… Read more »
Boom and Farouk shoots and scores once more!
I suggest you read up on the radar equation and the Inverse square law…
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:
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:
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.
Thank you for proving my point for me and good luck on the IQ test.
Are you for real?
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… Read more »
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.
Just seen that there is reports of Gazelle now being replaced in 2024 by 30 HC135’s?
Good news I suppose?? Of all the priorities right now though…
That has been rumoured for some time. That many?
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
Hi Tommo.
Ben Wallace says ‘will shortly be sending….’ so I think it is a done deal.
👍 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
The S streak seems like another good piece of kit that we hear little about.
Ben Wallace will be talking too Parliament later today Darren
He did that a couple of hours ago i think hence when he said soon to be delivered.
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