RAF Rivet Joint spy plane deploys to Norwegian fjords

The Royal Air Force has deployed its Rivet Joint electronic intelligence aircraft to Ørland Air Base in Norway, with 51 Squadron operating the aircraft from the Norwegian coast alongside NATO partners as part of an Agile Combat Employment exercise, the Royal Air Force has said.

The deployment was designed to show that RAF aircraft and personnel can operate effectively from a variety of locations alongside allied forces, with the squadron working from Ørland with minimal support to demonstrate that it could function from a dispersed operating base. According to the RAF, the exercise ensures the force “can maintain resilience and integrate seamlessly with allied forces in diverse environments”, with the aircraft working alongside NATO Airborne Early Warning assets and Norwegian F-35 units to build mutual understanding of each other’s capabilities and maximise operational output.

The Rivet Joint, operated by 51 Squadron from RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire, is the RAF’s specialised airborne intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft, with its primary role the collection, analysis and sharing of electronic signals intelligence and communications intelligence. The service says it provides critical situational awareness and supports decision-making in complex operational environments, “significantly enhancing the warfighting potential of allied air power.”

The commander of Norway’s 132 Flight Wing, Colonel Ole Torrisplass, welcomed the deployment, saying the Norwegian Air Force “shares a long history of co-operation with the RAF” and that the two countries’ F-35 squadrons have close ties. 51 Squadron, he said, operates “an impressive capability” with the potential to significantly enhance allied air power in the most demanding missions.

Deployments like these, he added, “improve interoperability between our assets, increase flexibility, and reduce reaction time”, with practical matters resolved more quickly when personnel meet face to face, plans updated “with higher precision”, and closer relations built, “all of which enable us to fight more effectively as one team should the need arise.”

Agile Combat Employment is the NATO concept of dispersing aircraft away from large, well-known main operating bases and running them from smaller or austere locations with lean support teams, an approach driven by the recognition that fixed airfields present concentrated targets for an adversary’s long-range missiles.