Two British RC-135 electronic surveillance aircraft, rather than the usual one, are operating over the Black Sea near Ukraine.

The UK has been increasing the frequency of such flights in order to gather intelligence but it’s usually only one British aircraft at a time with US aircraft 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 quite 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 was a secret, I would not know. Also, for those remarking ‘this isn’t new’, that’s right but people only know this happens often 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, it’s rare for two British aircraft to be up at the one time as the UK only has three of this aircraft type.

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.

Image Airwolfhound, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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

39 COMMENTS

    • Compared to commercial aircraft these birds don’t have a lot of hours on them. Flight hours degrades an aircraft far more than the actual age of the airframe.

      • There is a balance.

        If you leaves something sat about it will degrade. But yes, there is a limit to component and airframe hours.

        If a resource is used hard or seen to gift data then it tends to get cut.

        ATM Rivet will be delivering solid gold data to the Ukranians.

      • Like some of the old Nimrods that had virtually only initial operations hours when they were scrapped. I had a flight in one over the Irish sea.

    • They are old aircraft in years but not in airframe life. I would think the replacement will be brought online as the Americans replace theres. The RAF seem to get the aircraft in the air everyday so must be running ok.
      There will be a huge amount of information available about the airframe life, problem areas to watch etc. The Americans have been using the airframes for decades. The 3 the RAF got were the newest KC135 across the fleet and had low hours when bought. Great assets, well done boys and girls.

      • Did a bit of reading. The aircraft support contract is currently to 2035. Planned out of service date has been 2045. Obviously that can change.
        The aircraft were bought with 22,000-23,000 hours on them and currently should make it to 70,000 hours. That can possibly be made higher. Will really depend on condition of the airframe when you get nearer that number.
        So long service life still to go.

  1. Not being an expert on the subject, but can one of RC-135’s not be temporarily based/make use of a closer NATO airfield, or even Akrotiri in Cyprus which would allow for more time on station and less commuting time back to Waddington?

    • I’m only an interested civilian. I guess the issue of forward deploying a plane in Cyprus is the logistics of moving ground staff and materials. Against that is the increased flight times from the UK which means the planes will need more maintenance. You hope a clever person has done the business case.

      On a positive note, the aircrews will be getting plenty of experience in using the equipment.

      • Interesting that the RAF is flying Typhoon missions from UK to Poland everyday rather than basing them there.

        • I’d guess it’s to do with being able to avoid the allegations of aggression towards Russia.

          It would also mean that the tankers that they fly with would still be available for UK based tasking rather than being forward deployed to Poland and need to fly back to the UK if needed here.

    • i think its more to do with he security of the aircraft, and is one of the USA demands when you have access to there snoppy’s,

      they trust very few with there updated systems.

    • Remember these birds had the fewest number of hours on them when they were chosen. So they have plenty of life left in them. And no shortage of spare parts.

    • The RC-135s (RAF and US) fly well clear of UKr airspace – about 250 miles south of Odessa and approx 100 miles south of the Crimean coast. Actually just north of the NE/SW civilian air corridor.

      The NATO EC-3s fly approx 100 miles from the South Western UKr border.

      So both aircraft fly very clear of Ukraine.

      • I only asked as the track from the screen print shows it passing over what looks like very much like Ukraine!

        • Actually, Nick, the aircraft on the print looks about as large as a third of Crimea! If you look at the real-time flights on FlightRadar24 then you can see what I meant by my earlier response. I also (roughly) checked the distances using Google Earth.
          Correction also, to my post, the civvy air corridor to the south of Ukraine is NW/SE. You can also see this on FR24. Cheers.

          • Obviously, it is only a positional avatar. However the track as shown has it going over Ukraine, which is what I was referring to. The picture may well have been photoshopped but I didn’t have the source original to verify against, hence my question which was intended tongue in cheek!

          • It’s dated 22 Jan 2022 if you look underneath so a pre-war route, they’ll be flying very different route there now.

          • Yes I know that, but the whole point of my question was a ‘humorous’ observation of where it went and the date etc was irrelevant in that context.

  2. Having got rid of Sentinel, aren’t we a little short in numbers and capability? As a segue way, I note the Chief of the Army’s new comments. After years of Governments’ short changing the military and particular the Army, he’s going to have a battle on his hands trying to increase capability across the entire spectrum; from army numbers to shortfalls in equipment.

    • Yes, but the main significance from his predecessors is that he made this statement when he has just got the job, not after he left. So he is not towing the party line and telling what he sees as a major problem. especially if something does kick off and the Army are needed in a peer conflict! It will be interesting to hear his replies to the Defence Committee questions. Will he speak his mind or will he give the standard party line?

  3. The RAF’s Rivet Joint and Poseidon fleets are maxed out capacity wise. An RAF Wing Commander recently appealed for the purchase of another 3 P-8A’s to enable tasks such as joint operations with the RN’s new carriers. He wouldn’t have said that on the record without prior approval.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here