Boeing RC-135
The Boeing RC-135 is a family of large reconnaissance aircraft built by Boeing and modified by a number of companies, including General Dynamics, Lockheed, LTV, E-Systems, L3Harris Technologies, and used by the United States Air Force and Royal Air Force to support theater and national level intelligence consumers with near real-time on-scene collection, analysis and dissemination capabilities.They used the same Pratt & Whitney J57 turbojet engines as the tanker and carried cameras in a bay just aft of the nose wheel well where the forward fuel tank was normally located.Initially employed by Strategic Air Command for reconnaissance, the RC-135 fleet has participated in every armed conflict involving U.S. forces during its tenure.They were stalwarts of Cold War operations, with missions flown around the periphery of the USSR and its client states in Europe and around the world.[5] On 9 August 2010, the Rivet Joint program recognized its 20th anniversary of continuous service in Central Command, dating back to the beginning of Desert Shield.In March 2010 the British Ministry of Defence announced that it reached an agreement with the US Government to purchase three RC-135W Rivet Joint aircraft to replace the Nimrod R1, which was retired in June 2011.[10][11] In 2013, the UK government confirmed that crews from the RAF's 51 Squadron had been training and operating alongside their USAF colleagues since 2011, having achieved in excess of 32,000 flying hours and 1,800 sorties as part of the 55th Wing at Offutt AFB.Stated objectives include broadcasting a clear signal that the US, and thus NATO, is aware of Russian movements in the area of operations.That year the Soviet Union announced its intention to detonate a 100 megaton thermonuclear device on Novaya Zemlya, the so-called Tsar Bomba.A testbed KC-135A (55–3127) was modified under the Big Safari program to the SPEED LIGHT BRAVO configuration in order to obtain intelligence information on the test.A trapeze-like structure in place of the refueling boom which was used to trail an aerodynamic shape housing a specialized receiver array, colloquially known as a "blivet", on a wire was installed.On some missions, a small wing-like structure housing sensors was fitted to each side of the forward fuselage, with a diagonal brace below it.The aircraft was crewed by two pilots, two navigators, numerous intelligence gathering specialists, inflight maintenance technicians and airborne linguists.[19] On the opposite wing, in the same location, was a podded heat exchanger to permit cooling of the massive electronic components on board the aircraft.They were converted from Military Airlift Command C-135B transports, and operated by the 82d Reconnaissance Squadron during the Vietnam War from Kadena AB, gathering signals intelligence over the Gulf of Tonkin and Laos with the program name Combat Apple, originally Burning Candy.[18][23] The RC-135S Cobra Ball is a measurement and signature intelligence (MASINT) collector equipped with special electro-optical instruments such an All Weather Tracking Radar and Medium Wave Infrared Array (MIRA) designed to observe ballistic missile flights at long range.In 1982, the aircraft was modified with Pratt & Whitney TF33-PW102 engines and other modifications common to the KC-135E tanker program, and returned to Eielson AFB.[5] Distinctly identified by the antenna arrays on the fuselage chin, tailcone, and wing tips, three RC-135C aircraft were converted to RC-135U (63-9792, 64–14847, & 64–14849) in the early 1970s.Minimum crew requirements are 2 pilots, 2 navigators, 3 systems engineers, 10 electronic warfare officers, and 6 area specialists.[29] The mission crew can then forward gathered information in a variety of formats to a wide range of consumers via Rivet Joint's extensive communications suite.All Rivet Joint airframe and mission systems modifications are performed by L-3 Communications in Greenville, Texas, under the oversight of the Air Force Materiel Command.[8] When the time came to upgrade the maritime Nimrods to MRA4 standard, Project Helix was launched in August 2003 to study options for extending the life of the R1 out to 2025.[32] In 2008, the option of switching to Rivet Joint was added to Helix,[32] and the retirement of the R1 became inevitable when the MRA4 was cancelled under the UK's 2010 defence review.[35] The first RC-135W (ZZ664) was delivered ahead of schedule to the Royal Air Force on 12 November 2013, for final approval and testing by the Defence Equipment and Support team prior to its release to service from the UK MAA.[36][37] The sole RC-135X Cobra Eye was converted during the mid-to-late-1980s from a C-135B Telemetry/Range Instrumented Aircraft, serial number 62–4128, with the mission of tracking ICBM reentry vehicles.One TC-135S (62–4133) provides training capability for the Cobra Ball mission, and is distinguishable from combat-ready aircraft by the lack of cheeks on the forward fuselage.
Boeing 737-900Reconnaissance aircraftManufacturerBoeingL3Harris TechnologiesUnited States Air ForceRoyal Air ForceBoeing C-135 StratolifterGeneral DynamicsLockheedE-SystemsC-135 StratolifterModel 717Boeing RB-50 SuperfortressBoeing RB-47H StratojetSIGINTPratt & Whitney TF33CFM International CFM-56KC-135R and T Stratotankerglass cockpitStrategic Air CommandVietnam WarMediterraneanOperation El Dorado CanyonGrenadaOperation Urgent FuryPanamaOperation Just CauseBalkansDeliberate ForceAllied ForceSouthwest AsiaDesert ShieldDesert StormEnduring FreedomIraqi FreedomAir Combat CommandOffutt Air Force BaseNebraska55th WingCentral CommandNorthern WatchSouthern WatchMinistry of DefenceOffutt AFBIslamic State of Iraq and the Levant2022 Russian Invasion of Ukrainethermonuclear deviceNovaya ZemlyaTsar BombaBig SafariTurner Air Force BaseGeorgiaForbes Air Force BaseKansasMartin AircraftEielson Air Force BaseRAF Upper HeyfordRAF MildenhallHughes AircraftShemya Air Force StationAlaskaballistic missileLycoming T55-L5ferry flightMilitary Airlift Command82d Reconnaissance SquadronKadena ABsignals intelligenceGulf of TonkinAir Force Systems CommandS bandMultiple Reentry vehiclemeasurement and signature intelligencetheater ballistic missile45th Reconnaissance SquadronKamchatka peninsulaCobra DaneCobra JudyGrissom AFBValdez Airportradar warning receiversradar jammersanti-radiation missileselectronic warfaregeolocateelectromagnetic spectrumairframeL-3 CommunicationsGreenville, TexasAir Force Materiel CommandEielson AFBHoward ABHellenikon Air BaseGreeceKadena Air BaseOkinawaUnited KingdomNo. 51 Squadron RAFRAF WaddingtonNimrod R1MRA4 standard2010 defence reviewOperation EllamyKC-135RsUK MAAreentry vehiclesUnited States38th Reconnaissance Squadron95th Reconnaissance SquadronEngland338th Combat Training Squadron343d Reconnaissance SquadronNo. 1 GroupLincolnshireNo. 51 SquadronNo. 54 SquadronNo. 56 SquadronPapillion CreekValdez Municipal AirportMicrowave Landing SystemMiG-29MiG-23North KoreanSea of Japanclassified data leaks