A US Air Force Boeing RC-135 reconnaissance aircraft was buzzed by a Russian Su-27 Flanker in international air space over the Baltic Sea on 7 April,the Pentagon revealed on Sunday.The unarmed and unescorted RC-135 was intercepted off of Northern Poland while flying a routine route,most likely to monitor Russian forces in Kaliningrad and Western Russia.The Pentagon plans to file a complaint with Russia through diplomatic channels,spokesman Mark Wright said.During the encounter,the Flanker came within six meters of the RC-135,approaching at a very high rate of speed from behind the RC-135 and circling it,also rolling over to flash its armament.This maneuver was then repeated before disengagement.
In a statement,the Pentagon's chief spokesman,Colonel Steve Warren,US Army,said that unprofessional air intercepts have the potential to cause harm to all aircrews involved.More importantly,the careless and unprofessional actions of a single pilot have the potential to escalate tensions between countries,COL Warren added.
In service in several variants since 1961,the 22 USAF RC-135s are based at Offut Air Force Base,Nebraska and deployed to forward operating locations worldwide.They are used by the USAF Air Combat Command's 55th Wing and Britain's Royal Air Force Number 51 Squadron to support theatre and national intelligence consumers with near-real time collections,analysis and dissemination.The current variants in service include:
-3 RC-135S Cobra Ball ballistic missile intelligence planes
-2 RC-135U Combat Sent adversary radar emitter intelligence planes
-17 RC-135V/W Rivet Joint SIGINT planes
-a Royal Air Force RC-135W SIGINT plane,which was delivered in September 2013 and has been placed in service in Operation Inherent Resolve against ISIL since July 2014.Two more are on order.The three aircraft will replace the Nimrod R1.
Rivet Joint is the standard airborne SIGINT platform,detecting,identifying and geolocating signals within the entire electromagnetic spectrum with its advanced sensor suite.The Rivet Joint crew consists of cockpit crew;electronic warfare officers;intelligence operators;and airborne systems maintenance personnel.
Rivet Joint airframe and mission system modifications are made exclusively by contractor L-3 Communications.L-3 is a US-based prime contractor in aerospace systems and national security solutions,providing a broad range of communications and electronic systems and products for military and commercial platforms.*
Boeing (BA),L-3 Communications Holdings Inc (LLL)
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