The Boeing RC-135 is the most effective American spyplane you ’ve never heard of . It ’s the John Paul Jones to the SR-71 ’s Robert Plant — a quiet workhorse that has flown over countless US mission while providing life-sustaining , real - metre signal intelligence .
dub the “ Rivet Joint ” , these heavily modded KC-135 ’s have been in mathematical process since 1964 , a replacement to the USAF ’s senesce fleet of RB-50 Superfortresses . From Vietnam to Grenada to the Balkans to Iraq , Libya , and Afghanistan , these planes have flown in every armed conflict involving U.S. assets since their innovation . in the first place assigned to Strategic Air Command , the 22 RC-135 ’s that make up the 55th Wing—3 RC-135S Cobra Balls , 2 RC-135U Combat Sents , and 17 RC-135V / W Rivet Joints — are now under the control of Air Combat Command and operate out of Offutt AFB in Nebraska .
Designed as a dedicated SIGINT ( signals news ) platform , the Rivet Joint ’s crew can monitor wide swaths of the electromagnetic spectrum — from ELF radio signals to microwaves — wiretap these transmissions from up to 240 kilometer away , and then either fore the data back to military headquarters or analyze it onboard and disseminate it directly to ground troops using the political platform ’s across-the-board communications rooms . The five - humankind crowd is routinely augmented with up to 25 extra electronic war officers , intelligence activity operators , and in - flight upkeep technician to make this materialize .
AsGlobal Securityexplains :
RIVET JOINT ( RC-135V / W ) is an air refuelable theater asset with a nationally tasked antecedence . It collects , analyzes , account , and overwork enemy BM / C4I. During most contingencies , it deploy to the theater of surgical operation with the airborne element of TACS ( AWACS , ABCCC , Joint STARS , etc . ) and is connected to the aircraft via datalinks and voice as required . The aircraft has strong UHF , VHF , HF , and SATCOM communication . Refined intelligence agency data point can be channelize from Rivet Joint to AWACS through the Tactical Digital Information Link TADIL / A or into intelligence channels via satellite and the TACTICAL INFORMATION BROADCAST SERVICE ( TIBS ) , which is a about real - time theatre of operations data broadcast .
The RC-135V / W fleet has recently undergone a major capabilities update , include more powerful ( 21,600 Irish pound poke ) CFM-56 engine that will convey a 3,450 mile kitchen range and 50,000 infantry service roof , a flight deck instrumentation modernization that will see the RC-135 ’s analog readout replace with a ice cockpit . In all , the USAF reportedly design to spend about $ 1.4 billion to keep the fleet flying through 2018 . [ The Aviationist – USAF – Military – FAS ]
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