The Daily Mail went ballistic yesterday over the flight of an U.S. Air Force RC-135U Combat Sent aircraft along the borders of Russia in the Baltic region. Flight tracking data showed the RC-135U Combat Sent taking off from England early Tuesday, flying over the Baltic states and looping around Kaliningrad, the Daily Mail reported.
According to Wikipedia, the RC-135U is designed to collect technical intelligence on adversary radar emitter systems. The data it collects is used to develop new or upgraded radar warning receivers, radar jammers, decoys, anti-radiation missiles, and training simulators. This is different from the RC-135V/W Rivet Joint, which is the aircraft most commonly seen on these flights. The Rivet Joint is signals intelligence for a wide variety of purposes, including targeting, while the Combat Sent is more specialized for the suppression of enemy air defenses.
