(NewsWorthy.news.com) – NATO continued its reconnaissance operations above waters west of Crimea in July, despite the Kremlin’s warnings about the amount of US spy flights close to the territory, which was illegally annexed by Russia in 2014. On July 22, a RC-135W Rivet Joint reconnaissance plane belonging to the British Royal Air Force conducted a two-hour operation off Romania’s coast. The operation occurred approximately 150 miles west of the Kremlin’s Black Sea Fleet stationed at Sevastopol, according to GPS signals logged on Flightradar24.
The British surveillance plane was reportedly relieving a US Navy P-8A Poseidon aircraft, which had been operating in the same region. The American submarine-hunting marine patrol craft had been stationed at Sicily’s Naval Air Station. Unlike the British plane, it had reportedly remained within Romanian airspace rather than venturing further afield over the Black Sea. On July 24, A Russian Su27 fighter jet intercepted Three RAF RC-135’s over the Black Sea and forced them to alter their course away from Russian airspace. A similar encounter occurred in the region in October 2023.
NATO has also encountered a large number of Russian planes since the invasion of Ukraine, 300 of which were intercepted in 2023. Regarding RC-135 incidents in July, NATO’s Allied Air Command did not immediately comment in response to questions about the aircrafts recently intercepted by the Russian military.
The RAF has stated that the Rivet Joint aircraft “soaks up” electronic emissions to locate sources of communications, radar technology and other systems. The US Air Force has 17 of the reconnaissance planes in its inventory. RC-135 planes have been in use since the 1960s and 1970s, and are expected to be used in military operations until at least the 2040s.
The return of the surveillance planes to the black sea to carry out intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR), known to UK forces as ISTAR (including target acquisition), follows at least five such missions being carried out in June in the region. The ISR and ISTAR missions have been connected to strikes carried out by Ukrainian forces on Russian assets in the region.
Russia’s Defense Ministry has claimed that Ukraine has been using the results of the surveillance to provide targets for its precision weaponry. The ministry warned that NATO would be held responsible for the impact of the surveillance operations, and argued that the continuing presence of the reconnaissance planes shows the increased involvement of NATO countries in the conflict.
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