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RC-135U Combat Sent
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Research Fellow at the Primakov Institute of World Economy and International Relations under the Russian Academy of Sciences, RIAC expert
One of the main pieces of international news in recent days has been the cool meeting between the Russian interceptor and US reconnaissance aircraft over the Baltic. This quite ordinary episode for today’s “cold world” has been quite the focus in the domestic media. Let us try to get to the bottom of this matter, first taking a look at what happened.
One of the main pieces of international news in recent days has been the cool meeting between the Russian interceptor and US reconnaissance aircraft over the Baltic. This quite ordinary episode for today’s “cold world” has been quite the focus in the domestic media. Let us try to get to the bottom of this matter, first taking a look at what happened.
On the morning of April 7, 2015 an RC-135U on temporary deployment from its home base in Nebraska, took off from the Airbase at Mildenhall in England to fly “a routine route in international airspace” (quote from the US Department of Defense). The RC-135U Combat Sent is one of the biggest families of electronic reconnaissance planes based on the С-135 transport aircraft. The planes are quite old, having been produced in the 1960s, but the reconnaissance equipment is regularly updated and the expert community does not doubt its effectiveness. The specific RC-135U modification (also announced by the Pentagon) specialises primarily in collecting information about the opponent’s radar network and analysing the structure of the air defences. The fact that one of the two reconnaissance aircraft currently in service focuses on the air defences of the Kaliningrad Special Region of the Russian Federation Armed Services testifies to the understandable curiosity about its strengthening and fitting out with modern equipment. There can be no doubt that the “routine route” was intended to gather intelligence on the Russian air defences in the region.
As the RC-135U approached Kaliningrad from the sea, to the north of Poland, it was discovered by Russian radars. Then followed one of the most interesting moments in the entire story: the Russian military specifically announced that the reconnaissance plane was flying with its transponder turned off. The transponder is a radio transmitter that broadcasts the aircraft call signs and its flight parameters in response to a secondary radar signal – a method on which all modern civil aviation traffic control is based. This is spiced up by the fact that the western countries regularly accuse the Russian air force of reconnaissance aircraft flying with their transponders turned off.
RC-135U Combat Sent
Yet the Flightradar24 resource announced on Twitter to the Russia Today agency that the plane was flying with its transponder switched on and gave its code – AE01D5, tail number (64-14849) and call sign (TELEX97). Flightradar24 does not give the flight routes of AE01D5, which can be explained by routine deletion of outdated information and other circumstances.
Yet there are no reasons to accuse this authoritative resource indiscriminately of concealing and faking the facts. Most likely, for a large part of the route up to the Russian frontier, RC-135U did indeed fly “respectfully”, with its transmitters switched on, and not creating any excessive problems for civil air traffic. On approaching its reconnaissance goal, however, the situation changed – an electronic reconnaissance aircraft gathering information about radar systems should cause them to work to the maximum, preferably in relation to itself. If it announces itself (the individual transponder codes are publicly available and anyone can Google, for instance, AE01D5) and its location with its transmitters as it approaches, it would be naive to anticipate any excessive activity on the part of the air defences. So logic shows that, in order to avoid making the operation a waste of fuel, the RC-135U switched off its transponder when it approached the operating zone of the Kaliningrad radar system. This is a global practice – it is impossible legally to force military aircraft to do anything in neutral airspace and they are not subject to the ICAO rules. It is considered that they should themselves do everything necessary to ensure the safety of civil aircraft.
There can be no doubt that the “routine route” was intended to gather intelligence on the Russian air defences in the region.
So, an unidentified aircraft is heading for Russian airspace. It was noticed at 13:18 Moscow Time and such a big machine, without any measures to reduce its observability, is naturally visible from the ground at a distance of over 300km. A Su-27 took off to perform a visual identification. This is standard procedure: the main task of NATO aircraft based on a rotation system in the Baltic region is to intercept and visually identify Russian aircraft. Often, after transmitting back to base the state to which the unknown aircraft belongs and its tail number, the interceptor returns to the airfield and the target aircraft continues on its way.
This time, the situation took an unfriendly turn. It seems that, once the visitor was identified as a US Air Force electronic reconnaissance RC-135U Combat Sent, the interceptors received the command to prevent the US plans from completing its task. The Su-27 began putting pressure on the reconnaissance plane, flying round it, approaching as close as possible. The Pentagon stated that it had come within 6 metres, which is an extremely short distance, the wingspan of the Su-27 being a little more than twice this. In addition, there are other methods for getting in the way – a fighter can overtake a big aircraft and stay right on its nose. Being in a slip flow is nearly as bad as hitting an air pocket.
This, of course, ruled out any methodical, meditative, hours-long flight up and down the frontier or gathering of information. Yes, the interceptor’s fuel will probably run out, but a replacement would obviously be prepared by the Russians. Realising that it would not be allowed to get on with its job, the Combat Sent turned back for England. The Su-27 immediately headed for home, without trying to get in the American’s way any more.
The ensuing “battle of the headlines” was, however, worthy of our difficult times.
After several days mulling over the events, on April 10 the US side did enter a protest against what they called the unprofessional actions of the Russian pilot, who came dangerously close to the US plane, which might have ended in a disaster. This is quite a strange interpretation, considering that the Su-27 pilot fulfilled his assignment professionally – to put off the reconnaissance plane without causing the foreign aircraft any harm in neutral waters. It is interesting that a similar event with the same participants (an RC-135U against an Su-27) occurred almost exactly a year ago, on April 23, 2014, above the Sea of Okhotsk. In fact, such events are quite routine, interesting mostly aviation enthusiasts, whereas the public in general usually pays little attention to them.
The ensuing “battle of the headlines” was, however, worthy of our difficult times. Abroad it was announced that the “Russian Su-27 nearly collided with a US military aircraft in neutral airspace”. This is, of course, a manifestation of double standards: when a Russian reconnaissance plane has to be intercepted, Russia is to blame, but when the Russians intercept an American, they are still to blame.
In Russia, meanwhile, they celebrated a great victory in the skies. TV channel Rossiya-1 announced that “our military aircraft intercepted an American spy plane as it approached Russia” (the spy plane did not, of course, have any intention of entering Russian airspace); RIA Novosti victoriously announced the “appropriate reception of the spy flying without identification tags” (which is quite comical when you look at the RC-135 with U.S. AIR FORCE written all across it in letters almost the size of the Su-27 itself). They took the rather feeble protest and inflated it as meaning that the Americans in general and the crew of the RC-135 in particular were frightened almost to death. Considering that such episodes occur in their service with enviable regularity, (and not only with Russia but also the Chinese), it is not clear why they should be terrified.
Let us wish the opponents on both sides greater emotional control and less inclination to make a mountain out of a molehill. This is a routine episode, one of a multitude that will continue to occur more and more frequently in the foreseeable future. The presence of the US Air Force in Europe within the scope of the Atlantic Resolve operation is increasing for the first time since the collapse of the USSR and Russia is ratcheting up its military construction in its Kaliningrad enclave and newly acquired Crimea.
Close encounters will be frequent. Concerning what happened on April 7 over the Baltic, the public can be deeply satisfied with the skills of their air force pilot.
See also
“What passes for dangerous and provocative today was ho-hum to recon crews of my generation” former RC-135 commander says By David Cenciotti
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