Europe
British air force gets RC-135 Rivet Joint surveillance plane
Stars and Stripes
September 4, 2015
A RC-135 Rivet Joint aircraft, assigned to the 763rd Expeditionary Reconnaissance Squadron, flies over Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, June 19, 2011. (U.S. Air Force)
RAF MILDENHALL, England — The British Royal Air Force accepted delivery Friday of a surveillance plane from the United States at RAF Mildenhall, England.
The RC-135 Rivet Joint, called an Airseeker by the RAF, arrived seven months early and is the second to be delivered to the RAF as part of the Airseeker program. The United Kingdom is to receive three Rivet Joints under the program at a cost of about 650 million pounds (about $1 billion).
The RAF plans to have the most recent plane deployable within weeks. The first British Rivet Joint is currently being used in the fight against Islamic State fighters in Iraq and Syria.
“The delivery of the second Airseeker provides our Armed Forces with another vital intelligence aircraft that will give valuable support to our fight against enemies such as ISIL,” U.K. Defense Secretary Michael Fallon said, using an alternative name for the Islamic State.
Rivet Joints date back to 1962 and are modified C-135s. The planes carry scanning equipment that can detect and locate enemy communications. They have participated in “every sizable armed conflict involving U.S. assets during its tenure,” according to the U.S. Air Force.