Rivet Joint border patrol
October 12, 2024
The RAF’s No.51 Squadron has scored another first – though unusually for this secretive reconnaissance unit, this one has been announced and publicly celebrated!
While the RAF’s Rivet Joints (and other NATO SIGINT aircraft) routinely conduct missions along the borders of individual NATO countries, this is the first complete transit of NATO’s entire eastern border. The Rivet Joint completed the flight with support from NATO partners including the US, Sweden and Finland, including refuelling support from a USAF KC-135 Stratotanker operating from RAF Mildenhall.
The Boeing RC-135W Rivet Joint is a dedicated electronic surveillance aircraft optimised for collecting SIGINT (Signals Intelligence), including COMINT (Communications Intelligence) and ELINT (Electronic Intelligence).
The official line is that the RC-135W Rivet Joint “employs multidiscipline Weapons System Officer (WSO) and Weapons System Operator (WSOp) specialists whose mission is to survey elements of the electromagnetic spectrum in order to derive intelligence for commanders.” The RAF is coy about crew numbers, listing only “two pilots, one navigator and a Mission Crew configured for the task.”
In practise, the aircraft usually carries a COMINT team of about 14, including supervisors, analysts, linguists and operators locating, analysing, listening in to, and recording enemy communications traffic. Three ‘Ravens’ (ELINT operators) manage the Automatic ELINT Emitter Location System, ‘soaking up’ locating and analysing electronic emissions from radar and other systems.
The aircraft also carries two airborne technicians and a flight crew of three.
ZZ664 Taking Off fromm RAF Waddington.
The Rivet Joint replaced a fleet of three BAe Nimrod R.Mk 1s, which flew their final sortie in June 2011, after a 37-year association with the type. The new aircraft was more optimised for COMINT than the Nimrod R, which had a formidable reputation for excellence in the ELINT role.
No.51 Squadron took delivery of the UK’s first Rivet Joint on 12 November 2013, and flew the type’s maiden operational sortie on May 23, 2014. The second aircraft arrived in August 2015 and the third on 8 June 2017.
The three RAF Rivet Joints are managed as an extension of the USAF’s Rivet Joint fleet, undergoing the same programme of sensor and system upgrades, ensuring that they remain at the cutting edge of capability.
Originally expected to be named Airseeker, and procured under Project Airseeker, the aircraft are universally known as Rivet Joints – their USAF name.
