Ukraine is waged a unique spiritual struggle in which Western intelligence is gathering information about Russia’s preparations for war. Indeed, public intelligence has become the latest weapon in the hybrid war.
Of the United States the Pentagon on Defense confirmed on Wednesday that an incident had occurred over the Mediterranean last weekend between a Russian Suhoi Su-35 fighter jet and three American P-8A Poseidon naval surveillance aircraft.
According to American data, the Russian plane would have flown intentionally and dangerously only a few meters away from a maritime surveillance plane in international airspace.
Incident is the most recent example of how American surveillance and reconnaissance machines are getting on the nerves of Russians.
An extraordinary play is taking place over Ukraine, in which the eyes and ears of the Western Armed Forces, or reconnaissance planes, openly fly transponders along the Ukrainian border – as if teasing the Russian forces centered on the other side of it.
The movements of the reconnaissance machines can be tracked by anyone with a tracking application such as Flightradar24 at their disposal.
Visible intelligence signals to Russia and the Russians that the West knows what Russia is doing. At the same time, it is shown to the Ukrainians that they are here: you are not alone.
Visible intelligence is part strategy, which the United States has used in recent weeks to provide the public with detailed information on the concentration of Russian forces. Published intelligence is an American hybrid war aimed at nullifying Russia’s actions.
Transponders The on-board reconnaissance plane is certainly not an unusual revelation in Europe. Some countries fly their reconnaissance planes on transponders more, others less and some never.
For example, Swedish reconnaissance planes are constantly flying in front of Kaliningrad with transponders on, but the Finnish Defense Forces’ signal reconnaissance aircraft never.
However, never before have there been so many reconnaissance machines that openly advertise their flights than now in Ukraine, Europe and the Black Sea. Following them has already become a hobby for some.
One-day reconnaissance flights in Europe by aviation monitor Amelia Smith on Twitter this week.
However, it is also worth keeping in mind all the time that not everything is shown. Some reconnaissance planes fly in the dark and some transponder information can be a scam.
Several The arms aid given to Ukraine by NATO countries in recent weeks has received a great deal of publicity. Britain, for example, has exported anti-tank missiles of Swedish origin to Ukraine.
However, without underestimating the importance of arms aid, it can be said that the information provided to Ukraine by American and British intelligence aircraft in particular is now more important than weapons.
Top British and American aircraft have flown in Ukrainian airspace, and the data they collect is extremely valuable to Ukrainians.
They should give the best possible picture of the Russian troops on the other side of the border. Only the Russians themselves know better.
To the public The increasing visits of Western reconnaissance aircraft to the Black Sea and Ukraine began in December, at the same time as Russia made stern demands to the United States and NATO, which have been seen as a return to the division of interests during the Cold War.
Already in early December, Russian state news agency Tass reported that Russian fighter jets had visited three Black planes over the Black Sea, one of which was a Mirage 2000D fighter jet.
Later Forbes magazine revealed that Mirage was carrying an Astac tank for signal intelligence (Tactical analysis).
Since then, at least the RC-135 Rivet Joint, E-8C and Artemis reconnaissance aircraft types and the RQ-4 Global Hawk, an unmanned reconnaissance aircraft, have regularly visited Ukraine and the Black Sea.
RC-135 Rivet Joint is a signal reconnaissance machine capable of receiving and recognizing signals and their sources over a very wide range of electromagnetic spectra. It searches for radio traffic and examines radiation.
Britain, for example, has three Rivet Joint aircraft, as many as two of which flew in Poland and Ukraine on Thursday near their borders with Belarus.
A screenshot of the Flightradar24 app shows how the British RC-135 Rivet Joint flew in the Ukrainian sky on Thursday.
Artemis (Aerial Reconnaissance and Targeting Exploitation Multi-Mission Intelligence System) is an experimental reconnaissance aircraft built on the commercial Bombardier Challenger 650 business jet. Artemis has radar equipment that can detect vehicles moving on the ground.
The capabilities of the reconnaissance aircraft are not public information, but equipment and radars from the U.S. Air Force’s E-8C, for example, are said to be able to track land vehicles, their movement, direction, and speed.
The signal reconnaissance machine and the reconnaissance machine equipped with ground radar are able to collect and create a comprehensive picture of the area they are exploring. In addition, they are able to gather information through the cloud cover.
Likely however, not all of the information gathered is given to Ukrainians, as hardly any country wants to reveal its most advanced capabilities to another country.
A historic cat and mouse game is underway, in which Russia is doing everything it can to cover up its activities and confuse the West.
One can also think that helping Ukraine with intelligence is not even very selfless. Russia’s preparation for and analysis of war is a unique real-life exercise for analysts conducting it.
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