Boeing RC-135W Airseeker/Rivet Joint (RAF)

Contains threads on Royal Air Force equipment of the past, present and future.
arfah
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Re: RC-135W Airseeker (ex 'Rivet Joint') (RAF)

Post by arfah »

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RobWilliams
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Re: RC-135W Airseeker (ex 'Rivet Joint') (RAF)

Post by RobWilliams »

I can imagine if they HAD repainted them, the DM would be howling with indignation about cutting personnel then spending £3mn on a paint job which wasn't needed.

Personally if what the Yanks have going on works, why bother? From a plane geek perspective, I love the snoopy look anyway.

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Re: RC-135W Airseeker (ex 'Rivet Joint') (RAF)

Post by shark bait »

arfah wrote:
The Daily Mail stating that not repainting Airseekers due to lack of funds must be BS.
Daily mail and bull shit? 2 things I hardly ever hear in the same sentance! ;)

Perhaps they shouldn't have gone to BAE for the qoute and then it would be more reasonable
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Re: RC-135W Airseeker (ex 'Rivet Joint') (RAF)

Post by arfah »

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Re: RC-135W Airseeker (ex 'Rivet Joint') (RAF)

Post by The Armchair Soldier »

RAF's Second Rivet Joint Ready For Action
[...] “Since delivery of the first aircraft last year, over 60 improvements have been incorporated into the second aeroplane, ranging from upgrades to the aircraft’s mission systems to engine improvements providing increased fuel efficiency and durability,” the MoD says. The RAF’s lead example, ZZ664, is to later “undergo an upgrade programme to bring the aircraft in line with the improvements made on the second”, it adds. [...]
Read More: https://www.flightglobal.com/news/artic ... um=twitter

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Re: RC-135W Airseeker (ex 'Rivet Joint') (RAF)

Post by arfah »

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SKB
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Re: RC-135W Airseeker (ex 'Rivet Joint') (RAF)

Post by SKB »

Hmm. "60 x Boiling Vessels" ?! ;)

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Re: RC-135W Airseeker (ex 'Rivet Joint') (RAF)

Post by downsizer »

Improvements incorporated into every AC going through L3. These aren't UK only mods.

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Re: RC-135W Airseeker (ex 'Rivet Joint') (RAF)

Post by bobp »

Mods are an ongoing thing, often they are to correct known problems, or simply to replace parts that are no longer available and sometimes its a software upgrade. With a complex system these are part of normal maintenance downtime.

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Re: RC-135W Airseeker (ex 'Rivet Joint') (RAF)

Post by Gabriele »

downsizer wrote:Improvements incorporated into every AC going through L3. These aren't UK only mods.
Part of the original contract. The 3 Rivet Joint for Britain are supported and upgraded in time with the US ones, as it the two fleets were a single fleet of 20 aircraft.
Every 4 years, the planes will also return to prime contractor L3 Communications in Greenville, for a complete strip down, refurbishment, and system upgrade. The second aircraft will simply have incorporated all changes and upgrades required / devised both in the UK and in the US since the first one was manufactured. The third will come with other changes still, and the others will pick up the bits at their first 4-years stop in the factory.

This is the real big thing, which would probably be replicated in a P-8 deal and which makes the real difference.
You might also know me as Liger30, from that great forum than MP.net was.

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Re: RC-135W Airseeker (ex 'Rivet Joint') (RAF)

Post by arfah »

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Wrekin762
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Re: RC-135W Airseeker (ex 'Rivet Joint') (RAF)

Post by Wrekin762 »

Speaking of the electronics in the roof running hot:

Image
http://theaviationist.com/2015/08/26/rc ... ed-offutt/

(yeah, I know it's probably not directly related to what we were discussing here w/r/t the white paint but I found irony in it)

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Old RN
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Re: RC-135W Airseeker (ex 'Rivet Joint') (RAF)

Post by Old RN »

Won't white paint have a lower heat transfer than black, or grey? Therefore a white roofed plane will run hotter than a black/grey one!

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Re: RC-135W Airseeker (ex 'Rivet Joint') (RAF)

Post by 90inFIRST »

White reflects all light so it wont increase temp, black will absord all light and thus contribute to heat load, its already hot, don't want to make it hotter?

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Re: RC-135W Airseeker (ex 'Rivet Joint') (RAF)

Post by bobp »

Looking at the photo that's an awful lot of wiring that's burnt. Does anyone one know the cause for instance lightning strike, wire insulation fault or a massive current surge. I am curious as to whether the aircraft was repaired/rewired.

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Re: RC-135W Airseeker (ex 'Rivet Joint') (RAF)

Post by shark bait »

The source mention's a faulty oxygen system
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Re: RC-135W Airseeker (ex 'Rivet Joint') (RAF)

Post by The Armchair Soldier »

This Telegraph Tweet seems to imply that both Rivet Joints have been now deployed:

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Re: RC-135W Airseeker (ex 'Rivet Joint') (RAF)

Post by jimthelad »

6 Tiffies Tiffing, and a partridge in a pear tree.
:D

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Re: RC-135W Airseeker (ex 'Rivet Joint') (RAF)

Post by Little J »

Is it just me or does the silhouette look like a Harrier? Anyone want to tell the telegraph they got canned? :?

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Re: RC-135W Airseeker (ex 'Rivet Joint') (RAF)

Post by arfah »

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Re: RC-135W Airseeker (ex 'Rivet Joint') (RAF)

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The Brand New RAF Rivet Joint Aircraft “Fried” Daesh Communications with Massive Jamming Attack in Libya
A British Special Operation led by a “brand new” RC-135 Rivet Joint aircraft of the Royal Air Force has shut down ISIS comms in Libya recently.

UK special forces have recently carried out “black ops” attacks against Daesh stronghold of Sirte, on the Mediterranean coast, using Electronic Warfare to shut down ISIS communication network in Libya.

The “highly sophisticated” jamming strikes were led by a RAF RC-135W “Airseeker,” one of the three ex-USAF KC-135 tanker converted starting back in 2011 by L-3IS in Greenville, Texas, at a cost of around 650 million GBP (950M USD).

Indeed, the operators aboard the British Rivet Joint first tuned into the militants preferred frequencies and then used the high-powered transmitters to broadcast interference on the same wavelengths, drowning out the enemy’s conversations on the battlefield.

Whilst the RC-135 jammed the Daesh frequencies from off the Libyan coasts, aboard HMS Enterprise, a GCHQ (Government Communications Headquarters which is the centre for UK’s Signal Intelligence – SIGINT – activities) cyber-warfare team gauged the response to last week’s jamming strike by monitoring exchanges online between IS leaders – who are believed to be in command of up to 6,000 jihadists in Libya.

A defense source told the Daily Mail that the IS fighters “were very angry and couldn’t understand what had gone wrong. We jammed the frequencies for 40 minutes – long enough to prove the capability, but not so long that IS realized what was happening.”
Read More: https://theaviationist.com/?p=38767?p=38767

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Re: RC-135W Airseeker (ex 'Rivet Joint') (RAF)

Post by downsizer »

The Armchair Soldier wrote:A defense source told the Daily Mail that the IS fighters “were very angry and couldn’t understand what had gone wrong. We jammed the frequencies for 40 minutes – long enough to prove the capability, but not so long that IS realized what was happening.”
Well they do now. Bring back the good days when 51 weren't in the limelight. FFS.

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Re: RC-135W Airseeker (ex 'Rivet Joint') (RAF)

Post by arfah »

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Re: RC-135W Airseeker (ex 'Rivet Joint') (RAF)

Post by RetroSicotte »

Wow, this "defence source" really has blown it this time.

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