Monster Machines: America's Most Important Spy Plane That Isn't An SR-71 Blackbird

The Boeing RC-135 is the most effective American spyplane you’ve never heard of. It’s the John Paul Jones to the SR-71′s Robert Plant - a quiet workhorse that has flown over countless US missions while providing vital, real-time signals intelligence.

Dubbed the “Rivet Joint”, these heavily modded KC-135′s have been in operation since 1964, a replacement to the USAF’s ageing fleet of RB-50 Superfortresses. From Vietnam to Grenada to the Balkans to Iraq, Libya, and Afghanistan, these planes have flown in every armed conflict involving US assets since their introduction. Originally assigned to Strategic Air Command, the 22 RC-135′s that make up the 55th Wing — three RC-135S Cobra Balls, two RC-135U Combat Sents and 17 RC-135V/W Rivet Joints — are now under the control of Air Combat Command and operate out of Offutt AFB in Nebraska.

Designed as a dedicated SIGINT (signals intelligence) platform, the Rivet Joint’s crew can monitor wide swaths of the electromagnetic spectrum — from ELF radio signals to microwaves — intercept these transmissions from up to 240km away, and then either forward the data back to HQ or analyse it onboard and disseminate it directly to ground troops using the platform’s extensive communications suite. The five-man crew is routinely augmented with up to 25 additional electronic warfare officers, intelligence operators, and in-flight maintenance technicians in order to make this happen.

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