The Week:
On Thursday, media outlets reported that the US Air Force dispatched an aircraft to monitor India’s test of an anti-satellite missile, conducted the previous day.
The reports cited data from a civilian aircraft spotter on Twitter. The spotter, Aircraft Spots, tracked an RC-135S aircraft of the US Air Force and stated it departed from the US military base at Diego Garcia on “a mission in the Bay of Bengal to monitor India’s ASAT anti-satellite missile test”.
While iconic aircraft like the U-2 and a host of unmanned aerial vehicles come to mind when one hears the word ‘spy plane’, the RC-135 and its derivatives are among the most sophisticated reconnaissance systems ever built.
The RC-135 is a four-engine aircraft derived from C-135 cargo plane of the US Air Force. The RC-135 first entered service in 1961 and has spawned multiple derivatives performing missions as varied as monitoring ballistic missile tests, communications, radars and air defences of potential enemies and even collecting atmospheric samples to detect traces of radioactive material.
