RAF gets early delivery of second Airseeker
The UK Secretary for Defence, Michael Fallon, confirmed on 16 June that the Royal Air Force would receive its second Airseeker (Rivet Joint) RC-135W SIGINT aircraft seven month ahead of schedule.
The Ministry of Defence said that decision followed Prime Minister David Cameron’s recent direction to invest and build up the UK’s ISTAR capability. The aircraft is now expected to be delivered in September.
The first Airseeker is currently employed on operations, alongside a variety of other RAF units, in the fight against ISIL over Iraq and Syria.
In a statement the MoD said that ‘the Airseeker aircraft has state of the art airborne electronic surveillance capability, allowing it to collect, analyse, and disseminate detailed signals intelligence information. In doing so it offers vital support to combat identification and targeting operations’.
The new aircraft is expected to be deployable in a matter of weeks after delivery.
Fallon stated: ‘We’re the only coalition nation conducting manned ISR over Syria. And today I can announce that our latest Airseeker plane will be delivered next month, seven months ahead of schedule and will be operational shortly after that in the skies above Iraq and Syria – providing essential intelligence in the fight against ISIL. No one, except the US, matches our efforts.’
As the Prime Minister made clear earlier in the week when visiting RAF Waddington, the home of the UK’s ISTAR force, the UK is already a leading country in the counter-ISIL coalition of over 60 countries.’
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