Is this the receiving end of our recent Rock and Roll Skyking messages? Late Breaking News

USAF RC-135U Combat Sent aircraft (USAF Photo)

Late Breaking News: This aircraft was the subject of an incident involving the Russian AF over the Black Sea Saturday. See USA Today story "Russian jet buzzes U.S. Air Force spy plane over Black Sea" at http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2016/01/30/russian-jet-buzzes-us-air-force-spy-plane-over-black-sea/79563912/.

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If you looked at my previous post this morning, and you checked out my "what is an EAM file," you would have discovered a bit of insight on what I believe a Skyking message is used for.

Well the aircraft in the picture above, even as I type, is flying around the Middle East (just spotted today in and around Turkey and Israel). It would certainly fall within the parameters I have set for a user of HFGCS Skyking message traffic.

Call sign seen today "BARN 06" another interesting consequence that I have mentioned before re: four letter ## call signs.

Here is a bit more information on the RC-135U courtesy of the official USAF public information files.

Mission
The RC-135U Combat Sent provides strategic electronic reconnaissance information to the president, secretary of defense, Department of Defense leaders, and theater commanders. Locating and identifying foreign military land, naval and airborne radar signals, the Combat Sent collects and minutely examines each system, providing strategic analysis for warfighters. Collected data is also stored for further analysis by the joint warfighting and intelligence communities. The Combat Sent deploys worldwide and is employed in peacetime and contingency operations.

Background
There are only two Combat Sent aircraft in the Air Force inventory and both are assigned to the 55th Wing at Offutt AFB, Neb. The RC-135U aircraft are manned by Air Combat Command crews from the 45th Reconnaissance Squadron and the 97th Intelligence Squadron (of the Air Force Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Agency). The Combat Sent is composed of a wide variety of commercial off-the-shelf and proprietary hardware and software. Its current configuration allows for both manual and automatic analysis of electronic signals. By combining manual systems with the Automatic Electronic Emitter Locating System, Ravens and intelligence specialists can simultaneously locate, identify, and analyze multiple electronic signals.

The Combat Sent records these signals for future reference or for extensive analysis by electronic systems theorists. Any information garnered from the data will help determine detailed operating characteristics and capabilities of foreign systems. Evasion techniques and equipment are then developed from this knowledge that will detect, warn of, or defeat these electronic systems.

More Rock amd Roll Adventures from the HFGCS Chronicles

Saturday, the U.S. Navy sent the USS Curtis Wilbur (DDG-54) warship near a disputed island in South China Sea according to various press reports. See CNN story at http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/30/asia/us-navy-south-china-sea/.

 

Pacific Ocean: The guided-missile destroyer USS Curtis Wilbur (DDG 54) transits through the Pacific Ocean with Mt. Fuji in the background. Curtis Wilbur is underway supporting security and stability in the western Pacific Ocean. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Adam K. Thomas/Released)

Any naval operation like this can be a bit dangerous especially if the three parties involved in the disputed land mass get edgy. But there is also a potential treasure trove of intelligence to be gathered.

 

And what did we have flying around the South China Sea area Saturday using call sign Tora 82 (a 4-digit call I might add)? A USAF RC-135V Rivet Joint aircraft.

 

 

And what is this aircraft used for. From the official US Air Force public fact sheet:

 

Mission The RC-135V/W Rivet Joint reconnaissance aircraft supports theater and national level consumers with near real time on-scene intelligence collection, analysis and dissemination capabilities.

Features The aircraft is an extensively modified C-135. The Rivet Joint's modifications are primarily related to its on-board sensor suite, which allows the mission crew to detect, identify and geolocate signals throughout the electromagnetic spectrum. The mission crew can then forward gathered information in a variety of formats to a wide range of consumers via Rivet Joint's extensive communications suite.

The interior seats more than 30 people, including the cockpit crew, electronic warfare officers, intelligence operators and in-flight maintenance technicians.

The Rivet Joint fleet was re-engined with CFM-56 engines with an upgraded flight deck instrumentation and navigational systems to FAA/ICAO standards. These standards include conversion from analog readouts to a digital "glass cockpit" configuration.

All Rivet Joint airframe and mission systems modifications are overseen by L-3 Communications (previously Raytheon), under the oversight of Air Force Materiel Command.

Background The current RC-135 fleet is the latest iteration of modifications to this pool of -135 aircraft going back to 1962. Initially employed by Strategic Air Command to satisfy nationally tasked intelligence collection requirements, the RC-135 fleet has also participated in every sizable armed conflict involving U.S. assets during its tenure. 

RC-135s were present supporting operations in Vietnam, the Mediterranean for Operation El Dorado Canyon, Grenada for Operation Urgent Fury, Panama for Operation Just Cause, and Southwest Asia for operations Desert Shield, Desert Storm, Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom. RC-135s have maintained a constant presence in Southwest Asia since the early 1990s.

All RC-135s are assigned to Air Combat Command. The RC-135 is permanently based at Offutt Air Force Base, Neb., and operated by the 55th Wing, using various forward deployment locations worldwide. More recently, RC-135s have also supported Operation Allied Force in Kosovo, and Operation Odyssey Dawn/Unified Protector in Libya

So looks like we had Tora 82 supporting the Curtis Wilbur on Saturday in the South China Sea. Was our Saturday "Santana" Foxtrot/Skyking message directed at Tora 82?

 

Maybe!  Chief Sends

 

Interesting times on HFGCS

Most ute monitors usually do not pay any attention to the message traffic that is passed on the DoD JCS HFGCS HF radio system. We have Emergency Action Messages (EAMs) and Skyking aka Foxtrot message traffic (see my detailed discussion of these messages on this blog at http://mt-milcom.blogspot.com/p/what-is-emergency-action-message-or-eam.html).

Recently things have become more interesting. Instead of a 3-character message that has been the staple of the Foxtrot messages since forever, they have now started using creative code words. The last three days Foxtrot message traffic have consisted of  Springstein, Santana, and now this morning Hendrix.

It also looks like we have gone back to our Cold War roots and have started using tac code words calls for various HFGCS stations when transmitting these EAM and Foxtrot message traffic when transmitting on this net. Prior to this you would have heard Andrews, Offutt, McClellan or one of the other HFGCS stations worldwide using their location as the identifier.

In addition, we have some other HF RF indicators being seen throughout the HF spectrum that would indicate that things are changing in the mil HF world.

So who says that HF is dead hasn't either turned on a receiver lately or monitored the right frequencies.

If you want to hear what is going on the HFGCS netork, check out my freq list at http://mt-milcom.blogspot.com/2006/05/joint-chiefs-of-staff-hf-gcs-network.html

Maybe someone four years ago didn't have their foreign policy stuck in the 1980s.

Chief Sends