High-altitude reconnaissance machines

If during the Cold War, reconnaissance work was carried out by SR-71 and U-2 aircraft, in the 21st century, a series of new generation reconnaissance tools are flooding the sky.

The aerial surveillance activity began to take shape during the Cold War. The U-2, designed by Lockheed Martin in the 1950s, has an advantage: flying at altitudes beyond the range of missiles. However, this advantage disappeared in 1960, when Soviet missiles shot down the U-2 piloted by pilot Francis Powers. Next, the RS-71 takes on the replacement thanks to its ability to fly three times the speed of sound, which means it cannot be detected by the technology of the time. And when the SR-71 ended in the late 1990s and the U-2 would soon retire, the world air force was trying to deploy new squadrons for aerial reconnaissance.

Intelligence analysis team on an RC-135 Rivet Joint - (Photo: USAF)

The first is the early warning aircraft (AEW) Wedgetail manufactured by Boeing, a type of passenger plane (specifically 737) adjusted to take reconnaissance objectives. Do not use the rotating radar (revolving radar allows the device to execute a scan every time the arrow of the compass rotates exactly 1 round), Wedgetail's radar is fixed and the scanning direction is programmed electronically. This allows Wedgetail to focus on the most crowded airspace. The crew consisted of pilots, co-pilots and teams analyzing 7 people on the control cabin of sensors and interpreting collected information. Wedgetail was developed according to the orders of the Royal Australian Air Force, a total of 6 units were launched in 2012. The cost of this program has exceeded $ 3.36 billion.

Meanwhile, the latest 'weapon' added to the British Royal Air Force reconnaissance squadron is a base of reconnaissance based on old aircraft, the RC-135 Rivet Joint , named Airseeker. . They were originally from the 1960s Boeing 707, capable of accommodating more than 30 analysts, technical experts, engineers and system operators. However Airseeker / Rivet Joint does not take pictures or scan airspace with radar. Its primary task is to collect signal intelligence, referred to as Sigint , for electronic communications only. The way the Rivet Joint works is kept secret, but according to the US Air Force, the flight sensor system allows the crew to detect, identify and locate signals through the electromagnetic spectrum.

In particular, it is not possible to ignore unmanned drones (UAVs) , which are revolutionizing scouting from the air. Their limits are the flight time, which depends on the amount of fuel to carry, such as the UAV Reaper line deployed by the Royal Royal Air Force in Afghanistan to maintain only 18 hours in the air. Currently US, European research groups . are trying to research new generation UAVs. Future UAVs promise to be equipped with stealth capabilities to avoid escape from radar nets, using jet engines instead of turbines, allowing an opportunity to escape and escape the danger zone quickly. However, the UAV in the near future has not been able to perform all reconnaissance tasks such as River Joint-Wedgetail, due to the limitation of tonnage.

In addition, modern fighter lives today not only serve anti-aircraft targets, but also use them as reconnaissance weapons, such as the Tornado GR4, capable of taking detailed shots at the least distance. 112km thanks to a sensor called the DB-110 placed under the fuselage. Meanwhile, Lockheed Martin is embracing the ambition to build the SR-72, which is the descendant of the SR-71 that once rained a storm, according to Aviation Week. It is expected that the maximum speed of SR-71 will be 6,400km / hour, which is double the speed of SR-71, and will be released in the next decade.