by FRENCH AIR EDUCATION AWACS (AP) – Far away, Ukraine, fighting for its survival. Seen from up here, in the cockpit of a French air force surveillance plane flying over nearby Romania, the snow-dusted landscapes look serene and serene.
The dead from the Russian war, the broken towns of Ukraine and mangled battlefields are not visible to the naked eye through the clouds.
But the French military technicians riding back in the aircraft have a much more impressive sight, monitor screens that display the word “secret” when they are idle. With a powerful radar that rotates six times every minute on the fuselage and belly of surveillance equipment, the plane can see missile launches, airborne bombing runs and other military activity in the conflict.
As the second anniversary of Russia’s February 24, 2022, invasion of Ukraine approaches, The Associated Press obtained rare and exclusive access to the massive Airborne Warning and Control, or AWACS, aircraft. With 26 military personnel and AP journalists on board, it flew a 10-hour reconnaissance mission from central France to Romanian airspace and back, looking with electronic eyes across southern Ukraine and the Black Sea to the Russian-occupied Crimea and beyond.
Circling on autopilot at 34,000 feet (10 kilometers), the plane with a large proud rooster painted on its tail relayed real-time information to ground-based commanders.
His mission for NATO on the eastern side of the 31-nation military alliance also drew, in effect, a ‘do-not cross’ line in the skies of Europe.
The continued presence of the plane high above the east of Romania – seen and seen by Russian forces as well – showed how intensively NATO is watching its borders and Russia, ready if necessary to act if there is a threat of Russian aggression go over Ukraine.
SHIELDS FOR NATO, PIECES OF AVIATION HISTORY
Regular surveillance flights, along with fighter patrols, ground-based radars, missile batteries and other hardware available to NATO, are what the French AWACS squadron commander described as a “shield” against any spills which could be there.
The “ultimate goal, of course, is no conflict and no deterrence,” said the commander, a lieutenant colonel named Richard. Because of French security concerns, the AP was unable to send him and other military personnel identify by their degrees and first names.
“We have to show that we have the shield, show the other countries that NATO is a common defense,” he continued. “The ability to detect is everywhere. And we are not here for conflict. We are here to show that we are present and ready.”
Four French AWACS are among the various surveillance aircraft, including unmanned UAV drones, which gather intelligence for NATO and its member states. Said the Lt. Col. Richard that French E-3F type AWACS can be seen for hundreds of kilometers (miles) with their distinctive black-and-white radar domes on the roof, although it would not be accurate.
E-3s are modified Boeing 707s. The 707 first flew in 1957 but stopped carrying passengers commercially in 2013, so E-3s are also flying examples of aviation history.
“We can detect aircraft, we can detect UAVs, we can detect missiles and we can detect ships. That is true, for sure, in Ukraine, especially when we are at the border,” said Lt. Col. Richard.
As the plane was descending and being scanned, the Russian AWACS team detected it far over the Sea of Azov, hundreds of kilometers away on the eastern side of the Crimean Peninsula. The Russian aircraft also apparently spotted the French AWACS: Sensors along the fuselage picked up Russian radar signals.
“We know they see us, they know we see them. Let’s say it’s some kind of dialogue between them and us,” said the French co-pilot, Major Romain.
FLEXIBLE SEAMS ON CALL TO PROTECT THE OLYMPIC GAMES
NATO has its own fleet of 14 AWACS, as well as E-3s. They can detect low-flying targets within 400 kilometers (250 miles) and higher-flying targets another 120 kilometers (75 miles) beyond that, the alliance says. He says AWACS can monitor an area the size of Poland; can cover three of central Europe.
Capable of flying for 12 hours without refueling, the French AWACS are not limited to surveillance, communications and air traffic control missions for NATO. They are expected to be deployed as part of the massive security operation for the Paris Olympics, providing additional radar surveillance with what Lieutenant Colonel Richard called his “God’s eye view”.
Russian pilots have sometimes said they don’t like being watched.
In 2022, a Russian fighter jet fired a missile near a British RC-135 Rivet joint surveillance aircraft flying in international airspace over the Black Sea, the British government said. The US government released a video in March 2023 of a Russian fighter jet dumping fuel on a US Air Force surveillance drone. The drone crashed into the Black Sea.
Rivet Joints are extremely capable spy planes, and Russian authorities “really hate” their ability to fight the war in Ukraine, said Justin Bronk, a researcher at the Royal United Services Institute defense think tank in London.
In addition to “gathering real-time information that could theoretically be shared with Ukrainian partners,” the planes provide “great” insight into “how Russian forces operate in a real war,” Bronk said in an interview. phones.
“So, of course, the Russians are mad,” he said.
In the skies, a RULING HOUSE
NATO also scrambled fighter jets to scope out Russian flights. It says allied aircraft took to the skies more than 500 times in 2022 to intercept Russian aircraft that came close to intercepting NATO airspace. The number of such contacts fell to more than 300 in 2023, according to the Brussels-headquartered alliance.
The strengthening of Ukraine’s air defenses by Western forces may explain the decrease in part, and Russian pilots appear to be sharper because of shoot-downs. NATO noted reduced activity by Russian manned flights over the western Black Sea last year. NATO says that “the vast majority of aerial encounters between NATO and Russian jets have been safe and professional” and that Russian incursions into NATO airspace have been rare and generally brief.
On board the French flight, the co-pilot, Major Romain, said that Russian planes have not intercepted French AWACS “for a long time” and that if they did, French pilots would try to ease any tension.
“Our orders are to be passive, let’s say,” he said. “For civilians, we’ll say ‘polite.’”
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Find more AP coverage of Russia and Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
