New RAF Rivet Joint mission (escorted by Typhoons)

A new surveillance mission of a RAF Boeing RC-135W (reg. ZZ664) is underway.

After what happened on 29 September (an RAF RC-135 was intercepted by Russian fighters who fired a missile by mistake) two RAF Eurofigther FGR.4s (reg. ZK351, ZK362 – callsign PSYCHO61/62) are escorting the aircraft over the Black Sea.

While the RC-135W took off from the UK, the two Typhoons departed from RAF Akrotiri, Cyprus, and carried out an in-flight refuelling over Romania with the help of an RAF tanker, an Airbus KC.2 (reg. ZZ343), which also took off from Cyprus.

The entire mission is carried out while the aerial surveillance was provided by a NATO AWACS (Boeing E-3A, reg. LX-N90450) departed from Geilenkirchen, Germany.