The Russian air force released footage that reportedly shows a pair of their Su-27 strike jets intercepting a British RC-135W "Rivet Joint" signal intelligence (SIGINT) aircraft over the Black Sea.

The British ordered three of the sensor-rich reconnaissance aircraft from the US in 2010, and the planes came into operational service in 2018. The plane's main role is tracking, identifying, and geo-locating signals within the electromagnetic spectrum.

It's not clear how much of the gathered signal intelligence is being relayed to the Ukrainian government.

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Will Killmore

Will Killmore is a US Army combat infantry veteran and Purple Heart recipient. He has deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan with the 172nd Stryker Brigade and 173rd Airborne Brigade. Following his time in service, he successfully pursued a certificate of journalism and has been a blogger for Funker530 since 2014. Follow Will’s bad takes on Twitter