U.S. Air Force RC-135V Rivet Joint conducted a highly unusual flight in the Gulf of California yesterday, between Mexico’s Baja Peninsula and the rest of that country, according to online flight tracking data.
The strategic intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) plane looks to have done the same today.
The Rivet Joint is one of America’s most capable intelligence-gathering assets and the appearance of one off the Mexican coast is a significant development.
This comes amid a major increase in U.S. military support for operations along the border with Mexico under President Donald Trump and talk of unprecedented direct action by American forces against drug cartels, which you can read more about in this separate TWZ feature.
Flight tracking software shows RC-135V serial number 64-14845 flew southwest from Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska to the skies over southern California on Feb. 3.
Offutt is home to the 55th Wing, which oversees the bulk of the Air Force’s Rivet Joint fleet along with an array of other ISR and highly specialized command and control aircraft.
The jet then hooked south along the Pacific coast of the Baja Peninsula before flying up into the Gulf of California. The aircraft subsequently returned to Offutt following the same route, but in reverse. READ MORE
