Forbes: E-8 Joint STARS and RC-135 aircraft collected data on the Russian army
The American E-8 Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (Joint STARS) combat control and targeting aircraft and the RC-135 strategic reconnaissance aircraft, which recently flew over Ukraine and the Black Sea, tracked the location of the Russian army, Forbes magazine says .
The newspaper writes that the planes flew 64 kilometers from the border of "the territory controlled by Russian-backed separatists."
According to the American magazine, the E-8 Joint STARS is equipped with an outboard radar that allows tracking the movements of ground targets, in particular, collecting data on the direction and speed of their movement, while the RC-135 is capable of collecting radar signatures of enemy equipment.
"Several flights of the duo could give the commanders a complete picture of the Russian troops," writes Forbes.
In September 2019, The National Interest magazine noticed that the Russian A-100 Premier long-range radar detection and control aircraft is inferior to its Western counterparts, for example, the E-7A Wedgetail.