Quote:
Originally Posted by dradernh
Does the Lockheed EC-130 fit in here anywhere?
|
The C-130A II was the first turbine-powered SIGINT aircraft, used by the USAF in Europe. It was a semi-covert program; the aircraft had no special markings and the antenna system was contained in two fake fuel tanks under the outer wings. One Turkish-based airplane was shot down in 1958 over the Soviet Union with the loss of all crew.
At the time, the standard USAF SIGINT collection aircraft was the RB-50. The C-130 offered significantly improved performance. I haven't included a C-130A II photo as they looked like pretty much any other early C-130. (Actually the fake "fuel tank" was slightly oversize if I remember correctly.)
The RC-135 replaced all the earlier SIGINT aircraft in the Air Force and remains the standard. The UK's Royal Air Force bought three as well.
There are a variety of EC-130s: Electronic warfare jammers and the like. SpecOps units fly a variety of -130s but, to my knowledge, few if any are used for signals intelligence collection.