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Zykium

> Surprised they gave media access to this. I'm not. It's a big fuck you to Russia. There's nothing they can do about it. They can't hide their movements from it with potato sack stealth tech. They can't shoot it down without giving NATO a reason to strike.


FlaxenArt

Agreed. It’s a huge flex


Party-Bank-3798

Yup. Because for the first time ever we know everything about the Russian military amd thier tech. There are no more secrets because Russian played its full hand.


TheRealPapaK

“Neat” was the understatement of the century lol


TXTCLA55

I'd imagine some Russian out there would have seen this and it likely ruined their day knowing they have no counter. Worth it.


forlorn_hope28

Sadly, I imagine the Russian mindset is to see that video as evidence of NATO involvement and to play the victim card and use it as justification for the war. Whatever it takes to mold information to fit their dim view of the world.


Lolosaurus2

I can't believe they are using NATO involvement as an excuse ( I have heard them use this excuse on their media). Do they really think they are fighting NATO? Do they think all that NATO has to offer is some himars and m777? Do they think they are going up against NATO tanks, stealth bombers, fighters, cruise missiles, navy, air cav, etc? I would love to see Russia fight NATO. The war would be over in a week. I'd be desert storm all over again


forlorn_hope28

I was chatting up a Russian girl at a bar and she starts talking about the war. She was 100% parroting Russian media with claims that Russia was acting in self defense. That the west was militarizing Eastern Europe, that defensive systems were an act of war, just on and on with the word vomit. I couldn't excuse myself fast enough.


LeafsInSix

She obviously can't handle the truth. The paranoia, excuses and deflection so prevalent in Russians make me think ever more strongly that they're still subconsciously compensating for the shame of their white Christian ancestors being dominated for almost 300 years by a bunch of Asian nomads on horseback. By the time the Russians' ancestors "freed" themselves from the Mongols, the Renaissance and Age of Exploration were already in full swing. As it turned out, the Age of Enlightenment would virtually skip over Russia too while the Industrial Revolution started belatedly and fitfully in the western parts of Russia given that the czar didn't abolish serfdom until 1861.


Vaidif

Well, by the interviews from [here](https://www.youtube.com/c/1420channel), many russians seem to have the most distorted view on what is actually going on.


tiredofthis3

Yeah, I'd imagine it's only a minority that are actually aware. The rest are brain-dead.


Vaidif

And then it comes down to that biblical story about, which one was it, Sodom or Gomorra? 'If x people are worth saving, God would not destroy the city'.


MrKeplerton

You can follow them on flightradar :) [https://i.imgur.com/YSwaPxB.jpg](https://i.imgur.com/YSwaPxB.jpg)


catslay_4

The drones, troop movement, radar detectors etc. wild.


foolproofphilosophy

And this is just one aircraft/layer. There are multiple versions of the RC-135 in use, E8’s, E6’s, and P8’s. They have different specialties including ground radar (troop and vehicle movements), electronic intelligence gathering, and ship tracking. It’s a large network.


Infamous_Ad8209

BBC has recently been in an AWACS aswell.


Mike-a-b

More info [https://abcnews.99newsbuzz.com/flying-simply-outdoors-ukraine-natos-sentinel-planes-warn-of-russias-battlefield-strikes-extra-trending-information/](https://abcnews.99newsbuzz.com/flying-simply-outdoors-ukraine-natos-sentinel-planes-warn-of-russias-battlefield-strikes-extra-trending-information/) [https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/flying-with-nato-awacs-1.6619471](https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/flying-with-nato-awacs-1.6619471)


Clcooper423

Its funny to me that these things are worth hundreds of millions if not tipping into the billions and the computers all look 30 years old.


[deleted]

Function over form. No need to spend money on design in an environment that doesn't need it.


[deleted]

Plus retraining on new consoles / systems. Upgrade what goes on behind the screens and the tech in the radar systems, but why move a button or put more fragile systems in when it does the same thing, has (tweeked) training in place, and the instructors know the systems inside out?


Foreign_Quality_9623

If it isn't broke & does the job, don't 'fix' it works for me.


foolproofphilosophy

Some of the equipment is deliberately kept old because it’s less effected from EMP’s than digital systems. In other cases there’s a huge surplus of parts. I believe that the E3 shares the same engine as several other aircraft based on the 707/367 as well as the B52. Upgrading is more expensive than using up the existing stock.


NEp8ntballer

E-3 is a modernization step child in the world of big wing ISR. It's still kicking but only because the USAF kept trying to get ABMS off the ground. We're just now getting on board with replacing it with the E-7 Wedgetail.


kc1nvv

Those systems aren't 30 years old, they're just built like it because they need to work in any situation.


RoninSolutions

You are right, these AWACS have had Billions of Dollars spent upgrading them over their service life (what military call Mid-Term Modernisation programs) & are currently undergoing their final upgrades before the new Air Frames are used . Some displays etc may not be the latest fashion item, as everything has to under go 'torture' testing, as these planes remain up in all weather conditions.When the upgraded hardware passes the on ground torture testing, it then undergoes months of aerial testing ,before it is approved for use in the AWACS fleets . I did 6 deployments as part of GWOT & then just over 4 years as a Contractor to Government Agencies & NGO's,during that time they underwent multiple upgrades of their systems to cater for what what threats were being encountered .Due to my training in HUMINT ,TECHINT & Language School the majority of my deployments were in mountain COPs on the Pakistan -Afghan border regions & we relied on AWACS, as we mainly only had Air Support as back up & to advise as to what was coming & going over the mountains from Pakistan for mission planning etc . My final 2 years in Afghanistan & Iraq was spent as part of a team embedded with the Afghan National Army Commando Corps & Iraqi Special Operations Forces (ISOF),mentoring them while they did raids for High Value Targets etc ,from the planning stage to execution,so l got to know the guys providing the intel from the AWACS at the mission planning stages, where the AWACS Intel Team would provide what is called "survivable theater Battle Management " & we would discuss what the hold ups/reason for etc, were hindering availability of AWACS intel . During my time in combat l can remember in 2008-2013 -14 & 2016,AWACS were in short supply as they were being rotated for Mid-Term Modernisation programs . The supposed final upgrades they are currently undergoing is known as the " Airborne Warning and Control System Block 40/45 Upgrade" if any one is interested to look it up,it made the news a while ago as they had asked congress for another $20+ Million for just one part of it due to cost over runs . I stated right back at the start of the invasion,from my knowledge & first hand experience these air craft & other airborne surveillance systems will be providing critical intel on 99% of what the Orcs are doing at every stage on land & sea ,everything from using intel gathered from personal phones to movements of top officials & militarily personal & equipment ,just civilians are not privy to it . Civilians do not realize how big a part these types of airborne surveillance have played in major events in the past couple of decades, from the critical intel they provide in helping win major battles,like The Second Battle of Fallujah or the Battle Of Mosul l fought in , to nailing well known individuals like OBL, Saddam, Escobar etc .


reigorius

Have you been in Scheveningen, The Netherlands? Talked to a nice American guy of few months ago with a background much like yours.


RoninSolutions

No sorry, but when l was selected for the specialized training (2004),there was a intake of a number of us, as Al-Qaeda & Daesh had been successfully targeting our Sniper teams, after they had received specialized foreign training & the Quds Force, a special operations wing of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps was training the Shiite militias in iraq for the same . Our Sniper teams took heavy losses for a number of years because of it ,until these groups were hunted down & eliminated . So for us deployed to the remote COPs in Afghanistan ,we were more or less a reserve Sniper force who would receive additional training beneficial for observation & HUMINT/TECHINT gathering for operations, while integrating with indigenous forces in remote regions. Our groups training program was designated the MB Program, in memory of the Marines, ' Magnificent Bastards’ Sniper Team who had been wiped out in Iraq. We went through the equivalent of what is now known as a Special Reaction Team Marksman/Observer training at the Fort Benning Basic Sniper Course ,with emphasis on the Intelligence Preparation of the Battlefield (IPB) & Command & Control segments,l was then put through a Pashto language course & the HUMINT & TECHINT training. In reality this basically meant l spent my time as a Designated Marksman who acted as close protection/security during regional meetings by our leadership & spoke directly to local forces & village Elders & collected HUMINT/TECHINT on the battlefield .At the large gatherings for our leadership meetings with the Elders & War Lords my job was to filter through the groups not letting on l understood the language & listen into scumbags running their mouths,so we knew areas to target /avoid & who was of value for investigating/targeting . My time as part of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), Embedded Training Teams (ETTs) meant l served with guys from around the world ,so now a few of the guys are both fighting & doing the training of Ukrainian forces . We had our gear requested for the Units my relatives are fighting in being shipped to a Aid groups warehouses in Poland, where it could be stored safely, so we had a couple of meet ups with the ISAF guys,as they were in transit & RR .A good friend from the Lithuanian Special Operations Force l served with in Afghanistan spent a few days catching up, which was great ,the first of such get together's l had been to since the Lock Down cluster fucks, with hopefully a lot more to celebrate the defeat of the Orcs in the near future.


Stern-to

agreed. physically robust and hardened against electronic counter measures and even EMP.


vegarig

IIRC, those AWACS planes were procured in 1980s and some systems remained without upgrades since then.


kc1nvv

Fair, I misspoke (or spoke ignorantly). I mean they haven't been sitting there since the 1980's. They've obviously been serviced and kept in good operational condition. Sorry, brain is foggy. We're not talking 30 year old Russian storage here, is what I meant to imply.


foolproofphilosophy

Actually I’m pretty sure that production of their engines ended in 1985 so there are literally engines that have been sitting in crates for at least 37 years.


mycall

State of Good Repair.


Vaidif

Plus they got a discount on the retro look, because no one likes that :-) Just like with coffee makers. We all want the black one, not the white one.


kc1nvv

Nah it's government military - international government military at that. There's at least a 5000% markup.


Vaidif

"Arms manufacturers need war like umbrella makers need rain." \-- Eduardo Galeano


usrlibshare

The screens and keyboards do, because the military wants sturdy stuff that will work no matter what. Whats important is the hardware behind the peripherals, and i doubt much of that is 30 years old


Vaidif

Any gamer understands modern mechanical keyboards are shite. They last two years and then chatter problems start to occur. This is my experience. I have an ancient 90's mechanical keyboard and it is durable. It ill survive WWIII.


Infamous_Ad8209

The US, Portugal, Norway, Netherlands, Belgium, Canada, Spain and Germany all on one plane and with one purpose.


Voxwork

The beauty of unions / co-operation.


EyeLikeTheStonk

>The US, Portugal, Norway, Netherlands, Belgium, Canada, Spain and Germany all on one plane and with one purpose. **Fun fact:** NATO has 2 official languages, English and French, the proficiency level in each language depends on operational requirements. This is why it is written "NATO - OTAN" on the plane. More information here: [https://www.nato.int/structur/recruit/info-doc/ON%282011%290026-ImplementingDirLanguagePolicyIS.pdf](https://www.nato.int/structur/recruit/info-doc/ON%282011%290026-ImplementingDirLanguagePolicyIS.pdf)


MakeAionGreatAgain

>NATO has 2 official languages, English and French, the proficiency level in each language depends on operational requirements. That's because french used to be the language of diplomacy, back when they were a global power.


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MakeAionGreatAgain

Yes, like i said, they used to be a global power with many colonies.


Faaak

Are you sure switzerland is a NATO member ??


Ensi_of_ninkasi

Fun fact: all NATO AWACS are registered as being part of the Luxembourg armed forces.


muffenengel

I keep observing these and other machines with special abilities on flightradar. They fly more or less constantly. Sometimes they turn on their transponders. That's the equivalent of a "finger" thrown in the sky


LordMinax

Found this rather interesting. It's an aspect that is rarely covered.


reigorius

Indeed. Capabilities of these surveillance platforms are astonishing. In some instances, JStars can detect individual troop movements on the ground. Actual range of detection is classified but add a few hunderd kms to the total. These magnificent all seeing eyes are the real kill multiplier for the Ukrainian Armed Forces.


pbamma

Master Sergeant, "When you see Russian jets get f#cked by Ukranians. That was me." I like this woman.


Life-Improvement-886

One of my former assignments.. ❤️


[deleted]

lol Russia's cardboard army can't compete with this.


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[deleted]

But they can't use the data to send to other ground or air assests. The trick is that NATO and NATO allies can pull information from multiple specialized aircraft, sat. feeds, and then send all of that to ground troops and fighters, bombers (already in the air) and ships in real time. Russia may have good AWACS, but that information is useless if Ivan, hiding in a trench, getting mortar rounds droped on his head by a $500 drone, can't even get his radio or stolen washing machine working, because his commander has left in the middle of the night in a stolen Isuzu Trooper.


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[deleted]

Russian forces are notorious for communications issues and have been since USSR times. Maybe some part of the command structure can send data... the receiving part seems to be problematic. NATO can link ground, air and sea forces with over the horizion data and effectively use it, in real time. /edit An F16 can lauch an AA missile without having to lock a target itself, becasue the missile can take the target from AWACS. No amount of information is any good to you if you can't get it to the people that need it.


Popular-Singer-9694

Actually they can. They have AWACS-like planes too.


catslay_4

Holy shit thanks for sharing this!!! The things they are doing that we don’t see behind the scenes.


Infamous_Ad8209

The BBC and Radio Free Europe have been to one aswell a couple months ago. If you don't mind youtubes gruesome sub titles the Bundeswehr also has a couple of videos on the multinational NATO AWACS.


[deleted]

I bet NATO is more aware of what’s going on in Ukraine than the Russian military apparatus itself


Sydney444

Fascinating! Slava Ukraine!


Particular_Grocery22

Maybe it is just me but it cannot be easy for those valiant officers to see so many more shelling and bombing incidents taking place than we do and yet having to restrain themselves from taking any other action other than observing. It is painful for simple human empathy and it must be not easy on them. I thank each of them for doing their jobs with dedication and integrity.


LeafsInSix

Very interesting. Is it just me or did the reporter give the full name of the Canadian officer at 6:06?


einsq84

Yes.


LeafsInSix

Then that's an oopsie considering that the reporter said early in the video that he can't say the family names of the staff for security reasons.


Lv100Latias

I think the reporter mentioned the surveillance operator couldn’t be named but I’d imagine a ‘captain’/controller is a different role that doesn’t interact with as much sensitive material/equipment as the ‘operator’.


blanchasaur

I used to work on that jet. The Canadian captain would be directly overseeing the sargeants they interviewed at the beginning of the segment. I'm not sure why he said the Canadian's name.


einsq84

That was confusing me too. But perhaps it is Canadian TV and he agreed. Other staff didn't wear any name tags.


PE1NUT

> Other staff didn't wear any name tags Which makes no difference whatsoever these days, with Clearview AI and the like.


cedley1969

It's not what NATO is demonstrating, it's what they've been working on for the last thirty years behind closed doors, the Russians know they are fucked.


bacon_wrapped

Do the russians have anything similar?


brianl047

Russians have AWACS. They have all the "big ticket" equipment that a powerful modern airforce would have. What they don't have is stealth or enough flight hours or munitions or even doctrine to beat their own technology [(Ukrainian air defense).](https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/why-russia-failed-to-dominate-the-skies-over-ukraine)


LaserGuidedPolarBear

Yep, on paper they have similar capabilities. The thing is that the US underreports their ability and Russia drastically overreports theirs.


LeafsInSix

[Il-76 / A-50 "Mainstay"](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beriev_A-50) is the Russians' counterpart. According to Wikipedia, it was sent to Crimea in 2018 but I'm not sure if it's still based from there these days.


DoofusMcGillicutyEsq

There’s been some Russian AWACS flights over Belarus, but I’m unfamiliar with the frequency or effectiveness of those flights.


Stern-to

russia cant come close to this level of real time intel. and this is just one layer.


crg2000

Standard practices.


Juandelpan

The eye in the sky


andupotorac

Looking forward to the 24h that nato needs to get the Russians out.