France Carries Out Unusual Ballistic Missile Test As American Spy Plane Looks On
French authorities have confirmed that the test involved an M51 submarine-launched ballistic missile fired from a land-based facility.
French authorities have confirmed that the test involved an M51 submarine-launched ballistic missile fired from a land-based facility.
During the Cold War, RC-135 Cobra Ball missile test tracking jet crews sat alert at one of the most remote and inhospitable places on earth.
China’s anti-ship ballistic missile capabilities remain something of a mystery, but their strategic purpose is anything but.
A U.S. Air Force RC-135S Cobra Ball launch surveillance aircraft took in the test while orbiting over the Caribbean.
The United States has stepped up aerial intelligence gathering around North Korea, including using a newly modified RC-135V Rivet Joint surveillance aircraft. This comes amid threats from the regime in Pyongyang to send the U.S. government a “Christmas gift,” very likely in the form of a long-range ballistic missile test.
The exotic capability may have been a countermeasure intended to blind American early warning satellites from detecting a first strike launch.
The swap meant the missile monitoring mission went ahead as planned, but it forced the service to delay another intelligence-gathering sortie.