In April this year, a Russian Su-27 Flanker aircraft performed a barrel roll around a RC-135 reconnaissance aircraft, operating over the Baltic Sea, in close vicinity of the American plane. During the intercept on 2nd May, no such incident took place.

The US jet was flying in the international airspace, maintaining its presence over the south-eastern end of the Baltic Sea for around 2 hours. During the whole flight, the US aircraft’s transponders were active – thanks to which the RC-135 was visible for the military and civil ATC services.

The US SIGINT aircraft took off from an airbase in the United Kingdom and carried out a 10 hours long sortie along the Polish coast, over the Gdansk bay and in the international airspace, along the South-Eastern part of the Baltic Sea basin. The flight constituted an element of intensified presence of the US Forces in the region. It may also be assumed that it is connected with the upcoming Anakonda 2016 training operation.