What are two US Army spy planes doing over Lithuania?

Geoffrey Thomas

By Geoffrey Thomas Sun Mar 20, 2022

Thousands are watching two US Army spy planes - Beech RC-12Xs - over Lithuania. According to the website Scramble, the US Army actively deploys the Beech RC-12X Guardrail to Lithuania where they conduct Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) missions along the border with Belarus and Kaliningrad. Kaliningrad is an Oblast federal subject and exclave of Russia located on the coast of the Baltic Sea. The US Army Guardrails are operated in Lithuania from Siauliai Air Base. The website says the RC-12X, is a Special Electronic Mission Aircraft that provides Aerial Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (AISR) capability. The systems are designed to provide timely, accurate, and tactical signal intelligence, or SIGINT, to commanders. Intelligence gathered during missions is sent back to analysts operating in-ground stations mostly outside hostile areas. Here is the mission profile. READ: Ocean Infinity commits to a new search for MH370 in 2023. READ: Comprehensive and credible new report into MH370 location. ABOUT AirlineRatings.com Airlineratings.com was developed to provide everyone in the world a one-stop-shop for everything related to airlines, formed by a team of aviation editors, who have forensically researched nearly every airline in the world. Our rating system is rated from one to seven stars on safety – with seven being the highest ranking. Within each airline, you will find the country of origin, airline code, booking URL, and seat map information. The rating system takes into account a number of different factors related to audits from aviation’s governing bodies, lead associations, as well as the airlines, own safety data. Every airline has a safety rating breakdown so you can see exactly how they rate. Over 230 of the airlines on the site that carry 99 percent of the world’s passengers have a product rating. Given that low cost, regional and full-service carriers are so different we have constructed a different rating system for each which can be found within each airline.  

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