Map Shows US Spy Flight Near Russia’s Borders

A rare United States reconnaissance aircraft specializing in signals intelligence conducted its second spy flight since reaching Europe last week on Monday as it flew near Russia’s Western borders.

The U.S. Air Force RC-135U’s flight lasted approximately nine and a half hours, according to data captured on Monday by the aircraft tracking service Flightradar24. The aircraft, deployed to the United Kingdom since August 18, departed the Mildenhall air base in eastern England.

During its second flight in Europe, the aircraft, known as “Combat Sent,” flew eastward after taking off and transited over the Netherlands, Germany, and Poland. It continued its spy flight by flying over Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia before crossing the Gulf of Finland and reaching Finland.

According to the Air Force, this aircraft—one of only two in its inventory—can locate and identify foreign military land, naval and airborne radar signals. Information garnered from the data will help determine detailed operating characteristics and capabilities of foreign systems.

Newsweek‘s map, displaying Coordinated Universal Time, or UTC, traces the aircraft’s flight path in eastern Finland, which borders Russia. The aircraft circles over the Finnish area multiple times before returning to its temporary base at Mildenhall. During its return flight, it flies directly over the Baltic Sea.

The American spy plane bypassed Russia’s Kaliningrad, which is sandwiched between NATO members Poland and Lithuania, twice on Monday. The territory has been under the Russian Leningrad Military District since March in response to the NATO accession of Finland and Sweden.

On Tuesday, the same aircraft flew and circled over waters off Kaliningrad. According to flight tracking data, it was the third in Europe and lasted over five hours.

The “Combat Sent” deploys worldwide for peacetime and contingency operations. It conducted five flight operations near China’s shores on May 7–14 from its forward deployment location on Japan’s Okinawa Island. It also flew a nearly nine-hour sortie on May 17 over South Korea.

Meanwhile, an RQ-4B “Global Hawk,” an American unmanned spy aircraft, arrived at Fairford air base in England on Thursday for a temporary deployment. This was part of the efforts to diversify operating locations and enhance integration with NATO allies, the Air Force said in a statement.

Flight tracking data also showed the “Global Hawk” took off from Sigonella air base in Italy and was airborne for around 23 hours over the Baltic region and Finland before landing at Fairford.

Open-source intelligence analyst Amelia Smith said on X, formerly Twitter that this was the first time an American RQ-4B had deployed to the U.K. and the second time it had flown over Finland.

The “Global Hawk” provides persistent near-real-time coverage using multiple sensors with an endurance of over 30 hours in flight, providing flexibility in meeting mission requirements. It flew a 34.3-hour flight in 2014, the longest unrefueled flight by a U.S. Air Force aircraft.