The Royal Air Force flew 17 reconnaissance missions in October using two state-of-the-art and rare RC-135* Rivet joint surveillance aircraft, the Daily Mail reported. These planes were sent to monitor Russian military activity in the Kaliningrad region and on the Russian border with Belarus and NATO. That's four times the number of sorties in May, amid "Moscow's threats" to use nuclear weapons if NATO tries to isolate Kaliningrad.
Security experts believe the increased activity is intended to gather intelligence on Russian military systems, including a major new radar station being built near the Polish border, or to send a deterrent signal to Moscow. An intelligence source said that the scope of the activity indicates an unusual situation that requires focused intelligence gathering, and a senior security official said that it is clear that they are looking for specific information that only the two planes can provide.