US reconnaissance aircraft conducts surveillance near Russian borders

US Air Force Boeing RC-135U Combat Sent reconnaissance aircraft was spotted near Russia’s borders, flying over the Baltic States on August 20.

The aircraft departed from an airbase in Nebraska on August 17 and landed at Mildenhall airbase in the UK before conducting its surveillance mission, Caliber.Az reports per foreign sources.

The aircraft's flight path included Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia, where it performed maneuvers close to the Russian frontier.

The Combat Sent—one of only two in the Air Force's inventory—landed at the UK's Mildenhall air base in eastern England, having departed its home at Nebraska's Offutt Air Force Base and stopped in Delaware on its way across the Atlantic Ocean.

The flight lasted approximately six hours, but its exact purpose and the length of the Combat Sent's deployment to Europe were not immediately clear.

The US Defence Department typically declines to comment on specific operations.