![]() ![]() The other pilot and I looked out ahead and to the left to clear for any potential conflicting traffic. Notice the sensors are all amassed on the jet's right side. Using a variety of optical and telemetry sensors, the RC-135S collected measurement and signature intelligence (MASINT) and telemetry intelligence (TELINT) used to verify compliance with international arms agreements and to assess the maturity and development of foreign ballistic missile systems.Īs our crew prepared for the re-entry of the SS-20’s three re-entry vehicles (RVs), we climbed to our prescribed collection altitude and began our timing track to ensure that the right side of the airplane-where all the sensors were located-was pointed toward the re-entry event to the west of our orbit (later versions of the Cobra Ball are “ambidextrous” and can collect from either side). In this case, the NTM was the RC-135S Cobra Ball flown by my crew. This allowed for the destruction of 72 of 650 of the now-prohibited intermediate-range ballistic missiles (IRBMs) by launching them from a known test facility to a known impact site with unimpeded observation by national technical means (NTM) of verification. This was part of the “shoot-to-destruction” provision of the 1987 Intermediate Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty between the US and the Soviet Union. Kamchatka Peninsula where the Kura Test Range is located. During a sortie in the sensitive area east of the Kamchatka Peninsula near the USSR, we were notified that the Soviets had launched an SS-20 Saber (RDS-10 Pioneer) missile toward the Kura Test Range at Klyuchi. "Sometime during late 1988, most likely October or November, my crew from the 24th Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron, 6th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing at Eielson AFB, Alaska, was at Shemya AFB, Alaska, for a routine two-week deployment. ![]() The following account is in his own words: Robert Hopkins has been kind enough to share his recollections of encountering the aptly named 'Dome Of Light' with us. It was a phenomenon that ended up drawing extreme interest from America's intelligence community, which thought the RC-135S had encountered a new secret weapon that could alter the strategic balance between the United States and the Soviet Union. ![]() On two of these flights, while monitoring tests of Russia's SS-20 Saber intermediate-range ballistic missile, Hopkins and his copilot experienced something incredibly bizarre. national security with many missions originating out of the highly remote and windswept Shemya Air Force Base in the Aleutian Island chain and aimed at spying on Russian ballistic missile test launches. Cobra Ball was one of America's most important intelligence-gathering assets as it collected high-fidelity data on adversary ballistic missile tests. Veteran Air Force pilot Robert Hopkins, who is also the author of one of my favorite reference books, The Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker : More Than a Tanker, flew RC-135S Cobra Ball missile tracking planes during the twilight of the Cold War. US Spy Plane Pilot's Account Indicates Soviet Russia Tested A 'Dome Of Light' Superweapon ![]()
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