A US Spy Plane Has Been Flying Circles Over Seattle For Days (thedrive.com)

turkeydance shares Thursday's report from The Drive: A very unique U.S. Air Force surveillance aircraft has been flying highly defined circles over Seattle and its various suburbs for nine days now... The aircraft, which goes by the callsign "SPUD21" and wears a nondescript flat gray paint job with the only visible markings being a U.S. Air Force serial on its tail, is a CASA CN-235-300 transport aircraft that has been extensively modified... It is covered in a dizzying array of blisters, protrusions, humps and bumps. These include missile approach warning detectors and large fairings on its empennage for buckets of forward-firing decoy flares, as well as both microwave -- the dome antenna behind the wing and flat antenna modification in front of the wing -- and ultra high-frequency satellite communications -- the platter-like antenna behind the dome antenna. A communications intelligence suite also appears to be installed on the aircraft, with the antenna farm on the bottom of its fuselage being a clear indication of such a capability. But what's most interesting is the aircraft's apparent visual intelligence gathering installation...

This particular CN-235, with the serial 96-6042, is one of six that researchers commonly associated with the Air Force's top secret 427th Special Operations Squadron... The 427th occupies the same space with a host of other "black" U.S. military aviation elements, most of which are affiliated to some degree with Joint Special Operations Command and the Intelligence Community... [I]f the military placed the aircraft under civilian control to some degree and with an appropriate legal justification, the U.S. military could possibly fly it in support of a domestic operation or one focused on a foreign suspect or organization operating within the United States... It's also entirely possible, if not probable, that the aircraft could be involved in a realistic training exercise rather than an actual operation... The area could have simply provided a suitable urban area to test existing or new surveillance technologies, too, though this could spark serious privacy concerns if true.
Friday an Air Force Special Operations Command public affairs officer confirmed that the plane was one of theirs, describing its activity as "just a training mission," according to Russia Today.

Comments

Re:Sources

[ckatko]

100% right. Everything from a Russian newspaper is propaganda.

Unlike our own press which is never propoganda. Also, the Iraq war never happened.

Could very well be training/testing

[93 Escort Wagon]

Joint Base Lewis-McCord is less than 50 miles from Seattle, as the drone flies - so the city is convenient. Heck, Boeing Field is only about 4 miles away from downtown, if there are problems. Plus Seattle is remote enough from Washington DC and New York (not to mention smaller) that the country is less likely to freak out now that the surveillance drone has been outed.

Not to mention that Seattle is a liberal bastion which the current administration probably wouldn't mind messing with a bit.

Re:Could very well be training/testing

[Dutch Gun]

Not to mention Whidbey Island Naval Air Station. There's a LOT of civilian and military air traffic around here. I'm having a hard time picturing most native Seattlites being all that concerned about this. And I'd imagine the current administration has better things to do than to order military flights to mess with the Seattle populous.

I'm not sure why people are surprised by this. SIGINT is part of the the modern military's war-fighting capabilities. Yes, they're probably monitoring Seattle's communications to practice interception of and analyzing said traffic. That they'd be training their people seems like a perfectly plausible explanation to me.

What next, people freaking out that out in the desert somewhere, the military is practicing with guns, bombs, rockets, and other weapons that can kill large numbers of people? Or that the military flies simulated bombing runs over civilian targets? This is what they're paid to do - preparing for all aspects of warfare.

Training for poor visability in an urban center?

[kevmeister]

Perhaps the Air Force is taking advantage of the heavy smoke covering the area for training on techniques for imaging under such circumstances. In actual military use in a shooting war, smoke and dust from combat are likely to make optical observation more difficult. I would assume that on-board tech could enhance this, but it may require real-time tuning by the crew.

The current conditions may provide an excellent opportunity for real-world experience.

Comparison

[JBMcB]

Find an RT article highly critical of Putin.

Now, find a mainstream US news article highly critical of Trump.

Guess which one is easier?

Crap, I'll find you a dozen Fox News pieces criticizing Trump.

Re:Comparison

[globaljustin]

> MSNBC, CNN, WaPo, et al piece that's highly critical of clinton or any other feminist figurehead...

First, ALL OF THOSE HAVE BEEN CRITICAL OF HILLARY

2nd, and more importantly, Hillary Clinton is not a "feminist figurehead". To call her that shows you are ignorant about why people support Hillary and ignorant about what feminism is.

Feminism is the 'radical' idea that men and women should be treated equally.

Hillary's policy positions are to the right of Bernie Sanders, Barrack Obama, and most of the voting populace nationally. She is a left leaning centrist

Re:Comparison

[Anonymous Coward]

The articles published by RT are shaped to support Putin's policies. The articles published by the major US media are shaped to bring about the downfall of the Presidency while ignoring the consequences of their success. Those trying to do anything in their power to bring down Trump can look forward to facing the same animosity and never ending attacks from here on out. The US government is already comprised of liars, thief's, morons, and incompetent assholes who never contribute anything positive to the US. The legislative members are fully owned whores who carry out their marching orders after someone buys them an election. Who donates millions of dollars to a candidates election campaign and doesn't expect a ROI? With all investigations that pop up every day why don't they investigate the lobbying 501c groups that bypass the federal election laws and create a loop hole that enables unlimited amount of money to be funneled to current and wannabe politicians? Oh that's right! Congress has passed laws where the parties and individuals cannot be the subject of any public investigation. There will never be a public hearing where a Senator is asked to explain why a 501c entity would donate millions to his election campaign.

None of the major US news outlets are any more trustworthy then Russian media.

Re:Comparison

[Anonymous Coward]

Feminism is the 'radical' idea that men and women should be treated equally.

Strangely, the *only* people I've met who have supported treating men and women unequally have been feminists.

We have a word for treating people equally. It's 'egalitarianism', and it's not the same thing as feminism.

Re:Comparison

[geekymachoman]

> Feminism is the 'radical' idea that men and women should be treated equally.

It was. Long time ago... now it mutated to something very rotten.