WATCHING RUSSIA WATCHING US

Tim Ripley examines the secretive world of RAF and USAF spy flights around Russia’s western borders. A Royal Air Force RC-135W tops up from a KC-135 Stratotanker belonging to the US Air Force’s 100th Air Refueling Wing off the coast of England. This was the first time a tanker belonging to the Mildenhall-based 100th ARW had refuelled an RAF ‘RJ’. USAF/A1C Jonathan Light The view from the cockpit of a Russian Su-27 fighter as it intercepts an RAF RC-135 over