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Aren’t the skys of Ukraine bumper to bumper with U2s, global hawks, etc

• nradov 5y ago
  No. The US and it's NATO allies aren't going to fly many reconnaissance aircraft in Ukrainian airspace. Especially not manned aircraft like the U-2. If one gets shot down by Russia that would escalate the conflict. At most the Air Force and/or CIA might be operating a small number of low -observable UAVs like the RQ-170 or similar well away from Russian controlled areas. Satellites will be the primary reconnaissance platform, supplemented by manned EW aircraft flying near the edges of Ukrainian airspace.
• mikewarot 5y ago
  No, they do shimmy up to the border, but never cross it. To do so would be to risk WWIII.
  • techdragon 5y ago
    It’s actually pretty interesting to watch because they are obviously keeping their civilian transponders on and are super obvious on flight tracking maps, exactly for this reason, they want the entire world to know they are not crossing the border, even if they are conducting military operations that would normally be sensitive enough they have transponders off at the moment is a “transponders on” environment for everyone who isn’t fighting.