• lustrum
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    1 year ago

    Genuine question what they reconning at that distance? Just comm interception?

    • gravitas_deficiency
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      1 year ago

      It could be optical and IR too. FORTE11 is likely the RQ-4, as it’s in a much more dangerous (as in, the Ruskies might lob a missile at it if they’re feeling like they want to fuck around a bit) spot, and the RQ-4 is basically just a modern, unmanned spin on a U-2. They have Synthetic Aperture Radar, electro-optical, and IR sensors whose upper ends of fidelity are classified. So yeah - on a clear day, it’s absolutely feasible that they could be getting optical/IR intel (probably BDAs for the storm shadow strikes the Ukranians are doing, if I had to guess) from Sevastopol and other places in Crimea.