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Steffan Watkins  Profile picture
@steffanwatkins
Jan 18, 2022 • 12 tweets • 18 min read • Read on X
Scrolly
🇬🇧 Let's review all the excruciating minutiae of the Royal Air Force's flights to Ukraine 🇺🇦, and potentially imports of more lethal aid from the United States 🇺🇸 to the United Kingdom.
Follow me down the rabbit hole. 🧵
(very long 🧵, will take breaks)
First, I take an inventory of the 8 RAF C-17s and where they've flown in the past couple of weeks. It takes at least days to organize a shipment like this.

We know the following aircraft have delivered lethal weapons to Ukraine; let's work back from that
#ZZ171
#ZZ173
#ZZ178
🇬🇧 Royal Air Force Boeing C-17A #ZZ171 was in the Caribbean from 2022-01-11 to 2022-01-15 as #RRR6640 and #RRR6641, and I don't think that trip was related to Ukraine. Interestingly they stopped in Portsmouth #PSM on the way home on 2022-01-13.
globe.adsbexchange.com/?icao=43c171&l…
#43C171
🇬🇧 On 2022-01-18 #RAF C-17A #ZZ171 flew from Brize Norton #BZZ to Kyiv #KBP as #RRR6892, and returned as #RRR6893 (No longer RRR66xx, a RRR68xx formatted callsign)

globe.adsbexchange.com/?icao=43c171&l…
#43C171
🇬🇧 Royal Air Force C-17A #ZZ173 #43C173 on 2022-01-05 departed as #RRR6672 from Brize Norton #BZZ to Portsmouth #PSM to Fort Worth #FTW to Victorville #VCV to Portsmouth to Brize Norton 2022-01-08, returning as #RRR6673.
globe.adsbexchange.com/?icao=43C173&s…
🇬🇧 On 2022-01-17 #RAF C-17A #ZZ173 flew from Brize Norton #BZZ to Kyiv #KBP as #RFR6888 👀, and returned to Lossiemouth #LMO as #RRR6889.

NB: RFR/RRR68xx format for the Kyiv leg

globe.adsbexchange.com/?icao=43C173&s…
#43C173
#ZZ171 ✅
#ZZ173 ✅
#ZZ178
🇬🇧 #RAF C-17A #ZZ178:
Their last trip before working on the Ukraine route, was 2022-01-10 Brize Norton #BZZ to Calgary #YYC to #NellisAFB to Calgary as #RRR6684, switched to #RRR6685 and flew to Portsmouth #PSM to Brize Norton 2022-01-13.

globe.adsbexchange.com/?icao=43C208&s…
#43C208
🇬🇧 #RAF C-17A #ZZ178:
2022-01-17 they flew Brize Norton #BZZ to Kyiv #KBP as #RRR6886, return trip #RRR6887

2022-01-18 they flew Brize Norton to Kyiv as #RRR6890, return #RRR6891.

2022-01-18 #2 they flew #RRR6894 to Kyiv (presume return #RRR6895)
globe.adsbexchange.com/?icao=43C208&s…
#43C208
Were RRR66xx flights to 🇨🇦 and 🇺🇸 related, or just bringing back/dropping-off gear to/from exercises overseas?

Are the stops in Portsmouth indicative of fuelling up before crossing the pond, or picking up more aid for Ukraine?

I can't tell, so I included them for context.
If you hadn't seen the video of one of the shipments arriving:

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More from @steffanwatkins

Steffan Watkins  Profile picture
Mar 13
🇨🇦🇮🇱 About an hour ago #RCAF CC-130J Hercules 130603 #C2B53F fell victim to Israeli GNSS/GPS spoofing & jamming. 130603's transponder ceased transmitting accurate position data, then stopped transmitting position data at all.
globe.adsbexchange.com/?icao=c2b53f&l…
Image
It is unclear if flight #CFC2503 is air-dropping relief to Gaza, or transiting near #Israel.

It is clear that Israel is not pausing their months long electronic warfare attack on all civilian and military aviation in line of sight, and the media doesn't want to mention it.
(link showing documented GPS jamming will only work after March 13, ie, March 14+) h/t @lemonodor

gpsjam.org/?lat=32.82722&…
Read 4 tweets
Steffan Watkins  Profile picture
Jan 26
🇨🇦⚓ Royal Canadian Navy Harry DeWolf-class arctic and offshore patrol vessel HMCS Margaret Brooke departed Halifax on January 12 for a six week #OpCARIBBE deployment. 🧵

#AOPV431 IMO:4702515 MMSI:316014540
call sign:CGMB #HMCSMargaretBrooke
marinetraffic.com/en/ais/details…
January 12
January 12
Read 11 tweets
Steffan Watkins  Profile picture
Aug 11, 2023
🇨🇦⚓️ Where #HMCSMontréal has been since March 26, when they departed Halifax on #OpPROJECTION, using @MarineTraffic AIS-T and AIS-S data. 🧵

This thread serves as a guide, to you the reader, of what to look for in Royal Canadian Navy communications; it's your crackerjack box secret decoder ring when they're vague.

All of this information has been broadcast by the ship's AIS transponder over the airwaves, picked up with every SIGINT satellite in orbit, military and commercial, every plane in line-of-sight(LOS), collected by every significant adversary, and included in a dossier with other intelligence, that was reported up their chain of command, before I woke up this morning.

Our military and government public affairs officials can, without compromising national security, speak plainly and include everything up to (at least) this level of information, because every adversary already knows; they told them. They got the memo.

This is also the minimum amount of detail that the public should expect in any media story about HMCS Montréal's deployment; all this information is at journalists' fingertips too. Public affairs should be more forthright to make journalists' lives easier. This information isn't a secret to the outside world.

All times in UTC, unless otherwise mentioned.
🇨🇦⚓️ Royal Canadian Navy Halifax-class multi-role patrol frigate #HMCSMontréal's first port of call was Lisbon for 4 days from April 4 to April 8.

Fighting erupted in Sudan on April 15. #OpPROJECTION

🇨🇦⚓️ #HMCSMontréal arrived at the Port Said anchorage on April 17, traversed the Suez Canal into the Red Sea on April 18, then stopped transmitting AIS from April 19 until they arrived in Salalah, Oman on May 8. #OpPROJECTION

Read 54 tweets
Steffan Watkins  Profile picture
May 24, 2023
🇬🇧 41% (9) of the RAF A400M Atlas fleet of 22 do not fly. Of the remaining 59% (13) that do fly, some of them are deployable, and some are homebodies doing training and certification. #ZM406 returned from the Airbus depot in Getafe, Spain 🇪🇸. Image
🇬🇧 RAF C-130J Hercules #ZH869 #43C198 was sent to Cambridge 🇬🇧 to be decommissioned, bringing the number of Hercs remaining to 5, all of which are flying regularly, except #ZH870 #43C04C hasn't flown in a week.. maybe they're next? 🪦
+ No coverage of the Herc flight to Benghazi. Image
🇬🇧 Only RAF C-17 Globemaster (#ZZ172 #43C172) hasn't flown for over a month; it's probably undergoing indepth maintenance. 88% of the fleet is regularly in the air. Image
Read 4 tweets
Steffan Watkins  Profile picture
May 21, 2023
There's nothing that reinforces the stupidity of mankind like Facebook drama.

Two #USAF C-17 Globemasters (09-9212 #AE49C8 #RCH745 & 10-0214 #AE4D67 #RCH435) landed at in Calgary YYC and the USAF asked the Ground Handling Company to enforce a ban on pictures and video of the… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… ImageImageImage
Our review starts on 2023-05-13 when #RCH435 took off from Charleston and flew to JBA. #AE4D67
globe.adsbexchange.com/?icao=ae49c8,a… Image
On 2023-05-14 #RCH705 departed Charleston heading NW, and #RCH435 departed JBA heading NW too.
globe.adsbexchange.com/?icao=ae49c8,a…
#AE49C8 #AE4D67 Image
Read 13 tweets
Steffan Watkins  Profile picture
May 19, 2023
Hasn't anyone thought about the implications of what the government admits to doing?

Forget that they factually, deliberately, stopped transmitting Mode-S/ADS-B to hide their "training" operations over Ottawa; what is their data retention policy, on the data they collected from… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
Let's review the flight data that shows the arrival of American-registered N330TT #A3978A call sign CAVE033 operated by MAG Aerospace (per contract) from when they arrived in Ottawa on Tuesday January 25, 2022 from Hagerstown, Maryland - immediately before the arrival of the… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… Image
👇

Read 17 tweets

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