Steffan Watkins Profile picture
Feb 1 โ€ข 4 tweets โ€ข 5 min read
"The operation involved (...) supporting and operating four F-35s, three CF-18s, four KC-135s, one CC-150, one E-3, and one CH-149."

Okay, let's add them up. ๐Ÿงต
๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ #USAF E-3 Sentry 83-0009 #AE11F2 #CACHE50

Flights identified using #ADSBexchange
2023-01-18
2023-01-19

dvidshub.net/image/7608860/โ€ฆ
๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฆ #RCAF CC-149 Cormorant 149902 #C2B107 deployed from #14WingGreenwood on 2023-01-11, headed to to Iqaluit, in preparation for #NORAD Operation #NobleDefender.

The operation was from the 15th to the 31st, true, but preparations started before that.
๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฆ #RCAF CC-150 Polaris 15005 #C2B37D call sign #HUSK99 established a new pattern of life I hadn't noticed on prior CF-188 Hornet operations; they stayed at #5WingGooseBay while the fighters were in the QRA hangars at #FOLIqaluit

2023-01-17 to 2023-01-19
2023-01-25 to 2023-01-28 ImageImageImageImage

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More from @steffanwatkins

Feb 2
Let me understand this really well, ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฆ #NORAD QRA fighters didn't shoot down the ๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ณ Chinese spy balloon in American, then Canadian, then American airspace? ๐Ÿ˜‚

YOU HAD ONE JOB.

๐Ÿคฆโ€โ™‚๏ธ
They flew right through the #ADIZ that the media get their bloomers in a bunch about when the Russians fly antiques through, and VIOLATED American and Canadian airspace, which the Russians never do, and the Chinese continue to do; did I get that right? What a bunch of bullsh!t.
I suspect the #USAF are flying their own spy drones over China on the regular, without the public's knowledge, in full view of the Chinese military, and they're terrified the Chinese will start shooting them out of the sky if they shoot down the balloon.
Read 23 tweets
Jan 13
๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฆ Here's the distribution of the Canadian-registered Top Aces Alpha Jet fleet. I took the superset of everything registered to them, worked back to 2022-09-01, identified everything that's flown in that time, and flagged those that haven't flown in a month+. Image
๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฆ CFB Cold Lake (4)
๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฆ CFB Bagotville (5)
๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฆ Halifax (1)
๐Ÿ‡ฉ๐Ÿ‡ช Fliegerhorst Nordholz (2)
(+5 haven't flown in over a month)

The idea is, if they haven't flown in over a month, they may be going through some maintenance; or not, I can't tell. ๐Ÿคทโ€โ™‚๏ธ
What's this good for? If you follow Top Aces fighters, you follow where Canadian Forces training is being performed. ๐Ÿฟ
Read 5 tweets
Jan 13
While this article is 5 years old, and likely out of date regarding the operations that are being carried out from Keflavik ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ธ, it makes it clear to me that the "rotational" deployments of large numbers of #USNavy P-8A Poseidon and #RCAF CP-140 Aurora aircraft are a #NATO mission
It's also clear that #RCAF and #USNavy operations out of NAS Keflavik ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ธ and NAS Sigonella ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡น are related, it's basically the same mission, the only difference is #Keflavik surges when the Russian Navy is brining a submarine through the GIUK gap, making a very obvious tell for us
In 2022 the #RCAF deployed to #Keflavik and different bases in the UK several times for patrols of the GIUK gap, with different CP-140 Aurora Block IV aircraft which seem quite popular.

However, the Gov't of Canada won't talk about it, nor will #NATO Public Affairs.
Read 4 tweets
Jan 12
๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฆ Where is the #RCAF today?
๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฆ #RCAF CC-177 Globemaster III (4/5, 80% โœ…)

โ€ฃ 177701 just got back from Haiti
โ€ฃ 177702 is somewhere on the other side of the planet
โ€ฃ 177703 is still in San Antonio ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ (since August ๐Ÿง‘โ€๐Ÿ”ง)
โ€ฃ 177705 arrived in Bagotville yesterday

globe.adsbexchange.com/?icao=c2b3ff,cโ€ฆ
#8WingTrenton #429Sqn Image
Whoops. Image
Read 15 tweets
Dec 8, 2022
๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฆโš”๏ธ Can we figure out which aircraft brought the #CANSOFCOM members back from Niger who were deployed on #OpNABERIUS ๐Ÿ‡ณ๐Ÿ‡ฌ?
If the person in charge was trying to be nice they would have sent something comfortable, like a CC-150 Polaris... did they? Let's look.

globe.adsbexchange.com/?icao=c2b355,cโ€ฆ
I checked back to 2022-11-01, and of course not; these are the elite Canadian ninjas of CANSOFCOM, they don't need to be comfortable.

Let's see if they stuffed them on the back of a CC-177 Globemaster III with their gear.

globe.adsbexchange.com/?icao=c2b3ff,cโ€ฆ
Read 7 tweets
Dec 8, 2022
๐Ÿ–• I was using that feature. ๐Ÿคฌ
If you used the Moments I made, tracking entire categories of planes, you better bookmark them or save the links elsewhere before they're gone. I used these all the time. Elon continues to work hard to remove useful features and drive content creators away from Twitter.
Read 8 tweets

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