Nuke-sniffer plane possibly in the air

SEOUL, South Korea — A U.S. military plane capable of detecting radiation has taken off from southern Japan amid concerns over a threatened nuclear test by North Korea, a news report said Thursday.

Fox News
Edit for comment:
First saw a blurb on timebomb2000 about it. Waited for reports from a news source before posting. The plane is a WC-135W. Information about the plane is here.

Not sure at this point if the reason launching is suspect or just routine. But from what I understand, the plane doesn't just fly around all the time. It only does so with good reason - since the end of the cold war anyway.



[edit on 5-10-2006 by Firehawk50]

Great stuff, but you should make a comment yourself on the article, just posting the link isn't enough.

I don't make the rules, I just...............well, say them.

When another country prepares a missile test launch, nuke or non-nuke., all sorts of platforms are sortied as is viable, to the vicinity of the launch.

For this possible NK launch, you can expect:

Cobra Judy equipped T-AGM ships like the Invincible (T-AGM-24) or the Observation Island (T-AGM-23) will sortie to the area to collect telemetry.

Cobra Dane radar on the island of Shemya, Alaska will probably be activated for telemetry collection during the event.

Air platforms like the MASINT collection platform Cobra Ball, RC-135 and the
aircraft noted previously WC-135, Constant Phoenix would sortie into the area as well for telemetry and air sample collection.

Also AEGIS equipped cruisers and/or destroyers stationed in Japan would probably sortie into the area as well for telemetry collection.

en.wikipedia.org...(T-AGM-24)
en.wikipedia.org...
en.wikipedia.org...
en.wikipedia.org...
www.fas.org...