3:3 Pick of the Week

In an effort to provide different and interesting content in my blog, I’ll begin “Pick of the Week.” Pick of the week will be a brief history/story on anything from an Airman, aircraft, systems, units and so forth. Completely random, it should be a great source and read!

This week’s (20-26 Jun) pick of the week is the United States Air Force’s RC-135 Cobra Ball—not listed on the US Air Force Official Website, in their aircraft fact sheets section. I first heard about this aircraft from a fellow crewdog that cross-trained from the Cobra Eye to AWACS. Darby Perrin, now a Reservist with the 507^th Air Refueling Wing in Oklahoma City is also a renowned aviation artist, shared a 20 second brief on the Cobra Ball. "It takes pictures and the wing is black to provide anti-glare," that was his brief. To the right, Darby painted the nose art on the only Cobra Eye in 1989. Above, top left, one of Darby's prints.

The Cobra Ball, visually similar (standing on the ground) to the RC-135 Rivet Joint, but if you were to stand atop a building and look down on a Cobra Ball and an RJ sitting side by side, you would notice that one just doesn’t look like the other. On the right side of the Cobra Ball, you cannot help but stare at the black wing. This black wing, now not of any significance other than tradition was used in the past to provide anti-glare capability for multiple spectral and optical sensors/systems inside the aircraft. The evolution of the Cobra Ball began with the “Nancy Rae,” RC-135D, 1961-69; the “Lisa Ann/Rivet Amber,” RC-135E, 1963-69; the “Wanda Bell/Rivet Ball,” RC-135S, 1966-69; and the present “Cobra Ball,” 1969-present.

Cobra Ball is a measurement and signal intelligence (MASINT) collections airframe/system. It utilizes electronic-optical systems, designed to exploit the enemy electromagnetic spectrum to observe ballistic missile tests/flights at long-range. Cobra Ball tracks ballistic missiles for arms treaty compliance/verification and theater ballistic missile proliferation. A significant asset to the Defense and Security of our nation, it has also been an asset to other customers as well. With the proliferation of nuclear arms, it is clear that the two tails that exist will continue to serve our nation for quite a few more years.

The RC-135 Cobra Ball, based at Offut AFB, Nebraska, with it’s secretive nature, and peculiar exterior is an interesting aircraft to say the least. Good luck on finding any in-depth information concerning this weapons system and if you’re one of the lucky ones to serve aboard this aircraft, my hat is off to you.