Boeing RC-135

RC-135
An RC-135 Rivet Joint reconnaissance aircraft in flight.
Role	Reconnaissance aircraft Type of aircraft
Manufacturer	Boeing (airframe) L3 Technologies
Introduction	1961
Status	Active
Primary users	United States Air Force Royal Air Force[1][2]
Number built	32 total airframes in all iterations
Developed from	Boeing C-135 Stratolifter

The Boeing RC-135 is a family of large reconnaissance aircraft built by Boeing and modified by a number of companies, including General Dynamics, Lockheed, LTV, E-Systems, and L3 Technologies, and used by the United States Air Force and Royal Air Force to support theater and national level intelligence consumers with near real-time on-scene collection, analysis and dissemination capabilities.

Based on the C-135 Stratolifter airframe, various types of RC-135s have been in service since 1961. Unlike the C-135 and KC-135 which are recognized by Boeing as the Model 717,^[3][4] most of the current RC-135 fleet (with the exception of the RAF's RC-135Ws) is internally designated as the Model 739 by the company. Many variants have been modified numerous times, resulting in a large variety of designations, configurations, and program names.