RC-135 Rivet Joint Eyes Drone Integration to Dramatically Expand ISR Capability

RC-135 Rivet Joint Eyes Drone Integration to Dramatically Expand ISR Capability

L3Harris is actively pursuing crewed-uncrewed teaming (CUATs) capabilities for the RC-135V/W Rivet Joint intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) aircraft. Drones would not only collect additional data and extend the operational reach of the airliner-sized reconnaissance platform, but could also keep these high-value assets at a safer distance from threat areas. This initiative, along with several other ongoing developments, stands to open new operational possibilities for the Rivet Joint fleet.

Jason Lambert, President of L3Harris's ISR division, spoke exclusively with journalist Jamie Hunter about RC-135 crewed-uncrewed teaming and other significant advances. Lambert also discussed airborne early warning, electronic warfare capabilities being developed for the company's various special-mission aircraft — including the AERIS-X airborne early warning and control aircraft, based on the Bombardier Global 6500 business jet, being developed for South Korea.

Supporting the Global Rivet Joint Fleet

L3Harris is responsible for supporting the global Rivet Joint fleet, which includes 17 aircraft operated by the U.S. Air Force and a further three operated by the United Kingdom's Royal Air Force (RAF). Depot maintenance and upgrades for the RC-135V/W are carried out at the company's facility in Greenville, Texas.

"These aircraft operate in a cycle where they come back from the front lines approximately every four years for depot maintenance. We bring the aircraft into the Greenville facility, pull the electronics out, do a full inspection of the airframe, look for any corrosion and address it," Lambert explained. "Then we re-equip the aircraft with the latest antennas, hardware capabilities, computing capabilities, and the software that is continually — actually always — undergoing baseline spiral upgrades."

He added: "Software development runs on a spiral upgrade schedule, and we are continuously developing new updates and upgrades to the aircraft's mission systems. So while these aircraft came off Boeing's production line in the 1960s and 70s, in terms of mission-system capability, they are actually the youngest mission systems in the U.S. Air Force — because every aircraft that leaves our depot carries the world's most current hardware and software technology."

A Rivet Joint reconnaissance aircraft stripped of its standard livery undergoing maintenance at L3Harris's Greenville facility. Photo: Dylan Phelps

L3Harris "already has the ability to do rapid hardware and software upgrades to the aircraft," Lambert noted, "with timelines ranging from one week to one month, after which the aircraft can be redeployed to an operational theater."

Noteably, rapid upgrade cycles measured in days or even hours have proven decisive in the drone and electronic warfare domains in the Ukraine conflict. The U.S. military has also been increasingly vocal about the need to adapt faster — a lesson underscored by operations in the Red Sea from 2023 to 2025.

Crewed-Uncrewed Teaming Demonstration on the Horizon

For L3Harris, crewed-uncrewed teaming is among the new capabilities being introduced to the Rivet Joint fleet through existing processes.

"We are in discussions to do an actual demonstration of crewed-uncrewed teaming with the RC-135," Lambert said. "This is new technology, new capability that is in progress. The technology is there; it exists today — we just need to go demonstrate it."

Front-on view of an RC-135V/W Rivet Joint. Photo: U.S. military

Lambert stated that L3Harris has been in talks with multiple (unnamed) drone manufacturers regarding crewed-uncrewed teaming for both the Rivet Joint and other special-mission aircraft. He also highlighted the company's Broadband Communication Systems (BCS) division, based in Salt Lake City, Utah, as having the capability to provide the secure data links needed to enable this capability.

"The next question is how we demonstrate this capability in an actually connected, battlespace architecture," he added.

Tactical Advantages of Drone Teaming

Pairing the RC-135V/W with unmanned partners would expand its ability to collect electronic signals and other intelligence across a much wider area. Drones could operate beyond the Rivet Joint's organic sensor range and radio horizon, carrying additional sensor packages to broaden the range of intelligence the team can collect at any given moment. Networking multiple assets would also facilitate the geolocation of radio signals through triangulation. With the right tactics, a crewed-uncrewed team could deliver greater tactical flexibility and higher-fidelity intelligence data.

Information gathered by the drones could be transmitted to Rivet Joint crew members for analysis and exploitation, and also relayed to other intelligence and command-and-control nodes further in the rear. These aircraft are also capable of transmitting data directly to forward tactical units. The crew — comprising dozens of signals and electronic warfare specialists as well as linguists — can immediately begin sorting through collected intelligence and helping route it where it is needed.

An unclassified U.S. Air Force briefing slide outlining the role breakdown of a typical Rivet Joint crew. Photo: USAF

The RC-135V/W is already renowned for building "electronic orders of battle" — detailed pictures of adversary force dispositions, particularly air defense and command-and-control assets. Unmanned partners fit naturally into this model, offering new ways to probe integrated air defense networks and gather intelligence on adversary capabilities and standard operating procedures.

Crewerd-uncrewed teaming would also allow the Rivet Joint to stand farther from threats. Stealthy drones in particular could be sent into high-risk areas to collect intelligence. Adversaries' anti-access/area-denial (A2/AD) envelopes continue to grow in scale and reach — including increasingly long-range surface-to-air missiles — which will force the Rivet Joint farther from its collection areas, especially in high-end conflicts involving China in the Pacific. Notably, the U.S. Army also views air-launched drones as a critical capability for its new ME-11B High Accuracy Detection and Exploitation System (HADES) ISR aircraft, precisely to keep it as far as possible from enemy air defenses.

The Rivet Joint's potential to serve as an airborne drone control station also opens operational possibilities beyond ISR, including having unmanned partners provide close-in self-protection. Drones could additionally be configured for electronic warfare and signals relay roles. Networked swarms of variously configured drone partners could further enhance flexibility, conducting multiple tasks simultaneously across a wide battlespace.

An RC-135V/W Rivet Joint over an undisclosed location in the Middle East. Photo: USAF

All of this could transform the RC-135V/W into a more multi-role platform. At the same time, it bears noting that the Rivet Joint is a classic high-demand, low-density asset — the U.S. Air Force's 17 aircraft can only be in one place at a time. These aging aircraft have also faced readiness challenges in recent years, further limiting the number available for missions on any given day.

AERIS-X: Command Hub in the Sky

In his interview with Jamie Hunter, Lambert also discussed what drone teaming and other capability developments mean for the AERIS-X program.

"Think about AERIS-X as a command-and-control node that is capable of operating a constellation of drones," Lambert said. It is "essentially a hub-and-spoke system that can operate in a networked fashion in a battlespace."

Artist's rendering of the AERIS-X aircraft in South Korean service. Image: L3Harris

"The current AERIS-X aircraft has a six-operator configuration, and can be easily expanded to eight operators — we are also evaluating the opportunity to expand it to ten," he added. "The number of operators is also a function of the evolution of artificial intelligence. Think about the effectiveness of operators at their stations and their workload. We view AI as augmenting rather than replacing operators. With AI, you can do more with less — have fewer people process and analyze more information, allowing a team of six to do the work of ten or more. That is entirely feasible with an AI-enabled technology platform."

This could have significant implications for commanding larger groups of drones and executing additional missions. The drones themselves could be highly autonomous, further reducing the workload on human operators.

"Imagine AERIS-X essentially owning the sky, controlling the battlespace — not just focused on what is in the air but also on targets rising from the ground. It is equipped with a radar suite for long-range detection," Lambert said, speaking more broadly about the AERIS-X. "We also have the ability to integrate it with ISR platforms for a look-down capability, including synthetic aperture radar / ground moving target indicator (SAR/GMTI) radar and long-range targeting."

"When it comes to ground connectivity, we have not only line-of-sight links but also satellite links for ground command and control, as well as airborne command and control," he added. "We have a program called TOC-L — Tactical Operations Center-Lite — which is essentially a complementary product to this system. You can have air bases distributed across an island chain or four forward-deployed locations, and now you can have a network architecture and infrastructure that enables command and control across the entire set of assets."

Electronic Warfare Integration

Beyond the airborne early warning and ground surveillance roles, Lambert also highlighted the potential to equip AERIS-X with electronic warfare capabilities, particularly to provide additional layers of self-protection. L3Harris's special-mission aircraft portfolio also encompasses electronic attack platforms, including the U.S. Air Force's EA-37B Compass Call. Italy is currently working toward deploying a derivative of the EA-37B, with L3Harris collaborating on the Joint Airborne Multi-Mission Multi-Sensor (JAMMS) aircraft program.

A U.S. Air Force EA-37B Compass Call electronic warfare aircraft. Photo: USAF

Lambert also discussed how L3Harris is applying technology from the Rivet Joint fleet to the Royal Australian Air Force's (RAAF) MC-55A Peregrine. Australia has positioned the MC-55A as an "airborne ISR and electronic warfare" platform.

The first RAAF MC-55A Peregrine arrives in Australia in January 2026. Photo: @airman941

The Rivet Joint fleet may also be in line to gain electronic warfare capabilities, if it has not already. The U.S. Air Force has openly explored the benefits of directly pairing Rivet Joint and Compass Call crewed aircraft together in combat operations.

The electronic warfare domain is also where the earlier comments about rapid upgrade cycles are especially relevant. Electronic warfare systems must be regularly updated to remain effective in an environment where threats can evolve rapidly by changing waveforms or signal modulations. Data collected by ISR platforms is critical for tracking adversary developments, and pushing upgrades to fielded systems as quickly as possible is equally essential — updates that arrive too slowly risk being obsolete before they reach the field. The industry is developing a key capability under the concept of "cognitive electronic warfare" to further compress these upgrade cycles; significant progress has been made, and the ultimate goal is a system capable of autonomously adapting in real time based on new data during a mission.

L3Harris is clearly highly motivated to demonstrate how pairing drones with the Rivet Joint and other ISR, airborne early warning and control, and electronic warfare aircraft can create a more powerful airborne team for the conflicts of tomorrow.

Contact the author: joe@twz.com

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