Maybe it is overt signalling to Russia, testing some of the prototype systems like ARTEMIS and/or ally interoperability in closer to real world situations but given the activity I've seen on Flight Radar over the last few days I'm not so sure they won't be pulling the bluff if this goes on much longer. It is almost unthinkable but the feeling I get from what I'm observing in terms of specific utilisation of assets and what, general patterns of missions, etc. doesn't fit with sitting back in a defensive posture and/or feeding Ukraine info forever.
EDIT: On a related note - whelp those F-15s are loud - just had some fly nearish my house but not that near and very audible.
They are beyond loud when flying low and slow
Luckily I get the planes coming into Mildenhall mainly so only normal noisy
Very occasionally I get Lakenheath traffic, or possibly planes using Mildenhall to stop off and the F15s you literally cannot hold a conversation or hear the TV etc
I still prefer the Ospreys though, love them flying around
My boss is funny, based in NL and a plane spotter. He actually used to come to the UK to spot the F15s etc apparently they record the tail numbers like old train spotters did to engine numbers (wierd I know) and whenever we are on teams and something flies over I need to check.
"Is that a KC135?"
"Yep"
"ok back to work"
Sometimes its "I can see on map bet we will hear it soon"
me : "plane overhead bit hard to hear"
him : "told you"
