Spy Plane

Following Yuri's defection, the Soviet Union needed a way to undertake field reconaissance without the need for psychic powers. They eventually settled on the solution they had used during the Great World War II. A fast, hard to intercept spy plane was put back in useage. As Russia had ceased the development of field airstrips, the Spy Plane was built and maintained away from the battlefield.

The spy plane would take off from a distant runway at high speed, fly over the designated area, and take a few snapshots. These would be transmitted to a commander's terminal, and the topography of the immediate area recon was requested for would be revealed.

While the area revealed by the recon photos was decently sized, the Allied RA2:Spy Satellite Uplink was still superior. However, the ability of a spy plane to be serviced fairly quickly allowed it to even the odds in terms of intelligence gathering.

Though it's speed gave it a relative degree of invulnerability, massed AA still could get lucky and shoot a Spy Plane down.