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A quiet night is a good night on a surveillance plane over Eastern Europe. That’s because a busy night means terror is coming to someone on the ground below.

I’ve been speaking with the crew of an aircraft patrolling the skies over the eastern edges of Poland. They can’t tell me exactly where they’ve been, but it is safe to say they’ve been closer to the war in Ukraine than most pilots and crew will ever want to get. And they’ve been doing it to monitor Russian attacks and keep the rest of Europe safe.

An RAAF Wedgetail flies in formation with Australian and US jets in a file photograph.Credit: ADF

The crew of this spy plane are trained to watch a bank of screens along the cabin of their E-7A Wedgetail, gathering the radar signals from a bulging fin on the spine of the aircraft. They are prepared for a hectic shift and know they are above a war zone. But they are human: they feel no joy in seeing the screens light up.

They do have a sense of satisfaction, however, about their work. “It’s rewarding when we get to deliver on our mission,” says Flight Lieutenant Rhett Allen, who oversees the team........

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