As tension over Syria builds up, two U.S. spy planes have landed at Heraklion airport in Crete.

The MC-12S EMARSS and MC-12W Liberty planes have been used in recent missions over Afghanistan and Iraq.

The Enhanced Medium Altitude Reconnaissance and Surveillance System (EMARSS-S) has a suite of signal-snooping gear to track and listen in on enemy communications, as well as the ability to record full-motion video during the day or at night.

Each aircraft also has workstations connected to the Distributed Common Ground System-Army (DCGS-A) intelligence data network, which is supposed to help collect, compile and distribute information rapidly across units.

The MC-12W Liberty aircraft is an intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) aircraft of the United States Air Force.

Source: Tasos Kokkinidis/greekreporter