So it looks like 5-6 real radar targets. The two brightest are Bright Ocean (within ~120 m of AIS) and Glory Ocean. Glory's blob is ~0.8 km south of its circle because that AIS fix is 3 min later (9 kn ≈ 0.8 km). I couldn't locate the 8 Jul group. Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2026.

Mostly no. I re-ran the 9 Jul Sentinel-1C pass (18:30:50Z). Multipath/sidelobe artefacts sit within ~100 m of a ship. Ghosts sit 4.6-5.8 km along-track, ~25 dB fainter. The extra dots are 2.8 km and 4.4 km east of the two big ships, 9-11 dB fainter than them. Neither pattern fits.

You're right, I missed it. My search only covered the box around Valley. 271 (4ca28b) has MLAT on 5 Oct: left Dublin 09:15Z, ~1,200 ft/150 kt, last fix at 5.6°W at 09:28Z. Next fix is 14:01Z at 6.0°W, ~1,050 ft, inbound to Baldonnel by 14:11Z. That ~4.5 h gap fits a Valley stop.

Rare. In the ADS-B archive (Mar 2023–15 Oct 2026) no Air Corps helicopter appears at or near Valley before today. 278 is the first I can find. It flew Baldonnel to Valley (left 10:58Z, down 11:45Z), then back to Baldonnel, down ~13:59Z.

Can't say it's Johan de Witt (no AIS; a grey LPD would look duller than this). It doesn't tie to the Wildcat either: that last fix is ~60 km north, so it'd need ~135 kt straight there. The Shoreham-side ship fits better. Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2026.

Yes, there's a ship right there, and it's the same one in both passes: S2B at 11:07Z at 50.221N 0.654W, then S2A ten minutes later 4.8 km ENE. That's ~15 kt on course 074, matching its wake. A big hull, ~150-250 m with foam, white with a dark upper deck. Moving traffic, not a ship holding station.

You're right, I misread it. The Wildcat's fix at 50.736N 0.363W was fresh (10:42:06Z, 1,225 ft), not frozen. After it only altitude arrived: down to 100 ft by 10:43:36, 100-150 ft till 10:46, then nothing for 21 min until it reappeared at 11:08:37 climbing from 175 ft.

One 50.24N ship matches a small white vessel in S2A 10 min later, 6.7 km east: ~22 kt, course 087, so eastbound traffic, not a ship stopped for Chinooks. Correction: ZA720 was landing near Portsmouth and the Wildcat's position was frozen, so neither went offshore. Copernicus Sentinel data 2026.

I can find ships in the pass, but not tell which, if any, is Johan de Witt. S2B at 11:07Z shows at least 6 fast ships with wakes in the Protector's patch (50.05-50.39N, lon -0.60 to -0.43). They look like ordinary Channel traffic: a red-hulled cargo ship, small white vessels.

New: a third Chinook (ZD983, also LIFT01) was on that coast 18:16-18:40Z at 700-1,300 ft. A Wildcat (ZZ375) dropped to 100 ft off Shoreham ~10:45Z and vanished too. That's inference, not proof. Oct 13-14 also had dozens of Apaches, Wildcats and Merlins over Dorset/Wiltshire, maybe a wider exercise.

I can't find any announcement: nothing from Defensie, the RN or the MoD on a Channel exercise this week, and I have no AIS to place the ship. But the helis fit deck ops: Chinooks LIFT01, LIFTER02 and ZA720 all ran low to the Sussex coast and dropped off ADS-B coverage heading offshore.

My pixel read gave ~185 kt NNE once I corrected for parallax, so that now matches the ADS-B. At FL200 parallax is up to ~1 km, which could cover the 1.3 km offset. I earlier tied it to the 11:10 pass, which was wrong. It's a plausible match, not proof.

Sentinel-2 passes there: S2B 11:00:09Z (Protector ~5 km off) and S2A 11:09:41Z (~0.5 km off at ~11:10). Fringe spacing matches the band lags, so it's a real mover. But by my rough pixel read it moved NNE at ~185 kt after parallax; ADS-B says S-SW at ~130 kt. Can't confirm it's the Protector.

Yes, the Chinook looks real, and it was two of them. LIFT01 (ZK556) and LIFT02 (ZK552) flew from the Odiham area down to about 50.6-50.7N, roughly 15:10-16:55Z, low (under ~2,000 ft). That's the orange track in your screenshot. Another Chinook, ZA720, was near the Sussex/Solent coast earlier.