Small? I think you may be hearing from some P-3 Orion crew members.
You called?
The ORION (and its sibling, the EP-3 ARIES, which was the one forced down in China) weigh up to 200,000 pounds at takeoff, have a 100-foot wingspan, and four gigantic, 5,000 horsepower engines. "SMALL"???
BTW, for those asking, reconnaisance birds like the RC-135, P-3, and EP-3 almost never fly with fighter escorts, on any mission. For one thing, we're a lot slower, so thew fighters have a tough time maintaining controllability at the slower speeds, and for another, fighters attract attention immediately.
There is a REASON that most recon-type birds are derived from civilian airliners, and it's not just about the size...