2013 - 2019
Although air forces were a lot smaller than in the 90's and early 00's, a new phenomena appeared on the internet: ADSB. Besides the forums and extensive internetsites information it was also possible to real-live track aircraft flying all over the world which used Mode-S. All civilian aircraft and all military transport aircraft would use Mode-S; most military helicopters and training aircraft would also use Mode-S as well as several fighters. Spotting became even more easier.
ADSB-exchange, one of the Mode-S mods/ webpages, locates aircraft which have enabled their Mode-S transponders. Besides their previous flightpath, it also gives speed, altitude, heading, roll, climb, etc. Besides this the hex-code is set to a certain country and serial number/ aircraft type.
In the beginning a lot of hex-codes were mixed up which gave the wrong serial number, nowadays practically all have the correct data. Of course, fighters and aircraft in combat zones do not activate their transponder - and certain types don't ever use their Mode-S.
Exceptions for fighters and bombers are when they are enroute to airshows or deployments, during which they normally fly in groups - with the lead activating its Mode-S on the civilian channels.
