US reconnaissance aircraft patrols over Black Sea – Flightradar24

A U.S. Air Force reconnaissance aircraft conducted a patrol mission over the Black Sea on Monday, according to flight-tracking data from Flightradar24.

The Boeing RC-135U Combat Sent took off from the Royal Air Force base in Mildenhall, United Kingdom, and proceeded along a route over the Netherlands, Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, and Romania. The aircraft then entered the airspace over the Black Sea, flying near the Crimean Peninsula before turning back toward its base.

The Boeing RC-135U Combat Sent is a highly specialised electronic reconnaissance aircraft operated by the U.S. Air Force. Its primary mission is to collect and analyse radar emissions and other electronic signals from foreign military systems, supporting U.S. and NATO intelligence and countermeasure development efforts.

Since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, U.S. and NATO surveillance flights over the Black Sea region have intensified. These missions, often carried out by RC-135, RQ-4 Global Hawk, and P-8A Poseidon aircraft, aim to monitor Russian military activity around Crimea and the wider Black Sea area.

While such operations are conducted in international airspace, Moscow frequently condemns them as provocative. Nonetheless, they remain a key element of Western intelligence-gathering efforts along NATO’s eastern flank.

By Vugar Khalilov