The US-registered NATO reconnaissance aircraft Bombardier ARTEMIS II flew over the neutral waters of the Black Sea for over seven hours. This was reported by TASS, citing a source in the air traffic control services.
“The Bombardier ARTEMIS II reconnaissance aircraft spent over seven hours over the neutral waters of the Black Sea, all the time flying from west to east and back to the southern part of the water area“, the source quoted by the agency said.
According to him, the aircraft was flying at an altitude of about 10.5 kilometers. It did not enter the airspace of any of the coastal states and did not use air corridors designated for civil aviation.
The flight was carried out against the backdrop of an increased presence of reconnaissance aircraft over the Black Sea. On October 7, TASS reported that ARTEMIS II took off from Constanta, Romania, and headed for its permanent trajectory over the southern part of the water area, where it usually flies west-east and back.
On October 11, the Ukrainian agency UNN reported, citing the monitoring group “Crimean Wind“ and Flightradar data, that the plane took off from the “Mihail Kogalniceanu“ airbase in Romania and was patrolling over the Black Sea. According to this data, the board was able to monitor objects in the Crimea and Krasnodar Territory, but the specific goals of the mission have not been publicly confirmed.
The Bombardier ARTEMIS II is a radio-electronic reconnaissance aircraft, built on a business jet and re-equipped by the American company Leidos. The machine is designed to collect information about radio and radar emissions from a considerable distance.
There is no official statement from NATO specifying the task of the specific flight. There is also no information about the violation of the airspace of a coastal state.
Sources: tass.ru, unn.ua