US Spy Aircraft Flies for 9 Hours Along Russia’s South Over Black Sea — Flight Data
Boeing RC-135W Rivet Joint
MOSCOW (Sputnik) — A US reconnaissance aircraft, a Bombardier ARTEMIS II, on Thursday spent nine hours in the air over the Black Sea, circling southern Russia, according to flight data analyzed by Sputnik. The plane took off from Romania’s Mihail Kogalniceanu airbase at around 05:45 GMT and started patrolling at around 6:10 GMT. The flight was carried out about 100 kilometers (62 miles) from the Russian coast, the data suggested. As of 15:05 GMT, the aircraft was completing its third lap along the coasts of Crimea, the southern Russian regions, and Abkhazia and was landing in Romania. On Thursday, its route differed from the usual one: it returned once, approaching the territory of Romania in order to turn around and fly along the southwestern part of Crimea. It usually stays above the sea, as data have shown. Bombardier ARTEMIS II, converted by US company Leidos from a business jet for radar reconnaissance. It is often used to patrol the skies around Russia’s Kaliningrad Region. According to publicly available information, only two of these aircraft were built for the Pentagon. They are designed primarily to intercept, record, and decrypt data over long distances. In recent years, Russia has been flagging up NATO’s unprecedented activity and buildup of troops near its western borders. The Kremlin has stated that Russia does not threaten anyone, but would not ignore actions that are potentially dangerous to its interests.
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