Since last September, the RAF has been carrying out surveillance missions over the Black Sea with RC-135Ws that are escorted by Eurofighter fighters stationed in Cyprus.
The mission is always sovlge in the same way, with the two fighters taking off from RAF Akrotiri along with an Airbus KC.2 providing in-flight refueling (executed over eastern Romania).
So this morning, too, a similar mission seemed to be preparing with two Typhoons (reg. ZK363/ZK349 – c/s DREAD011/12) taking off together with a KC.2 (reg. ZZ331) and heading north.
Upon reaching southern Turkey, however, the trio turned back toward Cyprus (11:40 CEST), aborting the mission.
Of note, no RAF surveillance aircraft appear to be in the air at the moment (12:00 CEST).
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The rc135 took off but his transponder failed in flight and was refused permission to enter certain airspace