New surveillance mission for a NATO Northrop Grumman RQ-4D (reg. MM-AV-SA0016, callsign MAGMA10), which took off this morning from Sigonella AB.
The aircraft over the Ionian Sea turned off its ADS-B transponder.
While USAF aircraft in the past have always operated with the transponder on (including over the Black Sea), NATO aircraft once over the area of operations have always turned it off. This is the first time, however, that we have seen it turned off so early.