For the first time today, we tracked a French AWACS mission over the Black Sea. The French Air Force Boeing E-3F (reg. 204) took off this morning around 5:00 CEST from Arvord AB. Around the same minutes, a Boeing C-135FR (reg. 737) also took off from Istres Air Base, heading towards Romania.
The Stratotanker orbited for approximately two and a half hours (from 07:10 to 09:46), while at 07:47, the AWACS entered the Black Sea and turned off its ADS-B transponder.
The French AWACS flight over the Black Sea lasted until 09:23 when it reactivated the transponder to head back, along with the C-135FR, towards France.
It is highly likely that during the flight over the Black Sea, the AWACS was escorted by fighter jets, which were subsequently refueled from the C-135 over Romania.
