Definitely busy morning off the coast of Libya. Three missions caught our attention.
The first, carried out by a USArmy Bombardier CL-60 ARTEMIS (reg. N488CR – c/s BRIO68), took place off the coast of Libya with the aim of monitoring the area. It’s not the first time we’ve tracked this type of mission, but they’re still not very frequent.
It’s not the first time, but it’s even rarer, to track the second mission that caught our attention today, that is, the one carried out by a USAF Boeing WR-135R “Constant Phoenix” (reg. 64-14836, c/s JAKE21), always flying off the coast of Libya. Strange mission because its mission is to collect atmospheric samples to detect nuclear explosions. It is therefore difficult to understand what he went to sniff in that area of the Mediterranean (before continuing his flight eastward).
Another strange movement is that of two unidentified aircraft (hex code D23001 and E9D001) that have alternated over eastern Libya. We don’t know what aircraft they are. There are people on the internet who identify them as MQ-9 Reapers but there is no direct evidence and since there is no unique assignment we cannot know which aircraft this track belongs to.
All this happens while a little further north, as evidenced by a USNavy Sikorsky MH-6R (reg. 168093) in flight, the CSG of the USS Eisenhower is en route to the eastern Mediterranean.
Especially interesting about the WC-135R is that it is flying at just 5500 feet.