In the late morning today, a NATO Northrop Grumman RQ-4D (reg. MM-AV-SA0016 – c/s MAGMA10) departed from Sigonella Air Base for a new surveillance mission. Typically, NATO drones operate from Sigonella towards the Black Sea or the eastern border of NATO in Poland.
However, in this case, when the drone was flying over Bulgaria, around 12:15 CET, it reversed course and returned towards Sicily, aborting the mission. What you see in the image above is the last available trace; afterwards, the drone was no longer traceable.