This morning around 08:20 CET, we recorded the departure of a NATO Northrop Grumman RQ-4D (reg. MM-AV-SA0016 – c/s MAGMA10) from Sigonella. So far, nothing out of the ordinary. However, when we saw the direction the flight was taking, we began to follow it closely. The drone headed southeast, pointing towards eastern Libya. There, the drone continued its flight eastward, remaining outside Libyan airspace. Upon reaching off the coast of Tobruk, we lost track (the aircraft likely turned off its ADS-B transponder).
The route is unusual for a mission headed towards the Eastern Mediterranean. We don’t know if the flight was targeting eastern Libya (Tobruk itself is a candidate to host a Russian fleet base, or at least a docking facility), the Eastern Mediterranean, or the Red Sea.
In any case, as of now (17:30 CET), we haven’t tracked the aircraft anymore.