Despite it being Sunday, NATO surveillance operations continue intermittently along its eastern border. Particularly this morning, a mission is underway in the Black Sea area involving an RAF Boeing RC-135W (reg. ZZ665) , which took off from Souda Bay AB, where it has been stationed for some time.
Before reaching its operational area (the western part of the basin off the Romanian and Bulgarian coasts), the aircraft conducted aerial refueling over Romania with a USAF Boeing KC-135R (reg. 59-1475), which departed from RAF Mildenhall in the United Kingdom.
However, the RAF Rivet Joint is not the only NATO asset conducting surveillance missions in the area. A US Army Bombardier ARTEMIS (reg. N488CR – c/s BRIO68) has been orbiting along the border between Romania and Moldova since this morning.