The strange case of the (not) shot down FORTE

As reported by the Italian newspaper “La Stampa” some Russian Telegram channels suggest that a MiG-31 of the Russian Air Force shot down a USAF drone, specifically a Northrop Grumman RQ-4B “Global Hawk.” Unlike the MQ-9 “Reaper,” these drones are traceable, and their flights have been visible to everyone well before the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Indeed, on June 23rd, a Global Hawk (reg. 11-2046 – c/s FORTE10) carried out a mission over the Black Sea, orbiting for a long time south of Crimea. For an extended period, its position reception was disrupted, but at 23:52, the drone landed regularly at Sigonella, from where it had departed around 3:00.

We can therefore confidently state that the drone was not shot down (the flight data, in fact, indicate that the flight proceeded regularly without particular “shocks”).

There are two possibilities: either another drone (an MQ-9?) was shot down, or the circulating news is false. Of course, it could be that a Global Hawk flew over the Black Sea with its transponder turned off, but the fact that this happened (and it usually does not) and that this particular drone was shot down seems quite unlikely.