FORTE is back over the Black Sea

This morning around 5:00 a.m. CEST, a USAF Northrop Grumman RQ-4B (reg. 11-2046 – callsign FORTE10) took off from NAS Sigonella for a surveillance mission. So far, nothing unusual. What is interesting, however, is that for the first time in several months, the Global Hawk has returned to fly over the Black Sea, orbiting over the western part of the basin in international airspace.

Indeed, we had not tracked any USAF drone missions over the Black Sea since early July 2024, when the Russians claimed to have shot down a Global Hawk (an event that never actually occurred). While the drone was never downed, something must have happened, as USAF drone flights over the Black Sea stopped entirely from that point onward. Until today.

After the return of manned aircraft flights, the return of drones marks a renewed U.S. commitment to patrolling the Black Sea — and, above all, the Russian-occupied territories that border it.