Unusual activity in the Central Mediterranean: new Italian Air Force patrol mission off Libya

New patrol missions were flown today in the central Mediterranean. This marks the third flight we’ve tracked in recent days by an Italian Air Force ATR P-72A (reg. MM62298). The aircraft, which is currently returning to Souda Bay AB (19:00 CEST), conducted a roughly 6-hour-long maritime patrol mission.

Unlike the previous two sorties, this time the patrol focused off the coast of eastern Libya. Although the full flight track is incomplete, the available data clearly shows the aircraft operating primarily between Al Bayda and Tobruk, before heading toward southeastern Crete and then returning to Souda.

It’s also worth noting that earlier this morning—just before the Italian aircraft departed Souda at 13:00 CEST—a US Navy Boeing P-8A had completed a long orbiting pattern southwest of Crete, followed by a typical SIGINT mission off the coast of Syria.

Unusual flight activity in an area that has long remained under close scrutiny by NATO countries.