Busy morning over the Black Sea for NATO assets

This morning saw an intense surveillance and support operation by NATO aircraft over the western Black Sea area.

A French Air Force Airbus A330 MRTT (reg. F-UJCO – c/s FAF4091) operated a refueling mission off the Bulgarian coast, most likely supporting fighter jets whose transponders were switched off — explaining the presence of the tanker in the area.

Also part of the mission was a French Navy Bréguet Atlantique ATL.2 (reg. 21 – c/s FNY5625), which departed from Souda Bay Air Base (Crete) and conducted a long maritime patrol mission over the western Black Sea.

At the same time, a Turkish Air Force Boeing E-7T “Peace Eagle” (reg. 13-004 – c/s HVK42) operated in the region after taking off from Šiauliai Air Base in Lithuania, where it had been deployed as part of NATO’s Baltic operations. The aircraft later returned to Konya Air Base in central Turkey.

Today’s coordinated presence of French and Turkish aircraft once again highlights NATO’s continuous air and maritime surveillance efforts along the Alliance’s eastern flank.