This morning, a USAF Northrop Grumman RQ-4B Global Hawk (reg. 11-2046, callsign FORTE10) took off from NAS Sigonella for a new surveillance mission. However, shortly after reaching the Ionian Sea, the unmanned aircraft turned back toward Sicily instead of continuing its usual route toward the eastern Mediterranean or the Black Sea area.
Such an early return is rather uncommon for this type of long-endurance mission, which typically lasts more than 20 hours and extends across several thousand kilometers.
At the moment, it is unclear whether the return was planned or due to a technical issue, but given the sudden course reversal soon after reaching the operational area, a possible malfunction or onboard system anomaly cannot be ruled out.
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