American Recon Drone "FORTE12" has apparently gone down in the Black Sea. RUMORS say it was hit with jamming or Electronic Warfare (EW).
The intelligence drone was a Northrop Grumman RQ-4B Global Hawk, flying out of an air base in Sicily. It circled at an altitude of 15.5 kilometers above the neutral waters of the Black Sea near Crimea according to the data of the website Flightradar24.
Judging by the data of the site, which allows real-time monitoring of aircraft movement, the reconnaissance drone flew out of the airfield Catania on the Italian island of Sicily. The drone gained height and proceeded through airspace of Greece and Bulgaria to the Black Sea.
According to Flightradar, the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) belongs to the US Air Force and has registration number 10-2045, the call sign Forte-12.
The flight of the drone is tracked by more than five thousand users, ranking first in the "popularity" on the FlightRadar24 website platform. According data at 11:39 Moscow time, drone tracking stopped on the site, the board stopped displaying on the map.
According to the manufacturing company, the Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle is designed for reconnaissance and surveillance. It is capable of flying at high altitudes for more than 30 hours, is designed to receive images of large tracts of land with a high resolution in almost real time, is able to act in any weather and any time of day. In addition, such devices are used to support communication as repeaters.
As noted on the manufacturer’s website, Global Hawk, used by the US Air Force since 2001, "identifies potential threats, allowing commanders to gain a better understanding of their area of interest".
This radio show called U.S. Central Command, twice, for comment. Both calls were picked up, with an almost immediate hang-up. I then called the Pentagon Press office. That call was answered by "Quinn" and I told him I was trying to reach CENTCOM but two calls resulted in Hang-ups; that I was trying to get a comment about FORTE-12 Drone being downed in the Black Sea. I asked him for a better contact number for CENTCOM. He asked me to hold. He came back a minute later saying "I am putting you through to Major Dietz. The call rang 4x and voice mail picked up saying "You have reached a mailbox that cannot accept messages."
