Swedish aircraft carries out reconnaissance over Black Sea for fourth consecutive day

MOSCOW, October 8. /TASS/. A Swedish radar intelligence aircraft has been detected flying over the neutral waters of the Black Sea for the fourth consecutive day, a source in EU air traffic control services told TASS.

The aircraft is a Gulfstream S102B Korpen, which was deployed on Monday by the Swedish Air Force from Malmen Air Base to Bucharest, from where it is now conducting reconnaissance flights over the waters.

"The aircraft has again been detected operating over the Black Sea. It is expected to remain airborne for several hours, flying from west to east across the waters and back, without entering the airspace of any of the coastal countries," the source said.

He recalled that the day before, the Gulfstream S102B Korpen had operated over the sea for nearly seven hours alongside a US-registered NATO reconnaissance aircraft, the Bombardier Artemis II, which is based in Constanta, Romania. The source described the flight of two reconnaissance aircraft over the Black Sea at the same time as a rather rare occurrence, but did not rule out the possibility of it recurring.

He also noted that reconnaissance aircraft usually fly at altitudes of up to 13.5 km outside civil aviation routes.