An eye on Russian ships?

New mission for an Italian Air Force CAEW. A Gulfstream E.550 (MM62303) has departed at 11:42 CET from Pratica di Mare AB.
The aircraft headed south towards the central Mediterranean.

At 12:39 the aircraft switched off its ADS-B transponder and disappeared from the different tracking sites.

We do not know if the aircraft is participating in the Neptune Strike exercise but given where it’s operating, that seems unlikely.

In recent days, the aircraft had operated a mission over the eastern Mediterranean (also with the transponder switched off).

It is possible that today’s mission could be related to the presence of numerous Russian naval units in the central Mediterranean.