New mission for the NATO Northrop Grumman RQ-4D “Phoenix” (reg. MM-AV-SA0018) after Tuesday’s aborted mission.
⚠️ Mission aborted for the #NATO 'Phoenix' which is now returning to Sigonella.
— Itamilradar (@ItaMilRadar) March 22, 2022
Once over the Black Sea the drone has turned back squawking "7600" (code used to communicate to air traffic control that the plane has lost communications with the tower).#UkraineRussianWar pic.twitter.com/4RyZZHOsbc
The drone took off at 08:00 CET from the Sigonella base and is now flying over eastern Poland.
As is the practice for NATO drone flights, once it reached the area of operations, the Phoenix switched off its ADS-B receiver, making it untrackable.