An Italian Air Force Gulfstream E.550 CAEW (reg. MM62303) carried out a surveillance mission over the western Mediterranean this afternoon.
The aircraft took off from Pratica di Mare AB around 13:30 CEST but shortly afterwards switched off the ADS-B transponder.
About 5 hours later the aircraft switched the transponder back on when it was west of Sardinia heading towards Pratica di Mare (where it landed at about 19:15).
In the past, similar missions (also performed by the Beech SPYDR) were carried out between Spain and Algeria.