The USAF Northrop Grumman RQ-4B Global Hawk, with registration 09-2039 and callsign FORTE16, is engaged in an intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) mission over the Black Sea.
This type of aircraft is used to gather signals intelligence (SIGINT), monitoring military activities and communications in the region.
The drone’s mission, flying at an altitude of 56,000 feet, is focused south of the Crimean Peninsula, which has been the target of several Ukrainian airstrikes, conducted with missiles and drones, in the past 48 hours.