Russia Disrupts Global Hawk UAV Mission Over Baltic Sea

A US Air Force RQ-4B Global Hawk UAV performing a reconnaissance flight near Estonia overnight on Friday,suddenly began to perform unpredictably after apparently coming under Russian electronic warfare (EW) attack. The drone had taken off from its base at Royal Air Force (RAF)Fairford in England.

For several months there have been reports of Russian forces repeatedly attempting to jam satellite navigation signals of both military and commercial aircraft operating over Eastern Europe, Poland and the Baltic states. In the first four months of 2024, almost 500 instances of GPS interference were reported.

Russian social media said the RQ-4B drone with the call sign FORTE12 had been monitoring the western borders of Russia, the Baltic coast and the Kaliningrad region when data on the FlightRadar 24 aircraft tracking website recorded the drone flying erratically for some time before its operators regained control of the aircraft and it returned safely to base.

It was reported by the UK Defence Journal that the Global Hawk, had been temporarily deployed to RAF Fairford from Sicily’s Sigonella Naval Air Station on Aug. 22.

The mission was said to be part of the US Air Force’s ongoing efforts to develop multiple operating locations for its surveillance assets both for security reasons and to further develop its integration with other NATO Allies.

In a statement, the US Air Force said, “A US RQ-4B Global Hawk arrived at Royal Air Force Fairford, England, for a temporary deployment on Thursday [Aug. 22], as part of efforts by USAFE-AFAFRICA (U.S. Air Forces Europe-Africa) to diversify operating locations and enhance integration with NATO Allies.

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The announcement comes with the promise of further support and follows criticism within Australia of the government’s slowness to act.

“This marks the first US RQ-4B deployment to England. The deployed U.S. RQ-4 will conduct operations through international and Allied airspace in accordance with international norms and standards.”

RAF Fairford is the location of the 501st CSW (Combat Support Wing), which in addition to supporting Global Hawk deployments, routinely coordinates and supports Bomber Task Force (BTF) operations carried out by B-52H Stratofortress bombers of the US 20th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron (EBS)and the deployment of the U-2 Dragon Lady mannedIntelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) missions.

The Global Hawk UAV was tasked to carry out a marathon reconnaissance mission taking off from Fairford, heading east over the Baltic Sea, before flying along the borders of Finland, the Baltic States, Poland and skirting the western Ukrainian, Belarussian and Russian borders.

A pro-Kremlin milblogger said electronic warfare operators from the Russian Armed Forces had used technical means to attempt to drive the reconnaissance aircraft away from the northwestern borders of Russia. US Air Force and NATO spokespersons have not commented on the event so far.

Russia has often accused NATO and the US of using its high-altitude reconnaissance drones to provide real-time targeting data to Ukrainian fighter aircraft, missile and artillery units.

According to open-source analysis attacks against Russian warships and facilities on the Crimean Peninsula using the Anglo-French StormShadow/SCALP EG cruise missiles and unmanned sea vessels (USV), the presence of Global Hawk UAVs and manned surveillance aircraft have been operating over the Black Sea near the Russian borders.