CaliToday (04/11/2025): A high-tech U.S. Army intelligence aircraft, disguised as a common business jet, was tracked conducting a significant surveillance mission over the Black Sea on Sunday. The flight underscores Washington's continued effort to maintain a persistent, watchful eye on the strategically vital and often tense security environment near NATO's eastern flank.
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| An ARTEMIS plane. (Photo by David Hylton) |
According to publicly available flight data from Flightradar24, the aircraft—operating under the call sign BRIO66 executed methodical, looping "racetrack" patterns. It was first observed off the coast of Romania near the key port of Constanța before heading southeast, flying over international waters.
During its hours-long mission, the jet maintained a high altitude of approximately 35,000 feet and a speed of 372 knots, optimal parameters for a wide-area surveillance operation.
A Spy Plane in Business Jet's Clothing
The aircraft, bearing the U.S. registration N159L, is not a typical military plane. It is a key asset in the ARTEMIS (Airborne Reconnaissance and Target Exploitation Multi-Mission Intelligence System) program.
This cutting-edge U.S. Army initiative, developed and managed by defense contractor Leidos, represents the future of airborne intelligence. The system's brilliance lies in its deception:
The Platform: It is built on a commercially available Bombardier Challenger 650 business jet. This allows it to blend in with civilian air traffic, operate with greater fuel efficiency, and deploy more rapidly than traditional, bulky military aircraft.
The Mission: Internally, the jet is transformed into a state-of-the-art signals-intelligence (SIGINT) hub. It is packed with advanced sensors designed to detect, collect, and analyze a vast spectrum of electronic emissions from enemy communications to radar signals across complex and contested environments.
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| The flight data from FlightRadar24 |
The U.S. Army has described ARTEMIS as a "critical element" of its evolving multi-domain intelligence framework. Its primary purpose is to deliver real-time situational awareness and actionable targeting data directly to commanders on the ground.
A Proven, High-Demand Asset
The ARTEMIS platform, which is operated on behalf of the Army by contractor Lasai Aviation LLC, has proven to be a highly reliable workhorse. Since entering service in 2020, the ARTEMIS fleet has logged more than 10,000 flight hours.
These missions have spanned the globe, supporting U.S. and allied operations across Europe, the Middle East, and the Indo-Pacific.
The presence of BRIO66 over the Black Sea is a clear demonstration of this capability in action. As tensions in the region continue to simmer, the data vacuumed up by this high-tech "spy jet" provides U.S. and NATO decision-makers with the critical intelligence they need to anticipate and respond to the evolving security situation.