Nine flights have been carried out over the Black Sea by USAF-operated Lockheed Martin RQ-170 Sentinel low observable (or stealth) unmanned aerial vehicles, according to a batch of secret US military documents posted online.
The flights by the highly classified RQ-170 Sentinel – nicknamed the ‘Beast of Kandahar’ – took place between November 2022 and February 2023, according to a leaked US Joint Chiefs of Staff document, titled ‘Black Sea ISR 29 Sep 22-26 Feb 23’. The document is a Microsoft PowerPoint briefing slide that includes a map showing the routes taken by US and allied intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) patrol aircraft over the Black Sea and the boundaries of what is called the ‘ISR Operational Area’.
This zone c