Long-endurance U.S. spy drone spotted flying from Jordan base

A long-endurance surveillance drone built by Maryland-based Platform Aerospace was spotted taking off from a Jordanian air base used by U.S. forces on September 13, 2026, according to flight-tracking data shared by an open-source intelligence account.

The MenchOsint described it as the first known sighting of the aircraft, known as Vanilla, operating from Jordan.

The aircraft is officially marketed by Platform Aerospace as the “MQ-22 Swift (Vanilla),” the name the company itself now uses across its website and press materials for this ultra-long-endurance platform. The OSINT account’s identification of the aircraft matched that branding.

The aircraft, registered N622VU, took off from Prince Hassan Air Base, also known as H-5, near the town of Safawi in Jordan’s Mafraq Governorate, close to the country’s borders with Syria and Iraq. The base belongs to the Royal Jordanian Air Force, but U.S. and allied forces, including France and the United Kingdom, have used it for years under bilateral defense arrangements, including a 2021 U.S.-Jordan defense cooperation agreement that formally lists Jordanian sites available for American access.

The base drew renewed attention in July 2026, when Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it struck Prince Hassan and a second Jordanian installation, King Faisal Air Base, with missiles and drones as part of its response to U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran. Iranian state media claimed the attack destroyed hangars housing MQ-9 Reaper drones at the base; those claims have not been independently verified.

Vanilla is a Group 3 unmanned aircraft built for endurance rather than speed, typically launched from a rail rather than a conventional runway. Platform Aerospace says a Vanilla aircraft set a company-claimed endurance record in October 2021 with a flight lasting eight days and 50 minutes. Depending on how it’s configured, the aircraft can carry a payload of up to 150 pounds for shorter multi-day missions or a lighter sensor load for close to two weeks aloft, typically flying with multi-spectral cameras for surveillance rather than weapons.

The U.S. Navy has backed the program through its Office of Naval Research and separate acquisition contracts. In April 2026, the Navy awarded Platform Aerospace a $12.9 million contract modification covering Vanilla aircraft, spare parts, engineering services and logistics support, with work running through August 2026.