Reconnaissance scout out ahead of the fleet to find enemies or to avoid them. While any ship can fit a Cloaking Device, there are only certain ship types that are specifically tooled for covert cloaking and can therefore fit the vastly improved Covert Ops Cloaking Device II: Covert Ops, Stealth Bombers, Force Recons.
These ships may warp while cloaked, making them vastly more effective at keeping tabs on what's going on, providing warp-in points on unsuspecting enemy fleets, and catching individual targets by surprise.
Covert Op frigates are made out of wet paper held together by cobwebs and therefore can only participate in combat in hyper specific situations; the special cloaking device they use is very valuable and the ships do not insure well.
Force Recons are more hardy and come with an assortment of Electronic Warfare capabilities and can fit passable weapons. They see combat in small groups or ambushes more often, but their high cost makes them something you don't want to lose.
Blockade Runners are small industrial ships that are often used to move smaller items through hostile situations unscouted. Can also double as a scout for gangs and can be jump bridged by a Black Ops Battleships.
Stealth Bombers can be used as recon ships in a pinch, although they are relatively sluggish for a frigate sized ship and they are primarily intended for decloaking and launching a surprise attack, they can fit a Covert Ops Cloak and use Torpedoes or Bombs as a weapon.
There are many types of recon roles that players can perform, specifics and information onto each one check out the guides below