A British Reaper drone has used Hellfire missiles to hit an Islamic State terrorist in a building in northern Syria.
The Ministry of Defence say that on Tuesday,20 December, a Reaper remotely piloted aircraft kept close observation on a building near Al Bab in northern Syria “where at least one active Daesh terrorist was known to be present”.
“Great care was taken to ensure that any potential risks to civilians were understood and minimised before the Reaper’s crew fired a salvo of two Hellfire missiles which both struck the target accurately.”
The news release added:
“Royal Air Force aircraft have continued to conduct armed reconnaissance patrols against elements of the Daesh terrorist network in Syria, as well as supporting, as required, the Iraqi authorities’ efforts to keep Daesh out of their country.”
What is Operation Shader?
Operation Shader began on the 9th of August 2014, when the Royal Air Force began a series of humanitarian air aid drops onto Mount Sinjar in Northern Iraq.
The air drops were ordered following the genocide of the Yazidi people and other ethnic minorities by Daesh in Northern Iraq, which had led to them fleeing onto the mountainside to escape Daesh. Following the conclusion of the aid drops, the operation quickly changed to become the UK element in the US-led coalition that began the campaign to destroy Daesh. Based out of Cyprus, the Royal Air Force continues to survey and strike targets in Iraq and Syria as part of the Global Coalition under the banner of Op SHADER.
Today, UK jets and drones fly frequent patrols, but the reduced presence of Islamic State means fewer engagements.
You can read more about the operation here.
Syria has for the last year been overshadowed by Ukraine. I am hoping that the UK Government is commited to stay the course in both countries providing everything that might be needed?
Trouble is I. Not sure anyone really knows what the long term goals are in Syria or what the end game looks like.
The goals of op Shader for Iraq are pretty clear, support the government of Iraq in removing Islamic state from its boards….the goals for Syria are a bit more difficult as your never going to shift Islamic state completely without the proper infrastructure on the ground and Syria is just a mess beyond imagination with at least 8 sides last time I reviewed the maps with backing and intervention from a stupid number of external state actors. It’s practically a world war being played out in one country.
Are we still getting 20 Protectors to replace the 10 Repears we have?
Plus some unmanned Tempest, latter production F35, I guess too?
16. The original quote was the typical “up to 20”
My concern, which I’ve expressed here before, is what will replace Reaper in theatre to do this stuff with Protector based in the UK, which has never happened with either Predator or Reaper due to the safety aspects.
If Protector is also involved, hopefully, in the maritime area I want to see Reaper, which is still perfectly good from what I can see, kept in the M East letting Protector do the UK mission.
Ah I see, hopefully we might get some seaguardians in thr future to top us up to thr full 20 but that’s for another time and place to discuss.
Have we started to take deliveries of the protectors yet and have they confirmed the retirement dates of the reapers?
No, next year 1st comes to the UK.
The 1st one is in RAF colours in the US.
There is substantial redevelopment going on at Waddington to make it the MOB for the type, involving a rebuild on the east side of the runway.
I’m not aware of any Reaper OOS date. I hope not as they’re too useful IMO.
Hi Daniele, first let me wish you a good festive season.
As for me, my Christmas wishlist would be Protector MQ-9B STOL for the carriers. Possibly the UK, Aus, Spain and Italy could do a joint investment into the development of the MQ-9B STOL. If we could get the STOL capability we could even with our limited numbers of F35Bs have by 2025 both carriers at sea with say 24 F35Bs and 12 MQ-9Bs each. If we could come to some arrangment with the USMC to have four V-22 Ospreys in the COD and air to air refueling roles then the RN brings a capable air group into play. Although I do not think the V-22 is a very good bird it would be useful in the refueling role. I think a MQ-9B can be altered to STOL with optional kit. However, it is my understanding that the UK version will be based on the SkyGuardian rather then SeaGuardian.
I totally agree that Reaper should be kept operational in the Middle East, possibly also from the Falklands and or the Caribbean.
And a Merry Christmas to you, Ron.
Merry Christmas Mate, have a good one!
Merry Christmas Chris, to you and your family.
In this day and age of woke, I have to laugh at how the PC crowd demanded we replace ISIS with Daesh because Islamic State of Iraq and the levant (ISIS) could be construed as Islamophobic as it contains Islamic , yet don’t appear to have realised that Daesh is the Arabic acronym for Islamic State of Iraq and the levant. It’s the same thing, its just that the wonks don’t want to hear Islamic stated in English as it makes them uncomfortable.
I thought it was because Daesh is actually considered more derogatory than ISIS to Arabic speakers. Thats why people wanted to change it, why go with the name they like “ISIS” instead of the name they actively hate.
Below quote is taken from there Wikipedia page (I know not the greatest source but it does have its uses when being lazy)
This name has been widely used by ISIL’s Arabic-speaking detractors,[153][155] for example when referring to the group whilst speaking amongst themselves, although—and to a certain extent because—it is considered derogatory, as it resembles the Arabic words Daes (“one who crushes, or tramples down, something underfoot”) and Dāhis (loosely translated: “one who sows discord”).[123][156] Within areas under its control, ISIL considers use of the name Daesh punishable by flogging.[157]
Ah that explains why the BBC who have knocked out a podcast of why Shamima Begum is not a Monster refer to the head chopping guild as ISIS and not Daesh
She just made bad choices🙈, I get it she’s young, easily led etc. But actions have consequences and had the land grab actually worked she would probably have a different story about how great the caliphate is etc etc.
Whether she should have her citizenship taken away I’m not sure. Don’t know the ins and outs of it.
More of the issue is why she’s been given any airtime at all. Ignore her. Nobody wants to hear her storytelling.
100% in agreement with you Monkey spanker.
The bunfight in the Ukraine has shown that UAVs are vulnerable to AAA, with Moscow losing so many, they have had to outsource to Iran to make up some of that shortfall. To that end I have to ask, is the British armies collection of UAVs enough to last more than a few days during a bunfight with a near peer? Reason I mention this, is was I read the other day that Poland has received its first batch of the TB2 UAV (18 on order) it also has the reaper on order and it already operates
56 x WB Electronics FlyEye
100x WB Electronics Warmate (loitering munition)
11x Defence Orbiter
10x Boeing Insitu ScanEagle
WB Electronics FT5-Łoś on order
25 Wizjer mini-UAVs on order
Poland already operates a number of VTOL sUAS (small 4 prop UAVs ) purchased in 2021.
The UAV really has come of age in the Ukraine and I fear that the UK is going to get left behind simply because the way we do procurement means we will fanny around throwing money into projects to find the right UAV resulting in the purchase of a system that is years out of date when it comes on line. (Looks back at Phoenix UAV) or as in the case of the Fire Shadow binning it just before it became operational because some Richard Edward decided that Loitering munitions were a waste of time. (Oh the irony Fire shadow was designed to fit inside the SYLVER vertical launch system of the Type 45 destroyer (Note link goes to a RN PDF file) and just the other week the RN stated they were looking at a Loitering munitions to be used at sea)
My point, yes we may have the Rolls Royce of UAVs but they are too few and after they have been shot down (as witnessed inside the Ukraine) we have nothing, the Poles have gone for quantity meaning they can afford to lose a few. But it gets better, the TB2 may be cheap as chips it is also an effective platform
which sports its own cheap PGMs (Much cheaper than a Hellfire) we have the Watchkeeper based on the proven Hermes 450 and we not only f’d up with that (how do you F up a proven design) it cant carry weapons, how stupid is that? I just hope the MOD pulls its finger out, but I won’t hold my breath.
Problem with the British army is we don’t have any AAA any more beyond Browning .5″ Mg to counter enemy UAVs..
Not dedicated AAA but the Rarden cannon is supposedly effective against helicopters. I don’t know how effective it is against drones though nor whether CTA 40mm is.
farouk, That’s the criminal aspect of UK procurement. I know from working with two UK companies that had a better solution than the Heron. Their version projections (and as they have a great deal of experience in small drone aircraft used in civilian drones used for surveying and long range SAR. There was no doubt in the circles that they would have delivered on their promise by 2021) had legs of 70-75 hours, ceiling of 38,000ft, top sped of 155-178kn, and a payload of up to 320Kg. The MOD was intensely lobbied in 2018, yet showed no interest as they didn’t see anything in the class of the Heron or Bayraktar was of any use. The projected cost for 120 units was only £9.76m each. The development of MkII was to have seen secondary options for use on carrier that could take off on the QE’s and be recovered via a barrier arrest system.
The second company ended up being purchased by GE in 2021.
Yep and all the ones that got shot down unfortunately still landed on the hundreds of electric stations and sub stations all over Ukraine knocking out over 50% of the Ukraine electric supply
Will the Middle East ever been able to defend itself or are British and American taxpayers doomed to fund their defense forever????
Forever is a very long time indeed; for the foreseeable future–very probably. 🤔☹️
With the commitment to NetZero, our interest in unsustainable hydro-carbon energy is clearly time limited. Should the locals be wise enough to invest in dependable sustainable power generation we may be more interested again. Dependable and politically acceptable power supply having been shown to be a vital state interest. The unit price clearly doesn’t represent the true costs. Pricing risk seems to be done badly or not at all by the so called free market.
How long will we take responsibility for the disfunctional and undemocratic rulers in the future?
For so long as they are the least worst option, associate with our Monarchy, and are customers in the £Bn range.
It still beggars belief in this day and age, that we waste a Hellfire on a single person shacked up in a building. At $150,000 a shot, is this value for money?
A number of years ago, I was a joint terminal attack controller (JTAC). I was in a position where I had to make a snap decision on how to take out a target. This target was giving corrective fire control coordinates to a mortar team. That was lobbing shells at a fort. I could see him clearly, his only weapon was a satphone.
Yet he presented a clear and present danger to the people in the fort. The nearest friendly close air support was a pair of Tornado GR4s armed with Paveway, Brimstone plus ammo for the 27mm Mauser. Paveway was out of the question as the area was too built up with houses. Which also meant the canon was a no go. Which only left Brimstone as the choice. The pilot and I agreed, so the weapon was sent and the target destroyed.
Reflectively, Brimstone was complete overkill. But as the Tornados were the closest CAS and there was no other ground support available. It was the only solution.
This brings us to today. Should Reaper also be armed with a weapon that is not only cheaper, but is also proportional to the target? Perhaps, Reaper should also be armed with the advanced precision kill weapon system (APKWS). This is a 70mm unguided hydra rocket with guidance kit added. It gives the rocket the ability to home in on to a laser designator’s reflection. Thereby giving it a precision capability on a selected target. Plus at $20,000 a shot is significantly cheaper.
Obvious.
A guidance wing kit on brick would do the job.
There was that fury weapon. It was a light bomb made out of starstreak or caam bits without the rocket motor. It should of been cheap. Maybe it was textron that were working on it.
It would of done nicely.
“On a brick”, that made me chuckle no end
Starstreak, Martlet and Fury are products of Shorts which is now part of Thales. The TB2 UAV has used similar guided bombs to Fury with hood effect in Ukraine. So there is very good precedence for us to use something similar.
I see the APKWS is now being adapted to a counter drone roll as well. Relatively cheap and already available in large quantities.
It definitely makes sense. UAVs do not have the situational awareness to counter the oncoming missile using aerobatics something like APKWS. As the Electro-Optical turret has a relatively narrow field of view, so the operator is likely go miss it approaching. Which means it doesn’t need to be overly agile like a dedicated surface to air/air to air missile.
Using semi-active laser homing as used by APKWS, also means the seeker can be made pretty cheaply and quickly. But it does have its limitations, such as being more difficult to lock on to multiple targets simultaneously.
When you consider that the 70mm rocket and APKWS costs around $20,000. It along with SPAAG is probably one of the better options to take out a UAV, if electronic jamming/countermeasures doesn’t work.
In another news Romania chooses Watchkeeper X of Elbit Systems : 21 drones (7 systems) 408 M$
Evolution of WK 450
I think that Thales UK own some part of it.
Pity we can’t do more than moral support, supplying weapons & training to combat Russia’s terrorist war against Ukraine. Untold epression & death for all who won’t kow tow to Assad & his Russian backers.
So a $150,000 missile was used to kill one taliban member???