A British Reaper drone has used a Hellfire missile to destroy an Islamic State terrorist on a motorcycle in northern Syria.
British aircraft continue to conduct armed reconnaissance patrols against Islamic State as part of Operation Shader.
“On Monday 10 October, a Reaper remotely piloted aircraft, armed with Hellfire missiles, tracked and, when it was safe to do so without posing a risk to civilians, successfully engaged one such terrorist who was on a motorcycle in northern Syria, near Hamman At Turkumen.”
During a previous strike earlier this year, Iraqi security forces identified a number of Daesh terrorists attempting to re-establish a presence in an area to the north of Tikrit. A Royal Air Force Reaper remotely piloted aircraft joined coalition aircraft in supporting the Iraqi operation by tracking the group on Tuesday 14 June and conducted a successful attack alongside the other coalition aircraft; the RAF Reaper employed Hellfire missiles.
The group was reported to be destroyed as a result of this Iraqi-led operation, and the terrorists were eliminated before they could mount an active threat to the Iraqi people, say the RAF.
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 canΒ read more about the operation here.
Islam is not like the brutality of these terrorists.
Except they all happen by chance to be Islamic .
“Except they all happen by chance to be Islamic”!!! The RIRA has very few Muslims, the FARC are not Ismaic and neither were the Japanese Red Army, Khmer Rouge, ETA, Shining Path and quite a long list of others. They are all extremist groups who have been willing to kill for their twisted logic and ideology. Islam is a religion and just like other religions its name has been used by extremist scum to further an agenda.
I was responding specifically to someone who was speaking about Islam . The organisations you mention here are all part of the past . The Islamic threat is all too present . Dont talk to me about the IRA . I fought them . You ?? Btw , whats Ismaic ?
I understand that the murdering SOBs that I mentioned above are mostly in the past and long may they stay there, my point is Islam the religion has been used by extremist scum to further their twisted logic.
I have not fought the IRA. What’s your point?
Ismaic was a spelling mistake.
Weβre in danger of violent agreement as they say it seems . However I dont accept your assertion that Islam has been hijacked . My contention is the religion itself is twisted into a medieval destructive force one way or another . Its level of intolerance whether it be women’s rights or international terrorism is fundamental in its structure and teachings that has led it to become the motivating factor in most of the crimes in the world we label as β terrorist β .
Now let’s think about that …..
A brutal judging god that likes to cast ‘bad’ human souls into a fiery lake for eternity, yet demands constant praise and subjugation to ‘his’ will.
The many religious texts/verses that instruct its followers to destroy, punish, subjugate, and not make peace with non-believers or people of other faiths
Yeah, I wonder where those terrorists get their ideas from…..?
God has spoken more about forgiveness, kindness and goodness in those texts. π
Baloney… … your religion brings war and conflict wherever it goes, it dictates a supremacist meme where its followers believe their faith must and will dominate the entire world, even if they are not actively engaged in conflict.
This religion did not come into existence a few decades ago and it existed since 1400 years ago, but these terrorists are not even a hundred years old.And of course, I think there are Muslims in your country who are not terrorists π
There’s plenty of bad in all nations and religions. Islam isn’t unique but it would be deluding ourselves if we refused to accept there are strands of Islam ie Salafists who are a serious problem wherever they are.
Yes. Exactly. Salafis consider killing us Shiites as halal. :/ we respect other religions. But not to those who consider it permissible to kill us.
Agreed. The number one victims of ‘moslem’ extremists are moslems. We all need to stand together and not let anyone divide us. That’s their only chance of winning.
1400 years of conflict and conquest that started with the Umayyad and Rashidun caliphates which spread the religion all over North Africa and the middle east by conquest and coercion.
Not satisfied with that the believers went on to invade Spain and raid southern Europe and the Balkans and kept doing so until the defeat of the Ottomans at the siege of Vienna in 1683.
The terrorists we encounter today are continuing that ideology of religious dominance.
Amin should ask why Islam is what inspires them.
Their extremism.
For most terrorists there religion is just a tool so they can justify to themselves and others that the acts they commit are justified and needed. Faith is a great tool for some and helps them a lot in life and to live a good life and have purpose. Even with no religion there would still be groups of fruit loops running around doing terrorist activities. If society progresses and becomes fairer to all to a point where all people can get the basics of what is needed to be comfortable and society is seen to fair nearly all people… Read more Β»
The real problem with all religion is that there are always people who claim it to justify their crimes.
Here in the U.S. we have huge groups of people who would impose an oppressive Christian theocracy if given half a chance.
Looks like you’ve been “Nigel’d over on the Ajax thread!
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Exactly why it would be useful to keep the Reapers out there. They do not fly in UK airspace so can not come home anyway.
Keep them on the job doing their Hellfire and intel work and supplement with Uk based Protector.
A hellfire missile for a motor bikeβ¦β¦?
I used Brimstone a couple of times.
Why hasn’t any AF specified inclusion of a 20mm autocannon in the armament of Reapers (and other systems)? In permissive AD environment, wouldn’t it ultimately be more cost effective? There are probably technical or ROE issues/objections…
Sorry, 27 mm autocannon…too great a weight penalty to mount system?
Recoil might also not a good idea…
But a guided rocket instead of a missile might be cheaper.
Hmmm…thought recoil had been relatively well suppressed…however, perhaps misinformed…it’s been awhile since first and second hand experience. Nonetheless, guided rockets would presumably be a less expensive option, as well…π€
I’d have thought that the laser guided Thales Martlet would have been a cheaper/lighter choice, it would also increase the number of missiles that could be carried or the range of the Reaper and/or it’s Flight Time as well.
Probably a missile can almost guarantee a hit, you know what itβs going to do when it blows up and it can be aborted on route.
For the small amount of time they are used from reapers it probably isnβt worth the hassle of a cannon.
If you really want a cannon you could call in a fast jet to Mauser the bast**rds
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thats sort of what I thought …but at the end of the day I suppose it depends who was riding it…
Iβve called in 2 x 500lb on a friggin cart full of hay, so a motorbike is a step up! You use the best weapon you have, at that time, to prosecute the target which presents itself! Job done, x 1 nonce terrorist dead, no argument from me!
Massive own goal if we retire this platform. Bought & paid for so why not just keep them forward based as Daniele says. Surely the uplift to 3% would accommodate this.
Wallace is due to announce the results of a review based on the increase by the end of the year. So a lot of questions should be answered. Extending the lives of effective existing systems due to leave service like Reaper will deliver increased capability a lot faster than increasing orders for new or extant systems but it would mean less money for new E7’s, P8’s and A400’s for example. It’s in the hands of the services.
RN has already effectively adopted this practice (e.g., LIFEX and PGMU mod for T-23s). Virtue derived from necessity…π€π
Yes but the Type23 lifex/upgrade programme was planned and introduced 5-10 yrs ago. Long before the current planned budget increase. I’m talking about new options to extend life of existing systems that ‘may’ be introduced.
Understand, simply stating one current RN procurement/operational guideline. Concerned there may be a collective MI on part of senior RN leadership upon realization their budget has been substantially increased! π
The way that clown is sinking the economy 3% may not be much of a increase. I will wait and see when itβs actually delivered before getting all gooey inside.
1 chancellor down. Jeremy hunt the cunt is the replacement. I guess all of trusses crazy plans will be out the window. Business rate reduction cancelled already.
Hopefully it works.
I am uncomfortable with the state carrying out public executions in this manner, without due process. Everybody is innocent until proven guilty and we only have the word of the controllers that they got the right chap. Not to mention possible collateral damage to bystanders.
Remember what the Americans did, after the Kabul bomb attack during the evacuation? A whole family was destroyed and they had to admit that they got the wrong people afterwards
Mate, you are so wrong on so many different levels. This isn’t taking out a drugs dealer selling their wares from a Range Rover cruising round Hyde Park. There would have been a number of scenarios. Whereby they were building up a pattern of life by following the target. Or if the target had been seen actively engaging in terrorism. Either way, it is far better for everyone that the terrorist is taken out there and then, without putting anyone else’s life in danger. On my last tour in Afghan I was the team’s JTAC (Joint Terminal Attack Controller). Which… Read more Β»
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Well explained mate. Some people think it’s just a turkey shoot, and don’t realise the intelligence that is built up before we target individuals. The tech is pretty incredible now that we can target fast moving vehicles or individuals with such accuracy and such low collateral damage.
“Drone Wars UK” is one such amusing site with that stuff. They’re just one step from CND/SWP to me. They don’t get why it is necessary.
But yes, mistakes do happen. Terrorists intentions are not mistaken.
Thanks Davey B – what a fascinating post!
Youβre welcome. Itβs in the past and Iβm at peace with what I did. Though itβs something I donβt wish to dwell on.
I love it when a plan comes together!!!!
Is he an enemy combatant? yes he is.
Now i would be comfortable if there was a formal war declaration against IS.
would that not valid Is as a state to be wared with.
But that doesn’t automatically make the whole process wrong does it…surely a strike by a manned aircraft with the same input would have had the same outcome …its not like the pilot would have had a photo in his cockpit of those that he should not kill is it?
Maybe instead of a hellfire the drone could shoot a big net round the target.
Not sure what you do then. Call the Syrian police?
Normally they donβt shoot unless there is a case for why they need taken out.
In an ideal world this wouldnβt happen.
But then I think what would of happened if nobody had helped Syria and Iraq and the Islamic state had taken over both countries.
Reminds me when Corbyn I recall was wanting terrorists arrested, both in the Kratos Met Police shoot to kill scenario and ISIS in Syria scenarios. I wondered at the time who, and how, was going to do that safely without risk to themselves and not expect resistance.
Regards the actual British ones, most I suspect, going by past form.
Until then the “British” ones have left their nation of birth and are fighting and killing for an enemy who want to destroy us. Treason in my book.
No, you don’t come crawling back here when it does not work out.
Bravo the RAF, and I hope the crews who have to do this get all the support they need. It may be remote but it is real time and no doubt traumatic if this individual has been tracked for weeks then negated on a monitor.
Wil articulated DM. I commend the RAF for holding these murders to account for their deeds.
I would suggest not that traumatic surely ..not the same as stiking a dagger in someones throat in a trench and watching the warm air rise from the wound …..just saying…
No, that is fair comment. Would I be right in saying though infantry types are trained to be aggressive by the realities of their role, basic killing, often at close range? An RAF pilot detached from that horror sitting in a room then going home to his family after his shift not so much when before they’d lob a 500 pounder but never see their victims face? What do I know, just a thought?
Mate everyone remembers and dwells on different things in different ways! No matter anyones job role, memories connected to an incident can be flagged up by the slightest thing, could be a direct memory of an action, or for example, the drone pilot could over a period of time connect the smell of a certain coffee, he had maybe after a mission, to a memory that has built up over a period of time! Agreed you would imagine memories are more vivid for a βcombat armβ, but not necessarily so. We humans have an amazing ability to block stuff out/forget… Read more Β»
Hi mate. Respect, whatever you’ve seen or experienced. Is PTSD supported seriously these days? π I guess not?
Not 100% sure nowadays mate, but there is more of an awareness. Obviously it was given a new importance due to Herrick but with the NHS in such a cluster (much of that there own making) itβs probably more of a tick box exercise currently. Cheers mate π
Good job all round, no issues from me. RAF cockroach removal service strikes again π
RAF pest control response w/in 30 min. or the service is free (at one point there was an emphasis on pizza delivery w/in 30 min. in the US)! πππ
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