The cost of the operations against Islamic State and other details of the campaign were revealed in a briefing paper.

In March 2015 the MoD confirmed that the net additional costs of the military air operation would be met from the Treasury Special Reserve; while the costs of training and equipping the Iraqi and Kurdish security forces, and the provision of key enablers, would be met from the MOD’s Deployed Military Activity Pool (DMAP).

In answer to a parliamentary question in September 2016 the MOD set the costs of the operation, between August 2014 and the 31st of March 2016, at £265 million (£45 million in the 2014-15 financial year, and £220 million in the 2015-16 financial year).

To date, and as part of those overall costs, approximately £63 million has been spent on Brimstone and Hellfire missiles.

The UK has been the second largest contributor to the air campaign in Iraq and Syria. UK aircraft have flown over 3,000 missions as part of Operation Shader, and as of the beginning of November 2016 had conducted 1,115 airstrikes against ISIS targets in Iraq and Syria (1,048 and 67 respectively).

In July 2016 the MoD acknowledged that “the RAF has not operated at this sustained operational tempo in a single theatre of conflict for a quarter of a century”.

The Government has consistently maintained that no civilian casualties in Iraq or Syria, to date, have resulted from UK air strikes.

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George has a degree in Cyber Security from Glasgow Caledonian University and has a keen interest in naval and cyber security matters and has appeared on national radio and television to discuss current events. George is on Twitter at @geoallison
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Paul
Paul
7 years ago

If that’s the cost to prevent the hardened ISIS terrorist from returning/entering Europe, then so be it!

colin
colin
7 years ago

No wonder the bill is £63 million when we fire Brimstone and hellfire missiles against one car with no one in it or against mortar positions when we should just use guns we should get out now stop this we need missiles for our ships

Steve
Steve
7 years ago
Reply to  colin

Get a grip you nut job. Why would we fire missiles at a car that isn’t a threat to human life? If the car is loaded with explosives and due to detonate, and thus killing and maiming innocent civilians would you shoot it with a gun?
Let’s see your skills in precision ground attack.

Also, what advantage does an Air To Surface weapon have when it’s launched from a ship?

clive
clive
7 years ago

While use of Brimstone, Paveway and Hellfire to attack such targets is, on the face of it, overkill, they allow the RAF to avoid civilian casualties. Just imagine the outrage and howls of protest from the usual suspects if we were to employ iron bombs and incur the kind of civilian deaths that it is reported are inflicted by Russian attacks. I would think, however, that this would be a situation where a smaller, cheaper weapon like Martlet would have a role to play as it still has high accuracy. Hopefully, Martlet’s land attack capability, fired from Typhoon/Protector, will be… Read more »