Two Tornado jets were tasked with the destruction of an Islamic State observation post which was identified to the north-east of Abu Kamal on Wednesday the 17th of October.
The Ministry of Defence say that the post was dealt with effectively by a Paveway attack delivered by a Tornado flight.
As normal, the Tornados were supported by a Voyager air refuelling tanker, based alongside them at RAF Akrotiri.
Operation Shader
By September 2017, the Ministry of Defence had announced that over 1,000 personnel were engaged in theatre and that the Royal Air Force had conducted around 900 airstrikes, flying over 2,200 sorties, killing 3,000 Islamic State fighters.
Last year, it was reported that the Royal Air Force is operating at its most intense for 25 years in a single theatre of operation which far outstripped the UK involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan – RAF jets have dropped 11 times more bombs (1,276 strikes) on Syria and Iraq in the preceding 12 months than they had in the busiest year of action in Afghanistan a decade previously.
As of March last year, the MoD says the operation has cost the UK taxpayers £265 million so far. As of April 2017, 37 Hellfire missiles, 20 Brimstone missiles, 30 unspecified/other armaments were used in the operation against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
Is anyone else uncomfortable with the reality that two fast jets and a tanker were required to take out an insurgent OP? Sledge hammer and nut springs to mind.
they might be getting on in years and slated for retirement, but, they are still well ahead of the competition, three cheers for tornado.
Certainly superior to anything ISIS flies.
Great bomb trucks in an uncontested airspace. Is 8,000 hours still the max-airframe life?
What happened to the RAF bomb caves article that was up this morning?