The UK Defence Journal has observed frequent flights to and from Israel by British military aircraft, here’s what they’re doing.
An MoD spokesperson has confirmed that the flights are part of efforts to assist with the departure of British nationals.
“The RAF has operated 17 flights into Tel Aviv in order to support the UK’s diplomatic engagement in country as well as to assist with the departure of British nationals. None of these flights transported any lethal aid for foreign nations.“
British C-17 lands in Tel Aviv, Israel – British C-17 transport aircraft continue to function as part of an 'air bridge' between Tel Aviv and RAF Akrotiri on Cyprus. pic.twitter.com/YhGflriapF
— UK Defence Journal (@UKDefJournal) October 15, 2023
The flights have been ongoing for some time, the first flight we recorded occurred on the 15th of October but I understand that they’ve been underway since not long after the 7th, when tensions flared up.
The UK is continuing to commit a sizable portion of its air mobility force to RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus, primarily to move citizens evacuated from Israel in the last while. pic.twitter.com/Ks1dpJL7PI
— UK Defence Journal (@UKDefJournal) October 22, 2023
The UK continues to commit a sizable portion of its air mobility force to RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus, primarily to move citizens evacuated from Israel in the last while.
As I type this, a number of RAF transport aircraft are in the air heading to the region.
It’s not what they’re taking out of Israel that’s the interesting bit, but what they’re probably taking in…of which we’ll probably never know.
Needs to be a formal question in parliament on the matter. If they refuse to disclose or state it’s operational security then that is contempt of parliament and a matter the speaker of the house will need to resolve. Deploying lethal aide to a foreign nation, who don’t seem to be lacking in lethality, should be a matter for parliament to debate and vote upon.
Did you bother to read the article before getting your knickers in a twist? It explicitly says “None of these flights transported any lethal aid for foreign nations“. It’s even in bold for those with bad eyesight.
Do you trust them to tell the truth? Strange that they are using A400 heavy freighters for the job? Sure the RAF have more suitable airplanes for people.
Yes they do have more suitable planes for the carriage of passengers. The planes being used though are fitted with defensive capabilities, i:e flares, missile warning systems etc. They are also capable of operating from shorter or unprepared strips. They will also be bringing out diplomatic freight, and also sick and wounded (it is a war zone). C17s and a400s are ideal for the job. I’m sure if it was a straight pick up we could’ve sent easyjet!
Then why bother ever asking questions?
It states C17 which can be adapted to carry more passengers than any other RAF aircraft as well as providing in flight medical care. Can also land on shorter runways than a passenger craft and has better survivability if shot at when landing or taking off. Israel doesn’t need any lethal aid they have plenty.
That is true, however I still think the question be asked in Parliament to confirm the truth of that statement as many (esp those with an agenda) may doubt its veracity when given invisibly at that level (just refer to the Covid Enquiry for the level of potential obscuration). If any denial is given in the House it is much more substantial as any Minister/PM giving it is far less likely to lie or mislead as even Johnson found out to his cost when allegedly doing so. It’s only a matter of time before the hard left and Muslim groups… Read more »
What has happened to Tony Blair for the countless lies he told in Parliament ?
Nothing but we all know that he got away with murder
We voted a government in to make the decisions for us. Some people are capable of making decisions some aren’t. If you don’t like the way the government does not tell us everything vote another party in and see what happens. The military is employed for our safety, foreign or domestic and to demand what the army navy raf are doing goes well beyond yous and my pay grade. Its called national security. The rights and wrongs of the conflict is if you throw stones at a tiger from a far nothing will happen go into his cage and throw… Read more »
Never trust your own side. Guaranteed if the flights were to rescue British nationals the planes came back to Cyprus empty. Tax payers money so it doesn’t matter either way.
The incompetence is staggering.
Just another day in fantasy land.
Could have not said it better myself all he is missing from is name is end
People only see what they want to see 🙈
Says in one thing but honestly adhered is subjective.
👍
Read the story!!!!!!!!
I know to keep people like you happy why don’t the military take out a weekly ad out in the national press, stating everything they do, even though they could divulge national security information. They could also discuss it openly in Parliament or the Papers when or if UKSF have to go in to rescue UK hostages that Hamas has.
Live in the real world will you.
I’d expect that elements of our special forces are already in place
Your post reminds me of an interaction I had with somebody on Twitter the other day. Somebody had posted about how there was a ceasefire on the 6th of Oct until Hamas decided to send in 3000 terrorists to murder death kill inside Israel . he was immediately shot down with the retort that the bunfight in Israel is the worst that he has seen since Rwanda and Darfur and that actually Muslims (his wording not mine) pale into insignificance behind Christians when it comes to Genocide. I replied with: 1) Armenian Genocide (1915-16) : 1.5 million killed 2) East… Read more »
It was Mussolini who had one ball. Hitler had IBS.
👍
I’m sick of the whole thing, everybody seems to have forgotten about the war in the Ukraine
Have a day off will ya.
Not really the UK hands out or sells lots of vey lethal things to many nations..it’s not voted on in parliament…parliament is for a balance of accountability of the executive as well as passing statute..it’s not there to make every decision of government…that’s for the executive to decide and civil service to enact.
The rest of the world would be qui happy to see the whole middle east reduced to ashes and the n the cesspool can be forgotten about once and for all
“None of these flights transported any lethal aid for foreign nations”
I hope they are shipping lethal aid into Israel. The more lethal the better to completely wipe out Hamas.
That is what Egypt and Jordan and Saudi Arabia want but will never say in public.
Why senf C17’s? Because they have countermeasures.
Uk company’s don’t have to get a vote in parliament to sell weapons to sovereign nations they just have to have a controlled goods licence Israel can buy what it wants and uk company’s can sell what they like there doesn’t need to be any vote in parliament hopefully the IDF is buying loads of weapons from us and in the future we will need double the flights into there country
“None of these flights transported any lethal aid for foreign nations”
I guess there could be a question in parliament on the matter and then put the Tory government on the spot. When labour come to power they will then need to remember to check this outcome and if the Tory government were found to be lying to parliament then that is contempt and a serious event. Unlike the Pro Palestinian and opposite far right supports heading to London today, Armistice day I’m a firm believer in parliamentary democracy and the rule of the law. We are in for a very interesting day today. Let’s hope the Met Police can keep… Read more »
Well put.
You believe in the rule of law, but sounds like you don’t believe in free speech. Also you don’t believe in national security, Labour is not in Government they have no legal reason to know what the government of today is doing. If they come into power then they have a right to know while they are in government or should we drag up everything decision past governments have made Labour decisions as well.
Actually the role of his majesties loyal opposition is to question and scrutinise the executive (government), it is a formal and bound role within our parliamentary system. It is a statutory role bound in law and comes with a specific government salary. The opposition have a very specific legal requirement to know what the government of the time is doing and are keep briefed on national security matters..very specifically a number of them are made privy councillors so that they are able to have full national security briefs… for a government to withhold very important national security issues from the… Read more »
As stated by the
INSTITUTE
FOR
GOVERNMENT
The government is expected to keep the leader of the opposition, and sometimes other opposition party leaders, informed on matters of major national importance. On 31October 2020, Johnson phoned Starmer to let him know that the government would shortly be announcing a second national lockdown.
As you see the word EXPECTED to keep the leader of the opposition informed of national importance, that does not mean NATIONAL SECURITY which is a different matter that is not discussed with the opposition and definitely not in open Chambers for open discussion.
you are dancing on the head of a pin, When they use the word “expected” in regards to our constitutional law they mean the opposition will be be briefed or there will be a very compelling reason why not…it’s not an optional “we will do it if we like” the loyal opposition is the constitution government in waiting..they need to be informed because. 1) there are some potential constitutional triggers that could cause them to become a government very quickly, and having a prime minister who have not been kept brief is a to put it bluntly is very dangerous… Read more »
What a stupid comment.
Devolution, supreme court, TRS2 cancellation to buy more expensive US planes. Iraq 2. That was when Labour overall was a descent party slightly left of centre representing the lower paid etc. Not the extremists anti British ,( especially if your white male) Liberal elitist clique we have today. God help this country when they get in power. That will be the worse crime in the history of the Tory party. Not listening to the people !
Why? What do you think they would say that has not already been said in the statements above?
You already don’t have rule of the law when MET Police have different policies for same crimes and “protests”.
MET Police politics that rewards who makes intimidation and advocates violence and extermination.
The events yesterday were nicely teed up by those with agendas on both sides.
I don’t actually see any contradiction between demos and Parliamentary democracy, even if I don’t like the causes. I think that the main villain of the piece this last week has been the Home Secretary, who to me has stepped outside the acceptable limits of her role. For me this Armistice Day I’ve been learning about the Shot at Dawn memorial, and reflecting that for me we Remember both for the sake of those who died – I lost two from my grandparents’ generation, one of those who killed himself after he came home – and also to try and… Read more »
Home Secretary is the only person correct on this. But will prefer let
this fester and you soon you will be Lebanon .
You don’t even realise the enemy you have front of you.
Afghanistan, Sudan, Gaza. That the world has beoming a more dangerous place is hightlighted by the frequency of civilian evacuation operations.
Darfur, Armenia, Pakistan(Afghanistan), invasions of Europe and US.
I don’t see anything sinister about any of this, anyone who keeps an eye on ADS-B or other flight trackers knows that the RAF have been flying into and over Israeli Airspace for years. Sometimes they just stick their beacons on the minute they reach Israeli airspace(which looks when they just appear over the River Jordan). And not just Transports but Tanker, Drones, Typhoons and even a couple of F35B’s for the last few years. We both keep a very close watch on Hezbolah and ISIS in Syria, Lebanon and Iraq and one of the safest routes is to overfly… Read more »
Blimey talk about conspiracy theories coming out off the woodwork🙄
Why are we wasting airframe life on scarce C-17 resources when the Voyagers were basically built for this task and available in numbers?
Jack wrote:
“”Why are we wasting airframe life on scarce C-17 resources when the Voyagers were basically built for this task and available in numbers?””
Could it be that the C17s are fitted with defensive aide suites
Good point!
Medevac too I think.
*Stratevac.
A term I didn’t know. Thanks.
CASEVAC= Evacuation of Wounded Personnel on an improvised or non-dedicated platform
MEDEVAC= Evacuation of Wounded Personnel on a dedicated medical platform
STRATEVAC= Evacuation of Wounded Personel from an in theatre Medical Facility to the UK (platform Agnostic)
Those are the main three. Typically you should escalate through them, but in theory there is no fixed order.
Thanks Dern.
So are the voyagers. They come standard from airbus with a defensive aid suite (DAS). Thales I think.
Precisely.
If you know something the experts in RAF don’t, feel free to share.
More Atlas being built I believe.
I’m confused. Commercial aircraft are flying in and out of Israel. Is it not easier to tell folks that want to leave to book a flight? Why do the U.K. have to pay and use RAF aircraft to move people out of a safe country.
Are there laws about needing to move people out of areas and when they need to be used?
Pay and book a flight? Out of a war zone? Really. 🙄
Yes there are 5 flights going to and from london tomorrow. Everyday flights have been going. It’s not really a war zone outside of Gaza. Well not much more than the usual.
The Islamic militants involved would love to shoot down an airliner filled with infidels, the Provos used to call them “spectaculars”
This is why we shouldn’t allow dual nationality. I bet you pounds to pennies every “British” citizen in that region is also holding a passport for Israel or one of the neighbours and deeply invested in the local causes but none of ours.
I really hope we are not supplying Israel. No question hamas needs to be held accountable for their horrific actions but the way Israel is going about that is not the answer. There is no good/bad in this conflict just innocent people dying on both sides.
I fully support the right of Israel to defend itself but the way it is going about it is troubling. I understand that Hama’s (like any despicable terrorist organisation) will have embedded themselves in among civilian infrastructure to use them as human shields. However that is what special forces are for! There is no need to flatten a civilian area in the way they are doing… However it would be nice to see protesters condemning Hama’s and Iran in the same way they are condemning Israel. There can never be peace while those two are meddling.
I think the problem here is scale, Hamas is not a set of terrorist cells with limited resources, it’s a committed Military 30,000 strong, who have been trained to fight by veterans, are fully committed to their cause, willing to die and are Heavily armed…they have Been turning Gaza into a fortress for the last 17 years…they have a large supply of anti tank missiles, anti air missiles, estimates to have maybe up to 100,000 rockets..they even have some ballistic missiles stashed away…Hamas managed to undertake a land, sea and air invasion with 3000 men across what is probably the… Read more »
Well put👍 But try explaining that to the well intentioned sheep who turned out yesterday and are calling for a ‘cease fire’🙄good luck with that!
You tories really don’t care about civilians in gaza do you?
“across what is probably the most heavily defended frontier on the planet” What an absolutely shameless gaslighter you are Hamas broke through the “most heavily defended frontier on the planet” with a freaking bulldozer. The deeper you get into your paragraphs, the more liberties you take with reality. This is a consistent pattern with you. It might be time to get some help.
Actually Ron please name a more heavily guarded frontier….there are none…it’s a frontier filled with automatic weapons platforms and sensors…Hamas did not just break through with a bulldozer, they used drones to assault and destroy the automated weapons platforms, they used para gliders, they even used their 400 strong navel infantry force as well as seaborne drones to undertake a seaborne assault …it was a carefully planned and executed operation involving 3000 fighters, if you going to accuse someone of gaslighting at least do them the Honour of reading around the subject first. to be honest you keep trolling my… Read more »
I am sorry, but that does not warrant the destruction of civilian areas that we are seeing. And Hamas raided across the border pretty much unimpeded. It was hardly a well fortified barrier if someone in a tractor can knock through it and 3000 people flood across and have enough time to raid a music festival and numerous villages and then head back with 200 hostages and 1500 people killed… Anyway, special forces and elite troops supported by armour etc should be able to deal with Hamas without the scale of destruction they are currently causing. It does not matter… Read more »
It was well fortified, but designed to stop small incursions of suicide bombers and squads… It had sensors, automated weapons platforms etc Let me know if you find evidence of a more fortified boarder…but I’ve not found one….as for a the assault Hamas undertook I suggest reading the open source analysis….it involved drone attacks to take out the automated weapons towers, the use of para gliders, assaults on the manned checkpoints, assaults on key bases to lock down the response of the IDF, they even undertook a seabourne assault using their 400 trained seaborne infantry, all the will undertaking a… Read more »
I would have expected someone in a military site to know a bit about military, or just be a bit honest if that applies.
Can you please explain what happened differently in Fallujah?
Oh btw i forgot US Army used white phosphorus grenades to rat out bunkers and houses transformed in bunkers.
The bias is outstanding.
The key difference here is that Fallujah was largely evacuated by civilians…
Why troubling? do you think you can do a comfortable for diner war?
There is no problem with scale, and if they want and should do it correctly they have to clean Southern Gaza too.
It’s been great to see everyone show their true colors in regards to this conflict, not least invincible Likud leader Netanhayu who apparently let the whole thing happen and whose infamy in the 21st century might be unrivaled once this whole thing is over. There’s nothing quite like taking sides in a disastrous, ethnic religious war between two right-wing groups, with far reaching, highly negative consequences not even the pedantic schoolboy among you has yet pondered.
Precisely, it is great to see the colours. I expect yours would change with time. The time is coming that will not get your information only from BBC, The Guardian, The Independent and others.
Question mark.
Did you already saw what happened to the Mercedes car dealer stand in Gaza?
Flattened by israel?
Actually Ron a lot of people on this site who don’t actually agree with your stance have pondered greatly on the outcome of this and some have studied the. Geopolitical, geostrategic, historical and religious background to the Arab Israel conflict for years. But at the moment anyone who says anything other than Isreal is the enemy of peace get two barrels from you. The simple reality is the Jewish people and Isreal did not start this hate and conflict, you can if you wish go back a few years and say well Isreal did this and drove out the Arab… Read more »
Not sure what posts your reading. Most say it’s a disaster. When u post how to fix this instead of issuing nonsense some may listen. Hamas won’t stand and fight or leave Israel alone. If Isreal does nothing they get attacked. If they try and call out Hamas to fight they hide. All the death and injured stats get published by Hamas so it’s probably not the truth. That’s not to say there isn’t a lot of death and suffering. If Hamas cared about the people it supposedly represented it would have said all civilians will evacuate a certain area… Read more »
GCHQ in Cyprus. And the RAF flights into Israel. Both have offered assistance for years. But the cover story of diplomatic exchange and flying out UK nationals. Isnt actually far from the truth. Clearly the extra flights are supplying some kind of technology that Israel hasnt home produced or can supplied by the US. What could it be? Ground radar, robotics and signals. Not leathal of course
Lets just say there are assets in the region.
What is really interesting is the amount of foreign Military planes flying to cyprus. This “aircraft carrier” has really become the base for most western military flights. Apparently, german gsg9 and KSK (german SAS equivalent) are currently based there for potential missions (according to german press). This makes it very likely that others are there too.