The Telegraph
Danielle Sheridan 7 hrs ago
An RAF Typhoon has shot down an enemy drone over Syria in the force’s first air-to-air combat since the Falklands War.
On Tuesday, two RAF Typhoon FGR4s were patrolling over Syria and Iraq as part of Operation Shader, the UK’s contribution to the global coalition against Islamic State (IS), when they noticed an unidentified drone flying towards allied troops on the ground.
After deeming the drone – which was of a “diminutive” size – a threat, the RAF conducted its first air-to-air missile firing in almost 40 years over the At Tanf Coalition base, in Syria.
The last time the RAF engaged in such activity was when RAF and Royal Navy pilots flying Harriers shot down Argentine Skyhawks using Aim 9 Sidewinder missiles in 1982.
Ben Wallace, the Defence Secretary, said: “This strike is an impressive demonstration of the RAF’s ability to take out hostile targets in the air which pose a threat to our forces.
“We continue to do everything we can alongside our coalition partners to stamp out the terrorist threat and protect our personnel and our partners.”
It comes several weeks after the RAF, which is operating out of RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus, successfully eliminated a known terrorist threat in Syria using a remotely piloted Reaper drone armed with Hellfire missiles.
Earlier this year, the RAF cleared an Islamic State stronghold in Northern Iraq as part of the same operation.
Over 10 days in March, the RAF carried out a series of airstrikes at up to 100 fortified complexes in the Makhmur Mountain region, south-west from Erbil.
Although it is not clear how many terrorists were killed in the attack, the RAF has revealed that 67 terrorists were killed in Iraq and Syria last year as part of the operation.
At the time, Mr Wallace said the operation “will prevent the terrorist group and its toxic ideology from regaining a foothold in Iraq and reduce its capability to coordinate attacks around the world”.
The Ministry of Defence said the global coalition against IS had liberated eight million people across 110,000 sq km from tyranny in Iraq and Syria.
However, it added that IS nevertheless remained a threat. “The UK remains firmly committed to working with our coalition partners on further degrading the terrorist group,” it said.
Iranian groups thought to be behind drone threat
The MoD did not reveal whether it was a drone belonging to Isis or a government-backed militia.
However, US publications reported that US defence officials suspected Iran or Iranian-backed militia groups to be behind Tuesday’s drone incident.
Captain Bill Urban, the spokesman for US Central Command, confirmed that there were no reports of casualties or damage to the base.
Earlier this year, it was revealed by Jeremy Fleming, director of GCHQ, and General Sir Patrick Sanders, head of UK Strategic Command, that the UK was using cyber attacks to attack IS drone technology.
General Sanders told a Sky News podcast: “It was a very cheap and effective way of waging a terrorist warfare.
“What we wanted to do was to turn that strength, that dependence that they had on the cyber into a vulnerability, and also to undermine the credibility of their information campaign and of their ideology.”
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