The strike of a British Reaper drone, which took place in Afghanistan on Tuesday, is the first drone to be used in an attack controlled from a base situated on UK soil.
“A Reaper remotely piloted aircraft system, operated by
pilots from 13 Squadron located at RAF Waddington, has fired a
weapon during a mission supporting UK forces on the ground in
Afghanistan,” a spokesperson of UK’s Ministry of Defense
said.
No further details are available as the country’s military abstains
from discussing details of specific missions for the sake of
operational security.
Britain’s Royal Air Force (RAF) has previously controlled British
and US Air Force Reaper and Predator drones from the Creech Air
Force Base in Nevada, US during missions in Afghanistan, Iraq and
Libya.
The strike comes amid protests against the British use of unmanned
aerial operation, as 600 campaigners staged a rally at the
Waddington base in eastern England over the weekend.
According to UK’s armed forces minister, Andrew Robathan, the
country’s military launched more than 2000 unmanned aerial vehicle
missions between October 2006 and December 31, 2012.
Britain remains the only nation that is sanctioned by Washington to
purchase and operate armed MQ-9 Reaper drones, produced by the
US-based General Atomics Aeronautical Systems company.
The Royal Air Force has been using UAVs of such a class since 2008,
with 13 Squadron currently being in possession of 10 Reapers, all
stationed in Afghanistan.
The MQ-9 Reaper is the first hunter-killer drone designed for
long-endurance, high-altitude surveillance, which is larger,
heavier and more capable than the earlier MQ-1 Predator
version.
It’s primarily used to gather intelligence on enemy activity on the
ground, but also carries bombs and Hellfire missiles for precision
strikes.