Laser-guided British missile on standby to wipe out terror chiefs
BRITAIN’S precision missiles could be used to cut off the ‘snake’s head’ of Islamic State and instil fear at the top of the terror group if attacks in Syria are authorised.
The laser-guided Brimstone missile, which can hit a small, fast-moving target, could be used by RAF pilots to assassinate IS leaders one by one.
Britain and Saudi Arabia are currently the only two countries in the world to have invested in Brimstones.
The British-designed missile destroys its target with a contained explosion that generates relatively little debris. It is far more sophisticated than the Americans’ Hellfire weapons, which generate a large and deadly field of shrapnel when they explode.
The £100,000 Brimstone – which was used against Colonel Gaddafi’s regime in Libya in 2011 – can be fired from a Tornado GR4 at 20,000ft and is capable of hitting vehicles travelling at up
Take out targets on a ‘kill list’
to 70mph. It can be launched from a plane which is flying up to seven miles away from its target.
Each missile has a small but highly focused explosive warhead – which reduces the chance of shrapnel hitting civilians – as well as an adjustable fuse which allows the pilot to decide exactly when it will explode.
The RAF would use the state-of-theart weaponry to take out particular targets on a British ‘kill list’ in Syria should MPs vote in favour of extending the mission this week.
It is understood that Tornado planes would concentrate on hitting the ‘upper tier’ of IS leadership structure in their stronghold. IS command posts and training camps will also be identified as key targets for any British aircraft operating over Syria, according to Defence Secretary Michael Fallon.
The missile’s dual- mode guidance system – with a laser designator and a sophisticated radar – makes it the ideal weapon for destroying IS fanatics driving on motorbikes or on gun trucks.
It also makes the RAF a formidable force in the IS strong- hold of Raqqa, where other coalition nations have struggled to take out targets for fear of civilian casualties in crowded areas.
While other air forces have been pounding Raqqa with air strikes, they have found it difficult to get to the ‘snake’s head’ of the terrorist group, as David Cameron described the IS leadership. Last week the French defence minister, Jean-Yves le Drian, referred to the Brimstone missile when he called on Britain to bring high-grade skills to the air campaign.
However last night a senior military figure suggested that Britain would have to go further and put boots on the ground in Syria to win the war against Islamic State.
General Sir Richard Shirreff, who served as Britain’s top commander in Nato, told the Daily Telegraph: ‘To take a city of 350,000 is going to need a massive force. It’s not something you are going to achieve with 70,000 so-called Syrian moderates.’