Tornados took of for Syria minutes after vote
BRITISH warplanes were last night diverted from Iraq to bomb Islamic State positions in Syria.
Within minutes of the yes vote in Parliament, two Tornado jets took off from Cyprus with instructions to wipe out jihadis in their heartland. Another two jets were due to take off later.
They will join armed Reaper drones that are already on spying missions over Syria and can blitz jihadi fighters with Hellfire missiles. RAF officers will work immediately to identify targets, while top brass have drawn up plans to scramble the SAS to rescue any pilots downed over Syria.
Today, six Typhoon fighters and two Tornado bombers will travel from Britain to RAF Akrotiri, Cyprus to more than double the number of aircraft stationed there.
An extra 150 military personnel will also be deployed to step up Britain’s war effort in the region. The Tornados, equipped with precision-guided Brimstone missiles that can hit moving targets, will fly from RAF Marham, Norfolk.
The Typhoons, travelling from the same base with 500lb Paveway bombs, are likely to free up the eight Tornados already flying over Iraq to kill ‘high level’ jihadis at the top of the chain of command in the IS stronghold of Raqqa. Speaking from RAF Marham, Group Captain Richard Davies, suggested the Tornados already in the skies in Iraq were likely to be deployed instantly.
‘If all those ducks are aligned and the aircraft are airborne at that moment and a target comes up they will go,’ he said. Asked
‘Concerns that pilots could be beheaded’
how his crew will ‘ decapitate the snake’s head’ of IS, he added: ‘It is the speed of being able to get to that target very, very quickly which right now just isn’t available on a fast jet in Syria.’
Missions will be coordinated by the US-led Combined Air Operations Centre at Al Udeid in Qatar. Defence Secretary Michael Fallon will chair a ‘targeting board’ to approve ‘preplanned’ objectives – including terrorist headquarters, training camps, supply depots and networks of fortified positions. Other targets are deemed ‘dynamic’ – those identified by RAF pilots as they fly over Syria.
Intelligence analysts at RAF Waddington, Britain’s drone base, will analyse real-time images picked up by Reaper aircraft, which may have been watching targets for weeks – if not months. Usually, any intelligence gathered over Syria would be passed on to other coalition aircraft.
Following the yes vote, UK commanders would now be clear to act on it alone.
Meanwhile, top brass have drawn up contingency plans to use Special Forces to rescue RAF pilots shot down over Syria. Elite troops already in the region will be deployed on Land Rovers to extract personnel if they crash land in hostile zones.
Air crew will also be equipped with pistols and a combat survival waistcoat with navigation beacons to help rescuers locate them.
Fears have been raised about the danger of British pilots sharing the same airspace as other countries following the incident last month in which a Russian jet was downed by Turkey. Should they be shot down over Raqqa, there are concerns they could be beheaded.
In more complex rescue situations, up to 50 aircraft would help stop enemy forces getting to the pilots while elite troops would be flown in to recover stranded personnel.