The UK Ministry of Defence announced on Thursday, for the first time, armed UAS used to target insurgents in Afghanistan are now being operated out of the UK .
Missions of the missile-carrying Reaper aircraft began from a newly built headquarters at RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire earlier last week – five years after the MoD bought the unmanned aircraft systems to monitor and attack the Taliban.
Since then the UK has been controlling the RAF’s five Reaper aircraft from Creech Air Force Base in Nevada because the British military did not have the capability to fly them from here.
However, the MoD made building a new UAS hub at Waddington a priority following the 2010 strategic defence and security review, and the centre “stood up” at the end of last year.
Waddington has become the home of XIII squadron, and defence officials said pilots from the unit have now started to take command of Reapers, working in tandem with the team in America.
There are three operating terminals at the base in Lincolnshire, and they had to go through extensive technical trials before they were deemed ready for use.
“We aren’t flying any more operations than we were before, but with the time differences between the US, Afghanistan and the UK, it is now possible for pilots at Waddington to work in relay with the those in the US,” said a source.
There are no current plans to disband the squadron in the US, which is expected to continue operating until the end of next year, when all Nato combat operations in Afghanistan will finally come to an end.
The RAF has bought five more Reaper aircraft, which are expected to be deployed in Afghanistan over the summer, bringing the total to 10. British UAS have flown 45,000 hours in Afghanistan, and fired 350 weapons, including Hellfire missiles.
Source: The Guardian