Category: UK Drones – Operations

The UK’s forgotten war: British drone strikes continue against ISIS

Chris Cole

Three weeks ago, on June 10, a British Reaper drone began tracking a motorcycle in north-western Syria near the border with Turkey as it began to be ridden by a someone described by British intelligence as “a known member” of ISIS. The individual, who had apparently been monitored by the drone “for some time” was tracked and killed by a Hellfire missile fired by the drone a short while later. 

Aftermath of UK drone strike in NW Syria, Jun 10 2025 : Image credit : The White Helmets

Local reports from the ground said the man was killed in the blast, with another person also injured and taken to hospital. This was the second British drone strike in north-west Syria this year and the only reason we know about it was a MoD spokesperson boasted about it to The Sun this weekend.

A forgotten, fitful war

For most, the US/UK war against ISIS in Iraq and Syria has been virtually forgotten   Other  awful conflicts –  in Ukraine, Gaza and Sudan –  have taken our attention over the past two years, not to mention the more recent unlawful Israeli and the US bombing of Iran. And in many ways this is understandable.  Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine and Hamas’ attack followed by Israel’s on-going genocidal war on Gaza has stunned the world.   

Yet, it should still matter  – particular to British public, media and parliamentarians  – that British forces continue to engage in a seemingly never ending, fitful war in Syria and Iraq.

MoD secrecy 

In addition, the war gets little attention because the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has decided it will no longer talk about ongoing UK military operations. After a decade of responding to our Freedom of Information (FoI) requests on the UK’s use of Reaper drones, for example, the MoD abruptly began to refuse them at the beginning of 2023 arguing that the changed global situation mean that oversight and transparency had to be curbed. Other organisations, journalists and parliamentary committees too have seen a decline in transparency from the MoD, both about UK military operations but also about UK military developments in general.

While MoD has argued that the ‘geopolitical situation’ means they have to be much more ‘circumspect’, the significant drop in the ability of the media, parliament and the public to scrutinise the MoD and hold the armed forces to account will no doubt be welcomed by them for a variety of reasons.   

Read more →

Drone Wars urges transparency and public oversight of UK military operations at Information Tribunal

Chris Cole

Drone Wars team at the Tribunal

Drone Wars appeared before a two-day information tribunal this week seeking to overturn the decision of the Ministry of Defence (MoD) to end the release of statistical information on the use of Reaper drones and other armed aircraft on military operations.  This information has been a crucial way for the public and parliament to have oversight of UK military action and without the data, it will be much hard to hold the UK to account.

The MoD has been responding to our Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests for statistical information since 2010.  In January 2023, the MoD abruptly ended the practice arguing that the information could not be provided due to exemptions provided under Section 23 (Security bodies) or Section 24 (National Security), and Section 26 (Defence) of the Act.

Section 23 and Section 24 are used as ‘alternatives’ to disguise which exemption is being relied upon, that is whether the information comes from or relates to Special Forces, the intelligence service or similar bodies, or whether it is needed to protect ‘national security’.

The hearing took place partly in open session with Drone Wars present, but it also went into closed session when we were excluded, in order to hear evidence in secret.

The MoD provided a witness statement from Group Captain Redican, Deputy Assistant Chief of Staff for Joint Air Force Component and someone with direct experience of Operation Shader in response to our appeal.  Although the full witness statement contains 50 numbered paragraphs, only 15 were visible to us, the rest was redacted.

Documents also disclosed to us in the run up to the Tribunal revealed that at an earlier stage of our appeal, the Information Commissioner had asked the MoD to provide it with evidence that disclosure of the statistics to Drone Wars had caused harm or prejudice to the UK.  The MoD wrote to the Information Commissioner:

“The information previously released cannot be directly linked to harm to UK forces in its current operating environment (predominantly Operation Shader) however it has revealed capability details for a system that is capable of use on global operations where the threat environment may be significantly different against a more sophisticated adversary.”

In his witness statement, Gp. Capt Redican stated:

“I am aware that the MoD has previously provided responses to similar requests issued by Mr Cole.  The MoD now seeks to withhold information which it was previously content to disclose.  This is due to the changing national and security context, detailed further below.” [note the following four paragraphs were redacted]

Asked to explain what he meant by the ‘changing national and security context’, Redican explained that following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the UK was now preparing for ‘State on State’ warfare rather than use of armed force against non-state groups.  At the same time, he went on, the situation in the Middle East had changed since the beginning of Operation Shader, with Iran – which had previously engaged in the same task of opposing ISIS – but now, “was a major actor in that theatre, and their actions are contrary to British interests.”

Drone Wars strongly argued that the statistical data that we sought was simply not capable of providing insight into ‘techniques, tactics and procedures’ at the level of detail which could cause prejudice to the UK as claimed, but instead gave a broad overview which enabled public oversight.

MoD ‘drawing a line in the sand’

Redican argued that it was not about “the specifics of information”  but that “a line in the sand had to be drawn somewhere”.  He went on “at some point we have to set a new precedent. We are going to have to begin to protect our capabilities more and more.”  Read more →

Operation Without End: Time to halt UK’s now decade-long air war in Iraq and Syria

Chris Cole

Click to open

New briefing (right) calls for end to UK’s ten year air war in Iraq and Syria.

As we reach the tenth anniversary of the deployment of UK armed forces to counter ISIS in Iraq and Syria – known officially as Operation Shader – many may well be surprised at the milestone, thinking that the conflict had long ended.

Indeed both Iraq and Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF)  declared military victory over ISIS (or ‘Daesh’ as the group is sometimes called) more than five years ago in March 2019 when the last of the territory held by the group was overrun.  Most nations that engaged in airstrikes against ISIS, including Australia, Belgium, Denmark, Netherlands and Canada, have ended their air operations.

However, in the five years since the territorial defeat of ISIS, UK fighter aircraft and drones continue to undertake almost daily military flights over Iraq and Syria alongside the US, with airstrikes continuing albeit on a much more infrequent level. The UK’s most recent drone strike – targeting an individual in Syria – took place in June 2024, nine years and nine months after the UK’s first Operation Shader strike.

TRENDS Research, June 2024

While remnants of ISIS continue to exist and the group remains a serious threat to the people of Iraq including undertaking sporadic terrorist attacks there, they are no longer the military force that they once were.  ISIS in Iraq and Syria (as opposed to those in Europe who have pledged allegiance to the group) currently appears to pose little threat to the UK.

However, as the tenth anniversary of the ongoing deployment approaches there is seemingly little political  appetite, in either the US or the UK,  to bring it to an end. Importantly, with few ‘boots on the ground’ there is the distinct absence of any public campaign ‘to end the war – bring troops home’  as there has been for other major military deployments.

In the US, a recent poll found that less than 30% of public even knew that US troops were still stationed in Syria. Currently, there are around 900 US troops in Syria and 2,500 in Iraq, with an estimated 100 British troops in Iraq alongside an unknown number of British Special Forces troops in Syria and Iraq. US and UK aircraft/drones and their crews, which continue to operate over Iraq and Syria, are based outside of the countries.

Managed Perception: We only kill bad guys

Lack of public and media attention to the ongoing military operation is in no small part due to the lack of UK military casualties and the perception that the UK has undertaken a ‘precision bombing’ campaign with almost no civilian casualties.

Despite more than 4,300 UK air strikes, many of them in heavily populated areas, the UK insists that there has only been one civilian casualty.  While many, including  military officers, journalists and casualty recording organisations, have been scornful of these claims, the management of the perception of the impact of the bombing campaign has clearly worked.

November 2015

On the ground in Iraq and Syria the story is very different, with multiple civilian deaths linked to UK airstrikes.  Overall, Airwars estimates that 8,000 – 14,000 civilians died from Coalition bombing in Iraq and Syria – a huge human toll.  However, while glad to see the back of ISIS, resentment at presence of western forces on the ground – and in the air – grows.

The US drone assassination of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani outside Baghdad airport in January 2020 sparked an outpouring of anger and outrage, with the Iraqi parliament passing  a motion demanding the expulsion of US forces from Iraq.  When the Iraqi president pushed for a timetable for a withdrawal of forces, the US flatly refused.  Instead, in December 2021, the US announced that the Coalition had ended combat operation and was now engaged in an ‘advise, assist and enable’ role.  However, the same number of troops remain on the ground and aircraft remain in the skies.

Mission Creep

Here in the UK, the ongoing military operation now gets very little attention either in parliament or the media. In May 2024, the Lib Dem defence spokesperson, Richard Forde MP,  mildly suggested in the House of Commons that as UK forces deployed for Operation Shader had been used instead to counter an Iranian attack on Israel, this deserved at least a debate. The reply from the (then) Defence Minister was: Read more →

MoD admits British Reaper drone written off after 2021 crash at undisclosed location

Chris Cole

UK Reaper drone ZZ209, damaged in a December 2021 accident, seen here being delivered to the RAF in Afghanistan in 2014

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has finally admitted, following an FoI appeal, that an RAF Reaper drone which crash landed at an undisclosed location in December 2021 has actually been written off.   This was the sixth crash of a UK Reaper drone and the fifth to have been destroyed. The RAF now operates nine Reaper drones. Separately, 8 Watchkeeper drones, operated by the British Army have also crashed.  This latest news comes as the RAF plans to begin regular flights of its new US MQ-9 SkyGuardian – renamed as ‘Protector’ by the UK – over the UK.

In keeping with its ongoing secrecy around the use of its armed drones, 18 months after the December 2021 crash, the MoD told Drone Wars in June 2023 that the drone “was still awaiting repair.”  When we asked for an update in February 2024, we were refused the information with MoD stating that providing such information “would place an unnecessary burden” ahead of releasing the information in its annual report.  We appealed this stonewalling and contacted the Information Commissioner.  Subsequently the MoD have released the information.

The December 2021 crash is the sixth ‘mishap’ that has occurred to the UK’s armed Reaper UAV fleet since the system came into service in 2008. At least 24 large (Class II and III) military drones operated by UK armed forces have crashed in the last 15 years.  The December 2021 accident came less than a month after a newly purchased Reaper came into service  with the intention of bringing the UK’s fleet back up to its full strength of ten. Read more →

Outdragon revealed: UK secretly using US signal intelligence pod on drone operations

Chris Cole

US MQ-9 Reaper drone carrying surveillance pod flying over a Polish base.  Credit: The Aviationist

Drone Wars UK can reveal that British armed Reaper drones have secretly been equipped with a US intelligence gathering capability called ‘Outdragon’ since around 2019.

Signal Intelligence (SIGINT) pods on US Reaper and Predator drones have been used to geolocate, track and kill individuals via signals from mobile phones, wireless routers or other communication devices using a variety of systems developed by intelligence agencies with codenames such as Airhandler and Gilgamesh.

In response to our FoI requests on the capability, the Ministry of Defence is refusing to confirm or deny any information other than the existence of a 2019 contract to integrate it with UK Reaper drones.

The existence of Outdragon and its use by the UK was confirmed by the (possibly mistaken) publication online of a series of MoD maintenance forms relating to the UK’s new MQ-9  ‘Protector’ drone.

Image from: Flying Log and Fatigue Data Sheet – MOD Form 725(Protector RG-1)(AV)

Documents released by Edward Snowden show that UK AIRHANDLER missions are developed and controlled from the UK’s Joint Service Signals Unit (JSSU) at RAF Digby, which is the nearest military base to the home of UK drone warfare, RAF Waddington.  A 2017 Intercept article, based on documents from Snowden, showed that US and British intelligence officials worked “side by side” at the base using AIRHANDLER with UK Reaper drones to gather data and develop near real-time intelligence for military and intelligence operations. Read more →

Cabinet Minister says UK flying surveillance missions over Gaza

Chris Cole

*Important Update (4 December):  Despite stating on camera to two different news programmes that drones had been deployed, the Ministry of Defence has now told journalists that the Minister was incorrect – the UK has not deployed drones but has deployed other surveillance aircraft.   We have amended this blog post.

Late on Saturday 2 December, the Minister of Defence (MoD) issued a short online statement saying that the UK “will conduct surveillance flights over the eastern Mediterranean, including operating in air space over Israel and Gaza.”

On Sunday 3 December, Health Secretary Victoria Atkins, appearing as government spokesperson on Sky News, was asked about the flights and said “The Ministry of Defence has announced that it has sent some unmanned and unarmed, surveillance drones into the region to help look for hostages.”  Subsequently appearing on the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg show, Atkins repeated that “unarmed and unmanned drones” were being sent to the region to help look for hostages.

Reporting of the MoD’s original statement by BBC and others included a line which stated that aircraft undertaking the missions “will include Shadow R1s, which the Royal Air Force use for intelligence gathering” but this now appears to have been removed from the online statement. The MoD’s statement did not mention drones.

While the  MoD says that “only information relating to hostage rescue will be passed to the relevant authorities” it is likely that electronic, signal and video intelligence of Gaza gathered by the aircraft will end up in the hands of the Israeli Defence Force. If so, many would consider the UK a participant in this horrific conflict which has killed thousands of innocent civilians and seen repeated violations of international law.

While some news organisations reported this as the first UK deployment of aircraft in the conflict, in fact as far back as 13 October the Prime Minister announced that UK surveillance aircraft were to be deployed “to support Israel.”

Since the beginning of 2023, the MoD has increased the level of secrecy surrounding the use of drones, refusing to provide details of UK Reaper operations arguing that it needs “ambiguity” about such deployments.

This latest episode  – where a Cabinet  Minister states on camera that UK drones have been deployed yet the Ministry of Defence refuses to acknowledge the deployment – is another ridiculous example of the secrecy surrounding UK drones.  [Note –  MoD said after this was published that the Minister is incorrect and other aircraft – not drones  – are  being deployed].

Rumour and misinformation about these UK operations are now bound to be rife and could well turn out to be damaging.  While the government will argue that it is undertaking these operations to assist with hostage rescue, it is easy to see how UK aircraft undertaking surveillance operations over Gaza could get further drawn into ‘supporting Israel’ in this horrific conflict.

The reality is that rather than ambiguity and confusion, we need proper parliamentary and public oversight to ensure we do not get drawn further into this conflict.  Rather than deploying more UK military assets, we should be working flat out for a ceasefire.