Drone Wars: Freedom of Information Requests

This page contains a selection of responses from Ministry of Defence (MoD) and other public authorities following Freedom of Information requests submitted by Drone Wars UK on issues related to drone warfare.

Section A contains a selection of responses to questions on various specific topics as detailed, while Section B contains responses to our regular requests for statistical information on UK use of Reaper drones in Iraq and Syria (Operation Shader), and previously, Afghanistan (Operation Herrick).   If you have any questions, drop us a line at office[at]dronewars.net.

Last updated: Feb 2023

Section A:  Requests by topic (chronological order)
Date Brief summary of information request Released? Y/N Response date / Reference
17 Feb 2023 Total budget for the 2022-23 for projects within MoD’s Science and Technology portfolio relating to human augmentation Yes 23 Feb 2023 FOI2023/02133
04 Jan 2023 Titles of all in-house projects and contracts for external research within DSTL’s ‘Human Augmentation’ project area Part 23 Feb 2023 FOI2023/00206
28 Nov 2022 Which nations involve din MQ-9B International Co-operation Programme (MICP) and cost of Project Mosquito Yes 19 Dec 2022 FOI2022/14134
17 Mar 2022 DSTL’s ethical framework for conducting research into artificial intelligence. Part 25 Mar 2022 FOI 2021/15482
24 Feb 2022 Personnel and inventory of RAF 216 Squadron Part 25 Mar 2022 FOI2022-02472
16 Feb 2022 Accidents involving UK Reaper and Watchkeeper drones since July 2021.  No of Reapers and Watchkeepers in service at 1 Jan 2022 Yes 16 Feb 2022 FOI2022-00900
06 Oct 2021 Details of further UK strikes revealed by weapons use stats but not published Yes 27 Oct 2021 FOI2021-11339
23 Aug 2021 Details of UK strikes revealed by weapons use stats but not published Yes 22 Sept 2021 FOI2021-09384
10 Aug 2021 Forecast or estimated net additional costs for Counter-Daesh activity in Iraq and Syria are for 2020-21 No 2 Sep 2021 FOI2021/08687
09 Jul 2021 Accidents involving UK Reaper and Watchkeeper drones since Dec 2020.  No of Reapers and Watchkeepers in service at 1 July 2020 Yes 2 Aug 2021 FOI2021/07434
05 Jul 2021 Operators authorised to fly UAVs BVLOS in UK Yes 28 Jul 2021 F0005338
06 May 2021 No. of Australian personnel flown UK Reapers/launched strikes. No. of contractors involved in launch and recovery of UK Reapers No 4 Jun 2021 FOI2021/04833
02 Feb 2021 Sorties/hours flown by TEKEVER AR5 for UK Border Force in 2020 No
Appealed
17 May 2021 FoI63259
02 Feb 2021 Sorties/hours flown by Watchkeeper for UK Border Force between Nov 20 and Jan 21 Yes 22 Feb 2021 FOI2021/01218
04 Dec 2020 Details of small drones deployed with British forces to Mali Part 18 Dec 2020 FOI2020/13361
20 Nov 2020 Sorties/hours flown by Watchkeeper for UK Border Force in Oct 2020 Yes 04 Dec 2020 FOI2020/12813
18 Nov 2020 Accidents involving UK Reaper and Watchkeeper drones since Oct 2019 Yes 15 Dec 2020 FoI2020/12693
12 Oct 2020 Presentations by RAF officers on Protector at conference in Sep 2020 Yes 04 Nov 2020: FOI2020/11381
01 Oct 2020 Sorties/hours flown by Watchkeeper for UK Border Force since Aug 2020 Yes 14 Oct 2020: FOI2020/11074
06 Aug 2020 Applications to fly UAVS beyond visual line of sight in UK since Jan 2019 No 20 Oct 2020: FOIA/F0004891
03 Mar 2020 Presentations by RAF officers on Protector at conference in Oct 2019 Yes 26 Mar 2020: FOI2020/03095
17 Feb 2020 Evaluations of Autonomous Warrior exercise 2018 Yes 16 Apr 2020: FOI2020/02365
14 Feb 2020 Various presentations at RAF RPAS Conference in Feb 2020 Yes 13 Mar 2020: FOI2020/02207
02 Jan 2020 No. of sorties and location flown by UK Reaper outside Op Shader in 2019 No
Appealed
04 Jan 2021 IC-39378-S8W1
20 Dec 2019 Costs of RAF Reaper programme Yes 21 Jan 2020: FOI2019/13737
18 Dec 2019 RAF Reaper personnel embedded in USAF Some 17 Mar 2020: FOI2019/13169
18 Nov 2019 ‘Predictive cognitive control system’ trial at RAF Wyton No 10 Feb 2020: FOI2019/12999
29 Aug 2019 UK UAV accidents since 1 Jan 2015 Yes 24 Oct 2019: FOI2019/09914
15 May 2019 Presentation by RAF officer at conference in April 2019 Yes 13 Jun 2019: FOI2019/05834
06 Feb 2019 Communication links with RAF Reaper UAVs Some 06 Mar 2019: FOI2019/1625
10 Jan 2019 Number of UK Reapers currently in US and purpose Yes 06 Feb 2019: FOI2019/0464(114)
04 Dec 2018 No. of hours flown by each Reaper airframe No 07 Jan 2019: FOI2018/15539
10 May 2018 No. of RAF Reaper personnel / No. trained over past 5 years No 14 Dec 2018: FOI2018/06361
21 Feb 2018 UK involvement in killing of Naweed Hussain No 23 Mar 2018: FOI2018/02711
21 Sep 2017 Correspondence between MoD and CAA on Protector Yes 22 Dec 2017: FOI2017/02711
03 Mar 2017 No. of Reaper mission reports detailing miss distance No 03 Apr 2017: FOI2017/02931
29 Jun 2016 Skynet 5A and use of UAVs Yes 29 Jun 2016: FOI2016/05753
13 May 2016 No. of 2015 strikes launched under dynamic process Yes 14 Jun 2016: FOI2016/05126
01 Mar 2016 No. of RAF Reapers deployed / location of Reaper fleet No 15 Aug 2017: FTT: EA/2016/0290
22 Sep 2016 Blank copy of Mission Report and Missile Firing Report Forms Yes 20 Oct 2015: FOI2015/08213
05 Aug 2015 Difference between UK and Coalition’s definition of ‘strike’ Yes 02 Sep 2015: FOI2015/07034
10 Jul 2015 No. of times Reaper laser designated targets for others No 07 Aug 2015: FOI2015/06171
26 Nov 2014 Where Reaper relocated following Afghanistan exit Yes 19 Dec 2014: FOI2014/07575
11 Mar 2014 Data held on strike on ‘high value’ insurgent on 25 Feb 2012 No 08 Apr 2014: FOI2014/151308
Section B: Requests for statistical information on use of Reaper drones
Operation Shader (Iraq and Syria), Oct 2014 – present.

 

Date of FoI request Period covered Date of / link to response
3 Oct 2022 Jul – Sep2022 31 Oct 2022
20 Jul 2022 Apr – Jun 2022 10 Aug 2022
14 Apr 2022 Jan – Mar 2022 10 May 2022
4 Jan 2021 Oct – Dec 2021 26 Jan 2022
4 Oct 2021 Jul – Sept 2021 28 Oct 2021
1 Jul 2021 Apr – Jun 2021 20 Jul 2021
6 Apr 2021 Jan – Mar 2021  27 Apr 2021
4 Jan 2021 Oct – Dec 2020 29 Jan 2021
1 Oct 2020 Jul – Sep 2020 29 Oct 2020
2 Jul 2020 Apr – Jun 2020 12 Aug 2020
1 Apr 2020 Jan – Mar 2020 15 May 2020
2 Jan 2020 Oct – Dec 19 17 Feb 2020
1 Oct 2019 Jul – Sep 19 29 Oct 2019
1 Jul 2019 Apr – Jun 2019 13 Aug 2019
1 Apr 2019 Jan – Mar 2019 1 May 2019
10 Jan 2019 Oct – Dec 2018 6 Feb 2019
1 Oct 2018 Jul – Sep 2018 16 Nov 2018
16 Jul 2018 Apr – Jun 2018 16 Nov 2018
3 Apr 2018 Jan – Mar 2018 1 May 2018
3 Jan 2018 Oct – Dec 2017 15 Feb 2018
5 Oct 2017 Jul – Sep 2017;
Aug 2014 – Sep 2017
23 Jan 2018
5 Jul 2017 Jan – Jun 2017 10 Aug 2017
10 May 2017 Jan – Mar 2017 19 May 2017
5 Apr 2017 Jan – Mar 2017 9 May 2017
3 Jan 2017 Jan 2016 – Dec 2016 23 Feb 2017
3 Oct 2016 Jun – Sep 2016 31 Oct 2016
1 Jul 2016 Apr – Jun 2016
Sep 2014 – Mar 2015
2 Aug 2016
13 May 2016 Sep 2014 – Mar 2015 14 June 2016
29 Apr 2016 Jan – Mar 2016 11 May 2016
1 Apr 2016 Jan – Mar 2016 29 April 2016
4 Jan 2016 Oct – Dec 2015 1 Feb 2016
1 Oct 2015 Aug 2014 – Sep 2015 12 Nov 2015
1 Jul 2015 Apr – Jun 2015 4 Aug 2015
7 Apr 2015 Sep 2014 – Mar 2015 14 May 2015
3 Jan 2015 Oct – Dec 2014 3 Feb 2015
3 Nov 2014 Oct – Nov 2014 26 Nov 2014

 

 

Operation Herrick (Afghanistan) – Statistical information

Date of FoI request Period covered Date and link to response
12 Dec 2014 Nov 2014 15 Jan 2015
3 Nov 2014 Jan – Oct 2014 19 Dec 2014
16 Sep 2014 May – Aug 2014 14 Oct 2014
20 Jun 2014 2008 – 2014 5 Aug 2014
9 May 2014 Jan – Apr 2014 4 Jun 2014
23 Feb 2014 Jan – Dec 2013 19 Mar 2014
20 Jan 2014 2013 31 Jan 2014
11 Feb 2013 2008 – 2012 11 Mar 2013
26 Nov 2009 July 2008 – Dec 2009 21 Dec 2009