UK Bolsters Combat Jet Force Attacking Islamic State Group

LONDON — Reinforcements to the British combat jet force fighting the Islamic State group departed bases in the UK on Thursday Dec 3 just hours after a parliamentary vote approved a government move to extend strike operations to Syria.

Six Eurofighter Typhoon jets and an additional two Panavia Tornado GR4s were dispatched earlier today to join a strike force of eight Tornados operating out of the Royal Air Force base at Akrotiri, Cyprus. The RAF has been striking Islamic State targets in Iraq since 2014 but until now has only been able to provide reconnaissance capabilities over Syria.

That changed Dec. 3 when the Conservative government secured a large majority in Parliament approving the extension of attacks against being extended to Islamic State targets in Syria as well.

Within hours of the vote, two Tornados from Cyprus launched six strikes against Islamic State oil fields in the east of Syria using Raytheon 500-pound lb Paveway IV precision-guided bombs. 

Aside from the Tornado and Typhoon jets, the British have up to 10 General Atomics armed Reaper UAVs unmanned air vehicles operating over Syria and Iraq. Supporting forces include an Airseeker signals intelligence aircraft, a Sentinel battlefield surveillance platform and a Voyager A330 in-flight refueling tanker.

The Tornado also carries the smaller, but highly accurate, Brimstone anti-everything missile. Work is continuing to integrate the Brimstone 2 version of the weapon onto Typhoon but for the next few years the multirole jet's strike capabilities are limited to the Paveway IV and Paveway 2 precision-guided bombs.