On Sunday 21 June, a pair of Tornado GR4s, supported by a Voyager tanker, flew from RAF Akrotiri to provide close air support to the Kurdish peshmerga. In a wide-ranging patrol across northern Iraq, the GR4s responded to requests for assistance from the peshmerga, as ISIL terrorist positions were encountered. In the north-west, near Tal Afar, the RAF aircraft conducted a successful attack with a Paveway IV guided bomb on a mortar position that had opened fire on the Kurdish troops.

They then destroyed a second mortar team, operating from a building near Kisik, before flying east to the area of Mosul, where a heavy machine-gun position had been located, firing from a building. This was destroyed by another highly accurate Paveway attack.

In the west of the country, an RAF Reaper remotely piloted aircraft provided overwatch for Iraqi army operations in Anbar province. In the course of this patrol, the Reaper’s crew identified a vehicle in use by the ISIL terrorists and struck it with a Hellfire missile. Other vital air operations continue to be flown daily – the Tornado and Reaper are highly valued by the coalition air commanders for their reconnaissance capabilities as well as their ground attack role, and RAF Sentry, Rivet Joint and Sentinel aircraft comprise a significant proportion of the coalition’s overall command and surveillance assets, which are so important for gathering the best possible intelligence on the terrorist network.