The Wayback Machine - https://web.archive.org/web/20171022193327/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/defence/12004264/Islamic-State-jihadists-using-human-shields-to-avoid-air-strikes.html
Telegraph.co.uk

Sunday 22 October 2017

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Islamic State jihadists using human shields to avoid air strikes

RAF drone pilots in Lincolnshire are providing round the clock surveillance on Islamic State fighters more than 3,000 miles away, and have launched hundreds of strikes this year

Islamic State militants are hiding behind human shields to try to avoid air strikes from RAF drones and Tornado jets, it has been disclosed.

MQ-9 Reaper UAV drone from British Royal Air Force An MQ-9 Reaper drone  Photo: EPA

Extremist fighters are deliberately hiding among civilian buildings and residents to try to prevent strikes.

The Telegraph was given the first access to the RAF drone airbase in Lincolnshire since Britain’s air campaign in Iraq and Syria began.

The aircraft are providing an “unblinking eye” of surveillance, following individual militant targets for weeks on end, commanders said.

Flying the aircraft by satellite link, crews have been tracking targets day after day in shifts, gathering intelligence or waiting to launch air strikes.

 

Crews flying the 66ft wingspan aircraft by satellite link last week joined in the US-led strike to kill the Islamic State executioner known as Jihadi John and in August killed the British jihadist Reyaad Khan.

The British Pilots flying from RAF Waddington and a US base in Nevada are helping provide what commanders believe is unprecedented high tech surveillance and reconnaissance on targets in the Islamic State’s self-styled caliphate 3,000 miles away.

“We can watch the targets go into buildings and wait for them to come out and then when they get on a motorbike follow them with the drone."
RAF officer

RAF MQ-9 Reaper crews spoke before next week’s Government defence review is expected to announce Britain will double its Reaper fleet over the next five years, with a new generation of aircraft that can fly for longer and carry heavier payloads of weapons.

All of Britain’s 10 current Reaper aircraft are believed to be in the Middle East, where drone crews from 13 Sqn, based at Waddington, and 39 Sqn, based at Creech US Air Force base in Nevada, have carried out hundreds of armed reconnaissance missions this year.

In the first half of this year alone, RAF drones fired 155 Hellfire missiles at targets in Iraq and dropped four GBU-12 laser-guided bombs as they provided close support to Kurdish and Iraqi troops and tracked militant leaders and hunt suicide bombmakers.

Concerns over Islamic State in Iraq and Levant (Isil) sympathisers in Britain means the crews cannot be photographed or identified.

XIII Sqn , a former Tornado GR4 squadron that now remotely " fly" the Reaper UAV from ISO containers inside a hangar at RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire .The Reaper drones are flown from control stations inside a vast hanger that once held Lancaster and Vulcan bombers  Photo: Heathcliff O'Malley/The Telegraph

One officer said targets could be watched for weeks with crews and Reapers swapping in and out to maintain constant surveillance over a building or location.

The officer said the Reaper’s scanners are so sensitive they can tell what colour clothes a person is wearing, though they cannot make out faces.

Air Commodore Geoff Portlock, Senior RAF Officer responsible for all ISTAR production for the RAF .Air Cdre Jeff Portlock, the RAF?s surveillance and reconnaissance fleet commander  Photo: Heathcliff O'Malley/The Telegraph

He said: “It is not as sophisticated as you see in Homeland – we cannot tell where they are from the heat coming from their bodies – we just watch.

“We can watch the targets go into buildings and wait for them to come out and then when they get on a motorbike follow them with the drone.

‘We can follow them on a motorbike and wait for them to be clear of collateral until we strike.”

XIII Sqn , a former Tornado GR4 squadron that now remotely " fly" the Reaper UAV from ISO containers inside a hangar at RAF Waddington in LincolnshireConcerns over Islamic State in Iraq and Levant (Isil) sympathisers in Britain means the crews cannot be photographed or identified.  Photo: Heathcliff O'Malley/The Telegraph

Drone pilots are under the same rules of engagement as Tornado pilots and have to be certain civilians will not be killed if they launch an attack. Their task is complicated by Isil fighters often hiding among the civilian population to use them as human shields.

A defence source said: “It is fairly obvious that the West prides itself on its strict adherence to international law and that is clear to anyone with common sense.

“It doesn't take rocket science for those who are medieval enough to exploit that and use women and children as human shields.”

Air Cdre Jeff Portlock, the RAF’s surveillance and reconnaissance fleet commander, said the Reapers provided a “persistent, staring eye in the sky, and that’s often unblinking because we can replace one with another.”

He said: “That staring eye for 12 or more hours, that can be replaced by another one meaning it’s unblinking on a doorway, on a compound, on a vehicle, gives you a huge military advantage.”

XIII Sqn , a former Tornado GR4 squadron that now remotely " fly" the Reaper UAV from ISO containers inside a hangar at RAF Waddington in LincolnshireControls for flying the aircraft  Photo: Heathcliff O'Malley/The Telegraph

Reapers are flown by crews of three from shipping container-sized control stations housed in one corner of an aircraft hangar that once held Lancaster and Vulcan bombers.

Even though they are deep inside an RAF base, the control stations are surrounded by wire fences and guarded by military policemen.

The pilots, who have often flown helicopters or Tornado jets earlier in their careers, are joined by a sensor operator and an intelligence coordinator, each sitting behind banks of screens beaming feeds from the Reaper.

Crews say the wealth of sensor data and the ability to loiter over an area silently watching for hours mean that while they are thousands of miles away, they know more about what is happening on the ground than pilots flying over in warplanes.

One pilot, who formerly flew Chinook helicopters in Afghanistan, said: “You don’t have the sense of the whine of the gears, or dust up your nose, but we have access to so much information about what is going on on the ground.

“It never feels like it’s not real, but similarly you are aware that you are displaced from the airframe.”

Crews are stationed at Waddington for two year tours, working six days on and three days off. Control of Reapers can be switched from crew to crew or even across the Atlantic to British pilots based alongside the US Air Force in Nevada.

The pilot said: “It’s all about compartmentalisation. As soon as people get into work, everyone has their own point when they switch from being at home and a daddy to providing information, surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance.”

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