Airforces Monthly - February 2017

UNITED KINGDOM: ISTAR REVIEW
the electromagnetic spectrum, providing
both strategic and tactical level intelligence”.
In other words, they are equipped to
eavesdrop on enemy communications
and monitor hostile radar activity.
Raytheon Sentinel R1
Since entering service in 2008, the Sentinel
has seen service in Afghanistan, Libya,
Mali, Iraq/Syria and Nigeria using its dualmode
radar to monitor enemy movements
across wide areas and to provide specific
intelligence in bad weather and at night.
Its operating unit, 5 (Army Co-operation)
Squadron, was originally a joint RAF/British
Army initiative, but since its supporting
ground control stations and data links
were withdrawn from service it is now
predominately an RAF outfit. The onboard
mission analysts monitor radar imagery in
real time and produce ‘hot’ targeting reports
that are sent by satellite communications
to ground commanders. After the aircraft
return to base, intelligence analysts use
laptop computers to assess the bulk data
generated by the aircraft’s wide area
ground moving target indicator radar or
spot images of specific locations created
by the radar’s synthetic aperture mode.
Because it self-deploys into small airports
and quickly begins operating without any
other support, 5 (AC) Squadron has earned
a reputation for being ‘lean and mean’.
General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper
This provides the UK’s strategic armed
unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) capability.
As with the RC-135 Rivet Joint, the RAF
Reaper force is fully integrated into
USAF operations. Reapers have been
continuously on operations in Afghanistan
since they were first delivered in 2007,
and are now flying over Iraq/Syria. The
RAF mirrors the USAF’s remote operations
concept, which involves a forward-based
US-UK launch and recovery element
(LRE) in the operational theatre and
mission control, intelligence exploitation
and weapon release control being
exercised from a facility out of theatre.
In the UK’s case, it has remote operations
centres at Creech AFB, Nevada — provided
by personnel of 39 Squadron — alongside
the USAF’s UAV global operations hub.
A mirror operations centre is provided
at RAF Waddington by 13 Squadron.
At the peak of the war in Afghanistan,
which started in 2001 and continues
with reduced NATO forces, the UK-US
LRE was based at Kandahar Airfield. It
has since moved to Ali Al Salem Air Base
in Kuwait to support the war against
Daesh. During 2008 the RAF’s Reaper
blazed a trail as the first UK UAV to
employ weapons in Afghanistan. In
August 2015 the type carried out the
first ‘targeted killing’ of British jihadi
fighters in Syria, acting on the specific
orders of the then Prime Minister David
Cameron, who claimed the two individuals
posed a “direct threat” to the UK.
Beechcraft Shadow R1
This aircraft’s name could not be more
appropriate because of its ‘shadowy’
“To kick-start the process, and to make
the ISTAR Force more efficient, the
RAF launched Project Athena. This
initiative is looking at new ways of
providing training, managing its
infrastructure and personnel
career planning.”
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