RAF Sentinel Aircraft Helped In Recapture Of Mosul From Daesh

UK Royal Air Force (RAF) Sentinel surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft  played an 'important part' in the gathering of information to support the ground campaign by Iraqi forces in the recapture of Mosul city from Islamic State (Daesh) terrorists, the UK MoD has announced.

UK Air Force Sentinel R1 aircraft based at RAF Waddington has returned after performing the latest mission in support of coalition in the fight against Daesh in the Middle East.

The 5 (Army Cooperation) Squadron aircraft landed Wednesday after eight weeks away where the crew have been supporting coalition operations by supplying information that ensures the strikes carried out by the RAF and other coalition aircraft are accurate, UK Air Force announced this week.

During this tour the Iraqi Security forces, together with their coalition allies in the air and on the ground, have recaptured the Iraqi city of Mosul with the 5 Squadron Sentinel.

The Sentinel crew used the aircraft’s radar to identify and track numerous targets over great distances, passing the information in near real time to friendly forces.

The information gathered was also used by intelligence specialists to conduct in-depth forensic analysis of the data to generate intelligence products that are passed to commanders and decision makers enabling them to plan future operations.

Today’s returning Sentinel aircraft has been deployed in support of operations for two months and during that time was airborne for 235 hours, or the equivalent of nearly 10 days, with the typical sortie lasting for ten hours. During this time the aircraft flew approximately 4200 miles.