The UK will extend its intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) operations using its Sentinel long-range wide area battlefiel...
The UK will extend its intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) operations using its Sentinel long-range wide area battlefield surveillance aircraft in Iraq and Syria, Defense Secretary Philip Hammond announced.
The deployment of Royal Air Force Sentinel aircraft, the most advanced airborne surveillance system of its kind in the world, will be extended until 2016.
The aircraft uses Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) and Ground Moving Target Indicator (GMTI) to identify and track multiple targets over great distances.
Flying three missions a week, the aircraft will continue to provide critical information which allows British and coalition forces to hit ISIL targets on the ground.
The Sentinel R1, which entered service in December 2008, was also deployed operationally in Afghanistan since 2009 and provided vital intelligence during NATO operations in Libya in 2011, and French operations in Mali, in 2013.
UK operates 5 of the type, which are based on converted Bombardier Global Express business jet.
RAF Reaper UAV, RC-135W Airseeker and Sentinel aircraft have contributed 30 per cent of Coalition surveillance flights.
Strikes against ISIL targets are carried out by RAF Tornado fighters and Reaper UAVs equipped with precision munitions, Brimstone and Hellfire missiles and Paveway IV bombs, with more than 300 successful strikes carried out over 1300 missions.
