A Royal Air Force Tornado GR4 armed with two Storm Shadow cruise missiles on its central weapon stations. As integrating the missile onto Eurofighter is taking longer than expected, Tornado has now begun to use Storm Shadows against Daesh. (UK MoD photo)
-- Wednesday 22 June – Tornados and a Reaper conducted attacks on six Daesh positions north of Bayji, while Typhoons provided close air support over Fallujah.
-- Thursday 23 June – A Reaper struck a further target north of Bayji, Typhoons attacked terrorist positions in northern Syria and Fallujah.
-- Friday 24 June – Tornados and a Reaper attacked Daesh equipment in northern Iraq, while Typhoons conducted further air support over Fallujah.
-- Saturday 25 June – A Reaper destroyed three terrorist targets in northern Iraq.
-- Sunday 26 June – Tornados used StormShadow missiles against a very large concrete bunker in western Iraq, Typhoons destroyed a smaller bunker, and a Reaper struck targets in the north.
Detail
Typhoon FGR4s, based at RAF Akrotiri and supported by a Voyager air refuelling tanker, flew close air support missions over Fallujah on Wednesday 22 June. They successfully attacked three Daesh strongpoints with Paveway IV guided bombs, the targets had been identified by Iraqi ground forces as being manned by machine-gun and rocket-propelled grenade teams.
North of Bayji, Tornado GR4s and a Reaper supported an Iraqi offensive operation. The Tornados employed one Paveway IV and three Brimstone missiles to destroy four Daesh fighting positions along a defensive embankment, whilst the Reaper used a single GBU-12 guided bomb to destroy two more positions.
A second Reaper continued support in the area into Thursday 23 June and used a Hellfire missile to eliminate a terrorist spotted with a man portable surface-to-air missile. Typhoons continued their support over Fallujah as well, conducting a Paveway IV attack on a machine-gun team. Another Typhoon flight operated over northern Syria, close to the Turkish border and destroyed two Daesh-held buildings several miles east of Azaz.
On Friday 24 June, a Reaper supported an Iraqi offensive near Sharqat, west of Kirkuk. Its crew used a Hellfire missile to destroy an engineering vehicle which was being used to create defences ahead of the Iraqi advance. Tornados patrolled further north and employed a Paveway IV against a mortar position north-west of Mosul.
Typhoons conducted further operations over Fallujah and were called in by the Iraqi army to destroy two machine-gun positions on the northern outskirts of the city. A total of 101 targets have been successfully prosecuted by the RAF in Fallujah and neighbouring areas since the start of the Iraqi operation to liberate the city.
The following day saw a Reaper again on patrol near Sharqat, and this aircraft delivered three successful attacks with Hellfire missiles against a truck, a group of terrorists, and a van which Daesh had been seen loading with weapons and ammunition.
Intelligence had determined that Daesh were using a large concrete bunker in western Iraq as a weapons facility. Due to the massive construction, built during the Saddam era, it was decided to use four StormShadow missiles against it, as the weapon has particularly good capabilities against such a challenging target. The missiles were launched on Sunday 26 June by two Tornados, all four StormShadows scored direct hits and penetrated deep within the bunker.
Also in western Iraq, south-east of Hit, a Typhoon flight used a single Paveway IV to destroy a much smaller bunker built by Daesh south-east of Hit. In northern Iraq, a Reaper provided close air support near Sharqat for the third successive day, using its Hellfires to attack a vehicle, a group of terrorists on foot, and a team planting improvised explosive devices.
(EDITOR’S NOTE: Tornado is the only Royal Air Force aircraft capable of firing the Storm Shadow cruise missile, as the weapon’s integration onto the Eurofighter Typhoon is taking far longer than expected.
First announced in late 2014, when the first carriage flight was announced by on Aug 5, 2014 by Alenia, the process seems to have made little progress since, as BAE Systems on Feb 15, 2016 again announced that a missile had been “operationally released” – but still not fired.
After several requests addressed to BAE, Alenia (now Leonardo Aircraft Division) and Eurofighter GmbH, we were told in February 2016 that a picture of Storm Shadow’s “operational release,” then being processed for public release, would soon become available, but it still hasn’t.)
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