RAF aircraft fire Brimstone missiles against Daesh in Syria for the first time

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World Defense & Security News - United Kingdom
 
 
RAF aircraft fire Brimstone missiles against Daesh in Syria for the first time
 
As part of the wider coalition campaign against Daesh, the United Kingdom's Royal Air Force (RAF) aircraft have targeted the terrorists with Brimstone missiles near Raqqa in Syria and have conducted further air strikes in Iraq, the British ministry of Defence announced today, Jan. 11, 2016.
     
RAF aircraft fires Brimstone missiles against Daesh in Syria for the first time 640 001A RAF Panavia Tornado GR4 fighter fitted with two MBDA's Brimstone air-to-ground missiles
     
On Sunday 10 January, the RAF aircraft striked targets inside Syria. Near Raqqa, a pair of Tornados bombed a pair of Daesh-held buildings, one of which was a confirmed command and control centre, and used a Brimstone missile to destroy a supply truck. A second pair of GR4s dropped four Paveway IVs on a tunnel complex, again near Raqqa, whilst a Reaper engaged a terrorist position with a Hellfire missile.

During the evening, a further Tornado flight and a Reaper used a combination of Brimstone and Hellfire missiles to attack a number of mobile cranes brought in by Daesh to attempt to repair the severe damage inflicted by previous RAF and coalition air strikes on the Omar oil field.

A milestone was also passed on the morning of Monday 11 January, when an RAF Reaper flew the 1,000th sortie by the type since they were committed to operations against Daesh in October 2014.

The Brimstone is an air-launched ground attack missile developed by MBDA for the Royal Air Force. It was originally intended for "fire-and-forget" use against mass formations of enemy armour, using a millimetric wave active radar homing seeker to ensure accuracy even against moving targets.