HUNDREDS of key missions over Iraq in 2007 were conducted by RAF pilots "flying" Predator unmanned aerial vehicles by remote satellite links from a site north of Las Vegas, The Herald can reveal.
Robot spy and strike drones flew more than 500,000 hours on sorties last year, the US air force confirmed yesterday.
The use of pilotless aircraft to carry out surveillance and reconnaissance for ground troops and occasionally to launch missile attacks on insurgents doubled between January and October.
About 120 US fast jet and helicopter pilots were removed from the front line to man the consoles controlling the drones as demand for intelligence to back up the US surge around Baghdad peaked.
The British contingent, known as Flight 1115, consists of between 40 and 50 RAF pilots and Royal Navy sensor operators and intelligence specialists and operates from Nellis Air Force base in Nevada.
Defence sources say 90% of the detachment's role is surveillance using high-resolution cameras and infra-red scanners, but has also included a number of strike missions in which snipers and other insurgents have been killed.
RAF Flight 1115 is also understood to have a presence at Balad, the allied special forces base in northern Iraq.
The US runs its remote-control missions over ground half-way round the world from terminals in Nevada, Texas, Arizona, North Dakota and California, beaming images back from the battlefield in real-time via satellite links.
The crews control a fleet of 700 Predators, described by one RAF source as "a snowmobile engine strapped to a glider".
The drone barely accelerates over 100mph but it flies at up to 25,000ft and can loiter over an area for up to 20 hours. It can also be fitted with Hellfire missiles and provides commanders with "a God's-eye view" of the battlefield, day and night. The RAF crews use British rules of engagement when decisions are taken to launch missiles from the US-owned Predators.
The RAF has just fielded its first Reaper UAV in Afghanistan - basically a second generation Predator - but the drone is unarmed and being used for spy missions to take the pressure off the ageing Nimrod fleet. The RAF has bought three of the aircraft as the basis for its first UAV squadron.
The US air force said it could not immediately provide a figure for how many hours of manned aircraft were flown in the wars this past year.
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