Britain is to send heavily armed Reaper drones to the Middle East to help in the fight against forces from the Islamic State in Iraq.
Philip Hammond, the foreign secretary, told MPs that the Reaper drones would add to Britain’s surveillance operations over Iraq. Michael Fallon, the defence secretary, said the drones would add to Britain’s “strike capability”.
Hammond told the Commons: “We are in the process of redeploying some of our Reaper remotely piloted aircraft from Afghanistan to the Middle East to add to our surveillance capabilities.”
In a written ministerial statement, Fallon said: “As the UK’s only armed remotely piloted aircraft, Reaper will add to the strike capability we are already providing.”
The drones will be sent to a base in the Middle East from Afghanistan. Reaper drones, which are armed with Hellfire missiles, are controlled remotely from RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire and a USAF base in Creech, Nevada.
Hammond said air strikes were having some success in Iraq. He told MPs: “Kurdish forces have pushed back Isil in the north, retaking several strategically important villages. There will be tactical ebb and flow. But the coalition air campaign has stabilised the strategic pictures. The assessment of our experts is that Baghdad is not in immediate danger.”
He said Islamic State has achieved military successes in recent days. “The security situation on the ground remains very serious with Isil maintaining control of significant swaths of territory in both Iraq and Syria. Isil has made advances in Anbar province in recent days, including taking control of the city of Hit and attacking the provincial capital of Ramadi.”
