United Kingdom Tornados to Keep Bombing Islamic State in Iraq Until 2017

“RAF Tornados have carried out hundreds of strikes, helping Iraqi forces push back IS from the Kurdish region and out of key towns such as Tikrit and Bayji”.

A tornado flies out of RAF Marham.

All of Britain’s Tornados are due to retire by 2019, but the RAF’s newer Typhoon fighters can not now use the same weapons, particularly the highly accurate Brimstone missile which has been widely used in Iraq.

Speaking on a visit to Baghdad yesterday, Michael Fallon, the defence secretary, said that 12 (Bomber) Squadron would remain operational until March 2017.

“Reduced to just six squadrons under the current Future Force 2020 plans that emerged from Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) 2010 five years ago, the need to extend 12 Squadron Tornado GR4 aircraft is yet further evidence, if it was needed, that RAF fast-jet capability is now dangerously overstretched”, Wheeldon said.

But following the launch of airstrikes against ISIS (or ISIL) in Iraq last September, David Cameron announced they would carry on for an additional 12 months so they could continue in their specialist ground-attack role in the Middle East.

The UK today announced an extention of its airstrikes against the dreaded Islamic State militant group by a year till 2017, saying that the country would continue to play its part to defeat the “barbaric regime”.

In response to the announcement, the UK’s Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Sir Andrew Pulford, said: “The decision to retain the third Tornado GR4 squadron for a further year is welcome news”. “It is clear that the requirement for fast jet precision strike and intelligence gathering shows no sign of diminishing”.

The squadron is now flying out of RAF Akrotiri, in Cyprus, but could return to Norfolk should the situation in Iraq change. They can also carry the Goodrich DB-110 Reconnaissance Airborne Pod Tornado (RAPTOR) pod.

The acknowledgement that air-superiority Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft intended to replace them are not as effective at taking out ground targets as the Tornados means the squadron has now been given notice that it will not be now stood down until March 2017.

During his visit to Baghdad, Mr Fallon held talks with Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and other senior Iraqi government figures.