Volume 29, Number 19 — Friday, January 19, 2024
UK Has Flown 50 Spy Missions Over Gaza
The flights have taken off from Britain’s controversial air base on Cyprus, RAF Akrotiri, and averaged around one a day since the beginning of December, Matt Kennard reports.
Flight path of a British spy flight on its way to Gaza on Monday. (Screengrab: RadarBox, DeclassifiedUK)
By Matt Kennard
Declassified UK
British defence minister said in November U.K. flights were providing “surveillance support to Israel, including preventing the transfer of weapons to terrorist groups”
But the Ministry of Defence has since said surveillance flights are solely to help locate the two British hostages still in Gaza
The U.K. military has flown 50 surveillance missions over Gaza since December, it can be revealed.
The flights have taken off from Britain’s controversial air base on Cyprus, RAF Akrotiri, and averaged around one a day since the beginning of December.
When asked the UK government refused to provide the number of spy flights, but Declassified has analysed flight tracking records.
The British plane used is the Shadow R1, which is known as an intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance (ISTAR) aircraft.
The Shadow R1 is operated by the U.K. military’s No.14 Squadron, which is based at RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire, east England.
The U.K. military recently awarded a £110m contract to the plane’s manfacturer, U.S. weapons company Raytheon, to update the aircraft and increase the British fleet from six to eight.
Standout for Palestine at Harvard Square, Wednesday January 17th 12:30pm-1:30pm.
Stop Raytheon weapons shipments!
CEASEFIRE NOW!
The British flights began on 3 December when two R1s flew over Gaza. The flights have continued nearly daily up until now, with around half the days featuring two flights. On 3 January, the British sent an R1 over Gaza three times.
The flights appear to last around six hours.
The flights have taken off from Britain’s controversial air base on Cyprus, RAF Akrotiri, and averaged around one a day since the beginning of December.
When asked the UK government refused to provide the number of spy flights, but Declassified has analysed flight tracking records.
The British plane used is the Shadow R1, which is known as an intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance (ISTAR) aircraft.
The Shadow R1 is operated by the U.K. military’s No.14 Squadron, which is based at RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire, east England.
The U.K. military recently awarded a £110m contract to the plane’s manfacturer, U.S. weapons company Raytheon, to update the aircraft and increase the British fleet from six to eight.
Standout for Palestine at Harvard Square, Wednesday January 17th 12:30pm-1:30pm.
Stop Raytheon weapons shipments!
CEASEFIRE NOW!
The British flights began on 3 December when two R1s flew over Gaza. The flights have continued nearly daily up until now, with around half the days featuring two flights. On 3 January, the British sent an R1 over Gaza three times.
The flights appear to last around six hours.
Intelligence
The U.K. Ministry of Defence announced on Dec. 2 that it would begin surveillance flights over Gaza “in support of the ongoing hostage rescue activity.”
“The safety of British nationals is our utmost priority,” the department said. “Surveillance aircraft will be unarmed, do not have a combat role, and will be tasked solely to locate hostages.”
It added: “Only information relating to hostage rescue will be passed to the relevant authorities responsible for hostage rescue.”
But the extraordinary number of flights, and the fact that they started nearly two months after the hostages were taken, raises suspicions that the U.K. is not collecting intelligence solely for this purpose.
Foreign secretary David Cameron confirmed last week that Hamas holds just two British hostages.
Israeli forces are also on the ground in Gaza, and notoriously have wide-ranging surveillance capabilities in the territory. It is unclear what Britain’s R1s can add to the hostage rescue mission.
Change in Role
U.K. Defence Minister James Heappey visiting U.S. Military Academy West Point, November 2023. (U.S. Army/Christopher Hennen, USMA)
The British government previously said its surveillance assets had a more wide-ranging role for Israel.
On 7 November, Defence Minister James Heappey told Parliament that British “flights have provided surveillance support to Israel, including preventing the transfer of weapons to terrorist groups, and to wider regional security.”
Heappey also said the surveillance flights were to “improve our situational awareness in the region and provide assurance to our partners,” assumed to mean Israel.
Heappey refused, however, to disclose the number of flights Britain had made over Gaza. “For operational security reasons, I cannot comment on the specifics of this activity,” he said.
Shadow R1 ISTAR Aircraft at RAF Waddington, 2009. (Defence Imagery, Flickr, CC BY-NC 2.0)
A week after the Oct. 7 attack, the U.K. government announced military units would be deployed to the eastern Mediterranean “to support Israel, reinforce regional stability and prevent escalation.” The military package included P8 surveillance aircraft alongside other reconnaissance assets.
Declassified has previously revealed the U.S. spy force, 1st Expeditionary Reconnaissance Squadron, is permanently deployed at the British base on Cyprus alongside 129 American airmen.
Declassified also reported on a leaked U.S. cable in which a UK official said American spy flights from Britain’s Cyprus base “have become routine” and the “intelligence product” is often “passed to third party governments,” which is likely to include Israel.
The U.K. Ministry of Defence and U.S. Department of Defense both refused to comment to Declassified on what intelligence they are sharing with the Israelis.
Matt Kennard is chief investigator at Declassified UK. He was a fellow and then director at the Centre for Investigative Journalism in London. Follow him on Twitter @kennardmatt
This article is from Declassified UK.
Hamas is a terrorist organisation.
ReplyDeleteNothing wrong with UK keeping a close eye on activities which may be aiding terrorist acts.
Then ain't Zionist state is committing ethnic cleansing activities in Gaza Strip?
DeleteWhat r those pommie spying flights did?
See no evil where there r heinousness evil doings unfolding in front of their eyes!