UK To Deploy Sentinel Surveillance Aircraft To Iraq.

The UK is to deploy a pair of Raytheon Sentinel R.1 Airborne Stand-Off Radar (ASTOR) surveillance aircraft to the Middle East to bolster its support of the international mission against the Islamic State in Iraq.

UK To Deploy Sentinel Surveillance Aircraft To Iraq.

The deployment, which was announced by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) on 26 March, will see the aircraft conduct wide-area airborne surveillance to provide pattern-of-life intelligence and to track the laying of improvised explosive devices.

Operated by the Royal Air Force's (RAF's) 5 (Army Cooperation - AC) Squadron based at RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire, the Global Express business jet-based Sentinel R.1 is the air component of the ASTOR system. 

This system combines the dual-mode synthetic aperture radar/ground moving target indicator fitted aboard the aircraft with mobile Tactical Ground Stations and a containerised Operational Level Ground Station. This capability provides UK forces with the ability to conduct long-range, battlefield-intelligence, target-imaging and tracking, and surveillance.

Sentinel R.1 aircraft typically operate above 40,000 ft, remaining on station for about six to seven hours. The UK has five Sentinel R.1 platforms, which are slated to remain in service through to 2018.

Once in theatre, the two Sentinels will join the eight Panvia Tornado GR.4 strike aircraft, one Airbus A330 Voyager tanker-transport, one Boeing E-3D Sentry Airborne Warning And Control System, one Boeing RC-135 Rivet Joint intelligence platform, and two General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial vehicles that are currently taking part in the UK mission against the Islamic State in Iraq, dubbed Operation 'Shader'. These assets are supported in theatre by Lockheed Martin C-130J-30 Hercules transport aircraft.

While UK forces have been restricted to combat operations over Iraq only, the MQ-9 and RC-135W have been authorised to conduct surveillance flights over Syria also.

Separately, the MoD announced also that it is to help train 'moderate' opposition forces, sending around 75 military trainers and headquarter staff to provide training in areas such as the use of small arms, infantry tactics and medical skills.