British Royal Air Force personnel operated American UAS over Libya last year in support of the NATO mission there, the Ministry of Defence said last Thursday.
While the American use of unmanned aircraft in Libya was previously known — a US Predator took part in the airstrike that hit a convoy carrying ousted Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi — British officials have insisted that no U.K. unmanned aircraft were involved there or have been used outside of Afghanistan.
The MoD’s acknowledgement came from defence minister Lord Astor. In an answer to a question on the issue published on Tuesday, he said: “Her Majesty’s government do not use armed remotely piloted air systems against terrorist suspects outside Afghanistan. However, UK personnel flew armed remotely piloted air systems missions against Gaddafi’s forces in Libya in 2011, in support of the Nato humanitarian mission authorised under UNSCR resolution 1973.”
It did not provide further details on the number of armed UAS missions RAF personnel flew or what U.S. unit they were embedded with, but stressed that the U.K. armed forces routinely embed within units of allied nations — and vice versa — through exchange programmes.
“There were no and are no” U.K. unmanned aircraft operating outside of Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defence said in a statement.
Source: ABC News