British Royal Air Force Typhoon FGR4 fighter jets have employed the conventionally armed Storm Shadow cruise missile for the first time in combat in northern Iraq. The United Kingdom Defence Ministry said, in summary, “The Royal Air Force has continued to conduct strikes as part of the global coalition’s support for the Iraqi Security Forces.
The Iraqi forces recently identified a significant number of Daesh fighters using cave complexes south-west of Erbil. The caves identified were assessed to be particularly difficult targets and two RAF Typhoon FGR4s were therefore tasked to conduct strikes in support of ground forces from the highly-capable Iraqi Counter-Terrorism Service.
On Wednesday 10 March they conducted surveillance of the area to confirm that there were no signs of civilians who might be placed at risk, before conducting the first attack using Storm Shadow missiles, which had been selected as the most appropriate weapon for the task. Following the mission, the Typhoon’s weapons were confirmed to have struck their targets precisely.”
