RAF Typhoon Shoots Down Militia Drone as the First Air-To-Air Kill Preventing an Attack on Syrian Air Base

(Photo : Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

RAF Typhoon fighter jet shot down a militia drone flying near the airspace of the coalition airbase in Syria last Tuesday. It comes as an attack from elements hostile to coalition forces.

The use of drones in the Syrian conflict has increased the danger to pro-Syrian forces under attack from Iran-supported militias. Unmanned drones can carry ordnance or be the mortar itself, armed with explosives.

Iran-backed militia drone eliminated

It has been forty years after the Falklands War, and the RAF has not shot down an enemy aircraft since that time, reported the Sun UK. Defense officials did not say who commanded the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) flying headlong to the Tanf base.

The Middle East has been a hotbed of armed conflict, especially Ayatollah Khomeini, belligerent to western forces in the region. Iran is notorious for recent attacks involving a weaponized drone that attacked the commercial MV Mercer Street. In August, it had one fatality, Adrian Underwood, an ex-British army vet.

On Tuesday, US forces say that two drones were taken out in the air close to an allied base located in the Southern part of Syria, cited NBC News. It was the same one that the RAF reported under attack. But, no extra details were released by authorities if it was the one with the UK plane.

US Central Command Captain Bill Urban confirmed the drones were detected by radar. The airspace of the Tanf Garrison was the object of an incursion of enemy drones. He added the militia drones were tracked getting further into Tanf Deconfliction Zone. Commanders say that its flight path was of hostile intent and destroyed by RAF Typhoons, noted Eurasian Times.

RAF fighter jet prevented attack on Syrian Air Base

Defense officials state that Iran and militia groups its arms are moving in the region to cause trouble during the recent drone episode and another attack following it. Whether the drones were weaponized on the attempted attack, nothing is confirmed. No deaths were reported as well.

Previous assaults with armed drones were coordinated, and more than one, that was reported by authorities. This group attack resulted in damage to the base. Syrian soldiers are trained by US specialists on the Tanf base to combat ISIS fighters still plaguing southern Syria.

The Garrison lies close to the Iraqi and Jordanian borders, where hostile forces allow the militias to go from Tehran to Southern Lebanon. Its proximity makes the base target anti-coalition forces that the evil Tehran regime wants to terrorize.

Royal Air Force combat jets conduct missions to support the global coalition over Iraq and Syria to stamp out the Islamic State (ISIS) that still exists in the region.

The ground conflict has been going on for some time and is one of the crucial theatres against terror elements in the Middle East.

According to the Ministry of Defense, on October 25, the RAF drone called Reaper with Hellfire AGMS had tracked down a terrorist in North Syria in Ras al-Ayn.

Reaper attacked when the target was isolated in a field and killed him with an AGM. It contrasted a US drone strike that killed the wrong people, including children in Kabul. A militia drone got destroyed by an RAF Typhoon on its way to the Tanf garrison before reaching it.