The UK’s Royal Air Force (RAF) personnel have been reportedly training foreign governments to help prevent or reduce the risk of terrorist missile attacks on airliners.
The aerial warfare force has sent its experts to North Africa and the Middle East to train to prevent terrorist strikes on airliners.
More than 1,600 security staff in 30 different countries have been trained in the last four years. Foreign airport staff were also taught how to search passengers in order to prevent them smuggling weapons and explosive materials.
The training also focused on the use of scanners and detectors as well as how to frisk passengers.
It estimated that approximately 10,000 portable, surface-to-air missile systems were missing from Libyan arms bunkers following the 2011 revolution. They are capable of hitting aircraft flying beneath 20,000ft.
This development has come to light after an Isis-affiliated militant group claimed a recent missile attack an Egyptian Navy ship in Egypt’s Sinai region.
DfT aviation security division head of international strategy Clive Wright said: "We need to offer assurance to ministers that overseas we are mitigating risks successfully so that UK carriers can continue to fly into those airports and foreign carriers from those airports can continue to fly into the UK."
A UK Government spokeswoman was quoted by the Telegraph as saying: "We have a long-standing policy of advising other governments on security matters."
According to the Sunday Times, the UK Department for Transport (DfT), along with specialists from Scotland Yard and British Airways currently oversees the ‘counter Manpads team’ regiment.
