The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) has spent more than £13m in military operations against Islamic State (IS) militants in Iraq using drones and the Royal Air Force (RAF) bombers, the Guardian reported.
The MoD figures revealed to the newspaper that the British aircraft and unmanned drones have attacked IS targets with more than 200 bombs and missiles after the country launched attacks last year.
Airstrikes were launched by the UK launched using RAF’s Tornado GR4s and unmanned Reaper drones, while Tornados delivered at least 87 Paveway IV bombs and fired nearly 47 Brimstone missiles.
On the other hand, more than 80 Hellfire missiles have been fired by remotely piloted Reaper.
To date, the RAF has attacked IS targets including 20 buildings, about two containers and 65 trucks. The figures showed that the militants have been attacked in at least 90 times.
However, the £13m figure doesn’t include the cost of fuelling and maintaining the aircraft, including RAF Sentry command and control planes, Sentinel surveillance aircraft and Hercules transport planes, according to the newspaper.
The MoD has recently said that a British destroyer, HMS Dauntless, has joined a US aircraft carrier group. Another UK frigate, HMS Kent, is now escorting the French aircraft carrier, the Charles de Gaulle, in the Gulf.
Additionally, a British Military training team is said to have landed in northern Iraq to help Kurdish Peshmerga volunteers. The team is training them to tackle threats such as the improvised explosive devices (IEDs).
Meanwhile, the latest Pentagon figures have revealed that the US aircrafts have attacked more than 6,000 IS targets as part of Operation Inherent Resolve. These targets include around 2,000 buildings, 3,000 US Humvees and 80 tanks in Iraq and Syria.
