FighterControl

Suprised this has not been picked up before but I have just been watching https://www.channel4.com/programmes/top ... de-the-raf for my money it was a really good program focusing on the deployed Typhoons last year. Next weeks episode is focusing on our UAV operations.

Ignoring the obvious propaganda and use of file footage , I agree . Whilst most forum members will already be familiar with the content , I think it will be a bit of a wake up call for Joe public .

Quite cool to see how the Iran drone engagement stuff happened, not aware of that ever being made public before now.

All in all, an interesting programme. What wasn't stated was the huge effort it must have taken to co-ordinate all the jets on CAP during the Israeli drone shoot. Now we can appreciate all the efforts that go into Cobra Warrior type exercises, and how well all these different assets work together. Well done to all the guys and gals in all the services! BZ

While it was great to see the effort put in by those from Akrotiri in defending Israel from Iran, I do think the RAF fielding 2 aircraft against the USAF's 60 is another wake-up call to all of us.
Was there REALLY any point in a token gesture of 2 aircraft? Did it really make a difference? If we were to make a contribution into double digits, then I can take that as a meaningful contribution. But 2??

Uncle Sam wrote: ↑

Mon Feb 10, 2025 8:24 pm

While it was great to see the effort put in by those from Akrotiri in defending Israel from Iran, I do think the RAF fielding 2 aircraft against the USAF's 60 is another wake-up call to all of us.
Was there REALLY any point in a token gesture of 2 aircraft? Did it really make a difference? If we were to make a contribution into double digits, then I can take that as a meaningful contribution. But 2??

The fact that they had to move already deployed aircraft from BILOXI rather than have any available from the UK spoke volumes too.

Agent K wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 11, 2025 10:01 am

Uncle Sam wrote: ↑

Mon Feb 10, 2025 8:24 pm

While it was great to see the effort put in by those from Akrotiri in defending Israel from Iran, I do think the RAF fielding 2 aircraft against the USAF's 60 is another wake-up call to all of us.
Was there REALLY any point in a token gesture of 2 aircraft? Did it really make a difference? If we were to make a contribution into double digits, then I can take that as a meaningful contribution. But 2??

The fact that they had to move already deployed aircraft from BILOXI rather than have any available from the UK spoke volumes too.

Its not about how many aircraft we(UK) can provide, its about being part of an international coalition, so detractors cannot say it was just a US support of Israel, it was an international operation to help Israel, didn`t some European warships take part as well

pg1610 wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 11, 2025 10:13 am

Agent K wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 11, 2025 10:01 am

Uncle Sam wrote: ↑

Mon Feb 10, 2025 8:24 pm

While it was great to see the effort put in by those from Akrotiri in defending Israel from Iran, I do think the RAF fielding 2 aircraft against the USAF's 60 is another wake-up call to all of us.
Was there REALLY any point in a token gesture of 2 aircraft? Did it really make a difference? If we were to make a contribution into double digits, then I can take that as a meaningful contribution. But 2??

The fact that they had to move already deployed aircraft from BILOXI rather than have any available from the UK spoke volumes too.

Its not about how many aircraft we(UK) can provide, its about being part of an international coalition, so detractors cannot say it was just a US support of Israel, it was an international operation to help Israel, didn`t some European warships take part as well

I fully understand that, my point being that when the call came in to deploy, aircraft already deployed were used hence reducing the amount available to BILOXI, surely back in the day they would have deployed from UK assets.

I haven't seen the programme yet, but how much warning was there, could a deployment have happened within the timeframe of being aware an attack was going to happen and it taking place?

pg1610 wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 11, 2025 10:13 am

Agent K wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 11, 2025 10:01 am

Uncle Sam wrote: ↑

Mon Feb 10, 2025 8:24 pm

While it was great to see the effort put in by those from Akrotiri in defending Israel from Iran, I do think the RAF fielding 2 aircraft against the USAF's 60 is another wake-up call to all of us.
Was there REALLY any point in a token gesture of 2 aircraft? Did it really make a difference? If we were to make a contribution into double digits, then I can take that as a meaningful contribution. But 2??

The fact that they had to move already deployed aircraft from BILOXI rather than have any available from the UK spoke volumes too.

Its not about how many aircraft we(UK) can provide, its about being part of an international coalition, so detractors cannot say it was just a US support of Israel, it was an international operation to help Israel, didn`t some European warships take part as well

On the contrary, the volume of support does count IMO. 2 aircraft was pathetic - only a token gesture to show the UK as part of an international coalition.
If the UK Government wants the UK to be taken seriously when it comes to defence, then surely a contribution of more than 2 fighter aircraft has to be made to an effort such as the one in question.

The a/c from Biloxi, were sent to Cyprus to bolster those already at Akrotiri. Why would you go to extra trouble deploying jets from the UK when you already had some a stones throw away.

A fair percentage of the US assets came off whatever carrier was in the area at the time.

I cannot recall the stats from the first programme but I think that the pilot mentioned that 5-6 drones (TBM?) were being launched every 30secs or maybe 30mins. At the end it was revealed that the Typhoons had downed 3 drones. Agreed that the Typhoon and Pilots may not be operating in a role it was designed for and that the weapons fit might not have been optimised so anything is an excellent result but I was expecting a much higher hit rate. Maybe those 3 were the only ones to get passed the American planes, again that wasn't made clear.

Thunder wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 11, 2025 4:22 pm

The a/c from Biloxi, were sent to Cyprus to bolster those already at Akrotiri. Why would you go to extra trouble deploying jets from the UK when you already had some a stones throw away.

Again I understand that, but if they were available and able to forward deploy to Akrotiri then why were they positioned and needed for Biloxi in the first place? either they are needed, or not?

so having watched the program.

Agent K wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 11, 2025 6:23 pm

Again I understand that, but if they were available and able to forward deploy to Akrotiri then why were they positioned and needed for Biloxi in the first place? either they are needed, or not?

If you recall the situation was quite fast moving, I think there was only a week between the threat from Iran and the launch.

RobinM wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 11, 2025 5:22 pm

I cannot recall the stats from the first programme but I think that the pilot mentioned that 5-6 drones (TBM?) were being launched every 30secs or maybe 30mins. At the end it was revealed that the Typhoons had downed 3 drones. Agreed that the Typhoon and Pilots may not be operating in a role it was designed for and that the weapons fit might not have been optimised so anything is an excellent result but I was expecting a much higher hit rate. Maybe those 3 were the only ones to get passed the American planes, again that wasn't made clear.

I agree, I was quite suprised at that, Given that there were two aircraft I would have expected an even number of downed drones. to be fair a lot of the drones/missiles/ICBM's were downed by the "Iron Dome". I think the role of the aircraft was to thin out the numbers so the "Iron Dome" didnt get overwhelmed.

From the RAF website 6 a/c were deployed from Lossie to Romania during that Op Biloxi, it also states

“ During the deployment, referred to as Operation Biloxi, the RAF participated in exercises with NATO allies and flew more than 150 sorties / 500 hours, they forward deployed three Typhoons and approximately fifty personnel from Romania on Exercise Swift Response in Finland and Exercise Astral Knight in Poland.”

So it was never just going to be Air policing during that deployment, as the Air Policing was carried out along side the Finnish AF on a weekly rotation. The RAF had available a/c and crews in close proximity to Cyprus so deployed them. Isn’t that the whole point of a forward deployment?

Another good episode. The footage of Reaper operations was fascinating. The US drone getting shot down by the Houti rebels just as the USN and RAF were lining up their attack in the same area shows the dangers of these operations.

Technology has advanced so fast in a short space off time. After watching Top Guns channel four and watching Reaper team operating Reaper drones from inside a cabin. It's fascinating that we are moving so fast into A.I warfare. Anyone remember the film Terminator. Maybe we will have Transformer squad soon.

I thought it was pretty good overall.

would class it as a marketing program/recruitment ad as much as a documentary but overall enjoyable

Inside the Reaper control cabin we were introduced to "Melissa, an Imagery Analysist". Is that the modern terminology for a Photo Interpreter?
Looking at the patches on her overalls, it appears she is now classified as aircrew. Is that correct?

As an aside, do drone operators receive Flying Pay?

I would imagine that an imagery analysist may well cross over onto the RC135 fleet but it could well be that anyone in the cabin is classified as aircrew.