Another four of the UK Royal Air Force’s (RAF’s) Eurofighter Typhoons are to be flown to the Middle East, as the US and Israeli air campaign against Iran continues to impact security across the wider region.
Announcing the decision on 5 March, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the deployment will “strengthen our defensive operations in Qatar and across the region”. UK forces are not participating in offensive action against Tehran.
Several RAF Typhoons are already stationed in the Gulf nation, where they operate as part of 12 Sqn – a joint unit established with the Qatar Emiri Air Force. Doha has a 24-strong fleet of the European-built type, with its examples having undergone final assembly by BAE Systems in the UK.
“The UK will stand by its allies and will take the necessary steps to defend our people and our interests,” London’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) states.
An RAF Typhoon successfully engaged an Iranian one-way attack drone which had been launched towards Qatar on 2 March.
Meanwhile, Royal Navy (RN) Leonardo Helicopters Wildcat rotorcraft armed with Thales Martlet missiles will arrive in Cyprus on 6 March, Starmer says. The MoD earlier this week announced that two examples would be deployed, to bolster defensive cover against the threat of attack by Iran.
Capable of providing counter-drone services, the helicopters will arrive in Cyprus ahead of the RN’s Type 45 anti-air warfare destroyer HMS Dragon, which also is en route to the region.
UK defence secretary John Healey visited Cyprus – home to a detachment of British aircraft at RAF Akrotiri, including Typhoons, Lockheed Martin F-35Bs and remotely-piloted General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Protector RG1s, assigned in support of its long-running Operation Shader campaign – on 5 March.
That followed the MoD confirming that a drone attack staged against the base on 2 March was not launched from inside Iranian territory. Without disclosing further details, it says the action involved a “Shahed-like drone”: a type widely employed by Tehran and proxy militia groups operating in the region.
