British aircraft and unmanned drones have attacked Islamic State targets in Iraq with more than 200 bombs and missiles in military operations that have been largely ignored, a Guardian analysis has shown.

The air strikes, which began in the autumn, have been undertaken by the RAF’s oldest bombers – Tornado GR4s and its newest weapon – the remotely piloted Reaper.



Tornados have dropped at least 87 Paveway IV bombs and fired at least 47 Brimstone missiles. Reapers have fired more than 80 Hellfire missiles.

Reaper “remotely piloted aircraft systems” as the MoD calls them, were first used by British forces in Afghanistan and are controlled via satellite many thousands of miles away in RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire.



Isis targets attacked by the RAF have included 20 buildings, at least two containers and 65 trucks. Groups of what the MoD calls “terrorists” have been targeted in at least 90 separate attacks.



British operations are a fraction of those carried out by the US. American aircraft have attacked more than 6,000 Isis targets as part of what the US calls Operation Inherent Resolve, according to the latest Pentagon figures. They include nearly 2,000 buildings, 3,000 US Humvees and 80 tanks in Iraq and Syria.



A House of Commons motion passed in September specificially excluded UK air strikes in Syria. Any decision to extend UK operations would require a separate vote in parliament.



The cost of British weapons used against Isis targets by Tornados and Reapers amounts so far to over £13m, and probably significantly more. The figure does not include the cost of fuelling and maintaining the aircraft, including RAF Sentry command and control planes, Sentinel surveillance aircraft and Hercules transport planes.



Information provided by the Ministry of Defence is sometimes specific, and sometimes vague. For example, it says that one day in January a Reaper drone was involved in a series of engagements “using Hellfires to attack a number of terrorist vehicles”.

On 31 January, Tornados and Reapers were described as having attacked Isis vehicles and “a group of terrorists” with an unknown number of Paveway IV bombs, and Brimstone and Hellfire missiles.



The MoD describes Paveway IV bombs and Brimstone missiles as precision weapons. In one attack in March, a Tornado was said to have struck an armoured personnel carrier positioned under a bridge. Earlier, a Reaper is said to have spotted an Isis checkpoint. “Having checked the area for any risk to civilians, the Reaper crew attacked the checkpoint with a Hellfire missile,” the MoD said.



The Tornados, based at Akrotiri in Cyprus, rely on Voyager air-to-air refuelling tanker aircraft to sustain long-distance air patrols.



A British military training team has been deployed to northern Iraq, teaching infantry and first aid skills to Kurdish Peshmerga volunteers, and how to meet the threat from improvised explosive devices (IED), used increasingly by Isis fighters as they are driven back by Iraqi forces, the MoD says.



The MoD insists it “will not deploy UK troops in ground combat operations”. However, British special forces, as well as trainers, are believed to be on the ground in northern Iraq and possibly in Syria as well. One of their roles in Iraq is to identify targets for RAF aircraft.



The MoD says a British destroyer, HMS Dauntless, has joined a US aircraft carrier group, and a frigate, HMS Kent, is escorting the French aircraft carrier, the Charles de Gaulle, in the Gulf.



Brimstone missiles are conservatively estimated to cost £100,000 each, Paveway IV bombs £30,000 apiece, and Hellfire missiles £71,300 each.