UK Sentinel aircraft hits milestone
The Royal Air Force's (RAF's) Sentinel surveillance aircraft has achieved over 30,000 operational flying hours over ten years of service supporting deployments ranging from international coalition peacekeeping support to civil missions.
The RAF V(AC) Squadron flew the first operational Sentinel R.Mk 1 mission in November 2008, and has been on constant deployment, providing long-range battlefield surveillance, delivering critical intelligence and target tracking information to British and coalition forces. The aircraft is equipped with multi-mode radar to identify, track and image numerous targets over long ranges, passing the information in near real time to friendly forces.
Stuart Andrew, Defence Minister, UK, said: ‘The Sentinel has proved its enormous worth time and time again, from tracking terrorists in Syria and Iraq, to helping provide overseas aid and even mapping floods here in the UK. The workers here in Broughton should be extremely proud of the fantastic work they are doing to ensure this ‘eye-in-the-sky’ continues to collect crucial intelligence so our forces can keep us safe.’
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