RAF Tornado warjets have dropped their biggest bomb on Islamic State killers
for the first time ever.
A pair of monster 2,000lbs “Bunker Buster” warheads got dropped in Iraq
annihilating a hillside barracks network.
It is the first time the laser-guided Enhanced Paveway III – which is the
RAF’s biggest bomb and FOUR times heavier than a Paveway IV –
has been used against Islamic State.
They are perfect for demolishing buried bunkers with a warhead so powerful it
can breach the strongest protection.
Defence Secretary Michael Fallon, told The Sun: “Day in, day out, our RAF is
striking at the heart of Daesh in Syria and Iraq. These missiles enable us
to hit them harder.”
The bombs were dropped last Thursday against a bunker complex which included
tunnels stretching deep underground in western Iraq.
Tornado bombers usually carry the smaller Paveway IV and Brimstone warheads in
their aerial arsenal, which are perfect for backing ground troops.
But the huge Bunker Busters – which are a whopping 4.39m long – have been held
in “reserve” for specialist missions.
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Ground crews armed a pair of Tornado bombers in RAF AKrotiri, Cyprus, with the
warheads after spotting the bunker system.
They then launched against a “large complex of tunnels and bunkers dug into
terraced hillsides above the Euphrates in western Iraq”, and MoD source
said.
Two EPWIII were dropped on two entrances to the bunker network with
devastating effect.
The bunker strike kicked off a week of aerial attacks by the RAF against IS.
On Friday a fearsome Reaper drone fired two Hellfire missiles demolishing a
workshop building deadly car bombs in Syria.
A second Reaper tracked a terrorist vehicle near Tabuqah, south-west of Raqqa,
and destroyed it with a Hellfire.
In western Iraq, Typhoons continued to support Iraqi ground forces north of
Fallujah, where they conducted four Paveway attacks against snipers, a
bunker and a sangar.
While Tornados patrolled south-west of Kirkuk, dropping two Paveways to
destroy a bridge built by IS across a canal, plus a communications post
nearby.
Typhoons again saw action near Fallujah on Sunday, destroying a sniper
position that was firing on Iraqi troops, while a second pair dropped three
Paveways on an Islamic State compound.