https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/r...ards-zmr735j5d
RAF drone operators reap rewards
Operational service medals have been awarded to RAF drone operators for the first time, but without the ribbon clasp for danger in the line of duty.
Members of the
RAF Reaper Force have received the Operational Service Medal Iraq and Syria for their work in the Shader campaign against Isis. Their medals will not have the “Iraq and Syria” clasp that goes to the pilots of manned aircraft.
The 36ft Reaper drone has a top speed of 290mph and a ceiling of 30,000ft when armed. It can carry two 500lb laser-guided bombs and four Hellfire missiles. Reapers were responsible for more than 1,280 of the 4,013 deaths of
Isis fighters in RAF strikes in Iraq and Syria between September 2014 and January this year.
Before presenting the medals, Air Vice-Marshal Harvey Smyth, said: “It’s absolutely right and proper that they get recognition because their contribution to the success of the operation is just phenomenal.”
In the same ceremony, some Reaper officers received pilots’ wings. Air Vice-Marshal Smyth, who presented the wings, said: “What you do remotely piloting an air vehicle is equally as challenging, is equally as dynamic as flying a fast jet. It’s just different.”