‘Immense effort behind the scenes’: What it’s like to fly fighter jet missions | Sean Bell
Despite an international coalition providing a protective umbrella over the Red Sea – Op Prosperity Guardian – the Houthi attacks against merchant shipping continued.
Shortly before midnight on Thursday, the US and UK launched a wave of attacks on 60 Houthi military targets using over 100 guided munitions, predominantly Tomahawk cruise missiles.
The UK contribution to the strike package was four Typhoon fighter jets.
Although cruise missiles can be launched from hundreds of miles away from their targets, once launched they can take some time to reach them and, while en route, the ground situation can change.
Fighter missions place the pilots in harm’s way, but also enable a much shorter time-of-flight for the weapon, and thus a more dynamic assessment to be made of the threat and potential collateral damage.
So, what is involved in mounting a Typhoon attack mission?
From the moment that the Houthis started attacking Red Sea merchant shipping on 19 November, US and UK forces would have been developing a suitable list of military targets and options.
Satellite imagery and routine intelligence gathering would have identified command and control nodes, radars, weapon storage areas and missile launch sites, plus established “pattern of life” around potential targets to assess the risks of collateral damage.
Diplomatic options ‘exhausted’
Once the two countries’ political leadership had exhausted diplomatic options, they would have outlined what they wanted any military action to achieve, and be briefed on options.
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UK and US hit Houthi targets
The political objective was to avoid further escalation, demonstrate resolve, and degrade the Houthis’ capability to attack shipping, but limit collateral damage.
The US appears to have identified a window of opportunity to conduct strikes – overnight to limit the number of casualties – and the UK PM approved the military action.
The Typhoon capability already deployed to Cyprus would have received their tasking several hours before launch, prompting an intense period of planning and preparation.
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US and UK strikes on Yemen explained
Pilots planning routes, weapons specialists matching weapons to targets – size of bomb, fusing, guidance required – and deciding which pilots would be selected for the mission.
In addition, the whole squadron would have been focused on preparing the four aircraft, refuelling, and arming, servicing and downloading vital software – a team effort.
But Cyprus is a long way from the target area – a round trip of more than 3,000 miles. Two air-to-air refuelling tankers (Voyager) would also be required to refuel the Typhoons both before entering Yemeni airspace, and also to provide the vital top-up to get the jets home again.
Planning these sorties takes time, co-ordination and patience.
Working back from the planned Time on Target – co-ordinated with the US strikes occurring simultaneously – the pilots would identify where the tanker needed to be, and when, and with how much fuel, for both ingress and egress.
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How UK jets struck the Houthis
The pilots can then work out their departure time from Cyprus, before which they need to conduct pre-flight briefings, get kitted out in flight gear, walk to jets leaving time to race for the spare jet if the primary fails to start – and getting briefed on the recovery plan should the pilot get shot down over Yemen.
Jets ‘bristling with arms’
Walking out to the jets focuses the mind – seeing the Typhoon jet bristling with live missiles and explosive munitions is a stark reminder that this is no training mission.
Finding the refuelling tanker can often be a challenge – especially if the weather is less than fair – but plugging in at over 20,000 ft (6,100m) and seeing the fuel gauge read full again, it’s time to depart the sanctuary of international airspace and plot a course to the target.
Defensive aids on, chaff and flares ready, watching for any signs that enemy radars are tracking you.
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Handheld Houthi missiles and bullets are a threat, but flying above 10,000 ft (3,000m) limits their effectiveness.
Approaching the target, the adrenaline is surging, and pilots must avoid getting distracted by other US munitions impacting their targets.
Read more:
Explainer – the comparisons with WWII and IS fight
How British warship repelled Houthi attack
Who are the Houthis?
Explainer – why the UK and US struck Houthi targets
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Houthi sites before and after airstrikes
A second rendezvous with the tanker to fill up again, and then the long flight back home.
Land, sign in the jet, get out of the immersion suit, g-suit and other flying kit, go to the bathroom, rehydrate, then prepare for an hour-long debrief.
And for the ground crew, armourers, suppliers and support staff, the work starts all over again.
A simple headline like “UK Typhoons strike Houthi targets”, requires an immense effort behind the scenes, and it’s a superb example of British experience, professionalism, and teamwork.
The Syrian presidency has announced it’s assembling a special taskforce to try to stop nearly a week of sectarian clashes in the southern Druze city of Sweida.
The presidency called for restraint on all sides and said it is making strenuous efforts to “stop the fighting and curb the violations that threaten the security of the citizens and the safety of society”.
By early Saturday morning, a ceasefire had been confirmed by the US special envoy for Syria, Tom Barrack, who posted on X that Syrian President Ahmed al Sharaa and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had agreed to a ceasefire supported by US secretary of state Marco Rubio.
The post went on to state that this agreement had the support of “Turkey, Jordan and its neighbours” and called upon the Druze, Bedouins, and Sunni factions to put down their arms.
Sky News special correspondent Alex Crawford reports from the road leading to Sweida, the city that has become the epicentre of Syria’s sectarian violence.
For the past 24 hours, we’ve watched as Syria‘s multiple Arab tribes began mobilising in the Sweida province to help defend their Bedouin brethren.
Thousands travelled from multiple different Syrian areas and had reached the edge of Sweida city by Friday nightfall after a day of almost non-stop violent clashes and killings.
“We have come to protect the [Arab] Bedouin women and children who are being terrorised by the Druze,” they told us.
Arab fighters said they had come to protect the Bedouin women and children
Fighters at a petrol station
Every shop and every home in the streets leading up to Sweida city has been burned or ransacked, the contents destroyed or looted.
We saw tribal fighters loading the back of pickup trucks and driving away from the city with vehicles packed with looted goods from Druze homes.
Shops and homes leading up to Sweida city have been burned or ransacked
Several videos posted online showed violence against the Druze, including one where tribal fighters force three men to throw themselves off a high-rise balcony and are seen being shot as they do so.
Doctors at the nearby community hospital in Buser al Harir said there had been a constant stream of casualties being brought in. As we watched, another dead fighter was carried out of an ambulance.
The medics estimated there had been more than 600 dead in their area alone. “The youngest child who was killed was a one-and-a-half-year-old baby,” one doctor told us.
Doctors said there had been a constant stream of casualties due to violence
The violence is the most dangerous outbreak of sectarian clashes since the fall of the Bashar al Assad regime last December – and the most serious challenge for the new leader to navigate.
The newly brokered deal is aimed at ending the sectarian killings and restoring some sort of stability in a country which is emerging from more than a decade of civil war.
Israel and Syria have agreed to a ceasefire, the US ambassador to Turkey has said.
Several hundred people have reportedly been killed this week in the south of Syria in violence involving local fighters, government authorities and Bedouin tribes.
As the violence escalated in the southern province of Sweida, Israel launched airstrikes, including attacks on Wednesday on the defence ministry in Damascus and a target near the presidential palace.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government said it aimed to protect Syrian Druze – part of a small but influential minority that also has followers in Lebanon and Israel.
In a post on X, the US ambassador to Turkey, Tom Barrack, said Israel and Syria had agreed to a ceasefire supported by Turkey, Jordan and others.
“We call upon Druze, Bedouins, and Sunnis to put down their weapons and together with other minorities build a new and united Syrian identity,” Mr Barrack said in a post on X.
The Israeli embassy in Washington and Syrian Consulate in Canada did not immediately comment or respond to requests for comment from the Reuters news agency.
The ceasefire announcement came after the US worked to put an end to the conflict, with secretary of state Marco Rubio saying on Wednesday that steps had been agreed to end a “troubling and horrifying situation”.
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Why is Israel bombing Syria?
After Israel warned it would destroy forces attacking Syrian Druze, Syrian President Ahmed al Sharaa told the minority group in a televised statement on Thursday that “we reject any attempt to drag you into hands of an external party”.
He then claimed Israel has “consistently targeted our stability and created discord among us since the fall of the former regime”.
It comes after the United Nations’ migration agency said earlier on Friday that nearly 80,000 people had been displaced in the region since violence broke out on Sunday.
It also said that essential services, including water and electricity, had collapsed in Sweida, telecommunications systems were widely disrupted, and health facilities in Sweida and Daraa were under severe strain.
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At least three people have been killed after a “horrific incident” at a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department training facility, officials have said.
A spokesperson for the department said there was an explosion at the Biscailuz Center Academy Training in east LA.
The incident was reported at around 7.30am local time (3.30pm UK time).
Aerial footage from local channel KABC-TV suggests the blast happened in a parking lot filled with sheriff patrol cars and box trucks.
The training centre in east LA. Pic: NBC Los Angeles
Attorney general Pam Bondi wrote on X: “I just spoke to @USAttyEssayli about what appears to be a horrific incident that killed at least three at a law enforcement training facility in Los Angeles.
“Our federal agents are at the scene and we are working to learn more.”
California congressman Jimmy Sanchez said the explosion had “claimed the lives of at least three deputies”.
“My condolences to the families and everyone impacted by this loss,” he said.
Media and law enforcement officials near the explosion site. Pic: AP
The attorney general said in a follow-up post that agents from the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are “on the ground to support”.
The mayor of Los Angeles, Karen Bass, said the LAPD bomb squad has also responded to the scene.
“The thoughts of all Angelenos are with all of those impacted by this blast,” she said.
California Governor Gavin Newsom has been briefed on the incident, his press office said in a post on X.
“The Governor’s Office of Emergency Services is in contact with the Sheriff’s Department and closely monitoring the situation, and has offered full state assistance,” it added.
The cause of the explosion is being investigated.
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