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Fallon praises RAF operations in Fallujah liberation

Defence Secretary Michael Fallon has praised the operations of the RAF during its mission to help liberate Fallujah from ISIL forces. Speaking at the Royal United Service Institute’s (RUSI) annual airpower conference, Fallon extolled the RAF’s sustained operational tempo, claiming it had not worked in such a way for 25 years. The news comes after the RAF used precision munitions to strike over 120 targets in Fallujah, including bunkers, tunnels, weapons factories, sniper teams and artillery. Fallon commented: “The RAF has not operated at this sustained operational tempo in a single theatre of conflict for a quarter of a century. Our tempo and commitment to the operation – our precision targeting, our intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, and our overall support to the coalition – shows no sign of abating. “Our aircraft played a key role in the liberation of Fallujah. I pay tribute to the outstanding work of all RAF personnel involved.” “Today I can announce a contract worth approximately £28 million to maintain our state of the art Storm Shadow missile for the next year five years. This long range precision cruise missile is able to target everything from buildings and missile sites to bunkers. “Last week it was deployed for the first time in the current conflict, destroying a bunker containing a Daesh (ISIL) ammunition dump.”

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