British gunners are first to get ‘ace’ title for downing UAVs

Four servicemen earn honor dating back to WWII by destroying at least 5 Iranian drones each in Mideast operations

Four gunners of Britain’s Royal Air Force (RAF) recently became the first so-called “aces” to earn the title by shooting down drones from the ground, the UK Ministry of Defense (MOD) announced in recent days.

The informal status comes from World War II, when it denoted pilots who had shot down five or more enemy aircraft.

The new “aces,” members of the RAF’s ground fighting force, achieved the status by each taking out five or more Iranian drones during operations in the Middle East, the ministry said in a press release.

The announcement noted that British forces were facing “complex swarming technologies designed to disrupt operations and endanger personnel on the ground.”

In response, it said, air force gunners man a “complex system of defenses to protect personnel and equipment on the ground,” combining “early-warning sensors, electronic warfare, and the state-of-the-art Rapid Sentry air defense system armed with Lightweight Multirole Missiles (LMM).”

The release quoted one unnamed “ace,” who noted that some of the gunners are “as young as 18… some just eight months out of training.”

This handout picture released by the Iranian Army Office on January 13, 2025, shows Iran’s Defense Minister Brigadier General Aziz Nasirzadeh (right) speaking with Iran’s army commander-in-chief General Abdolrahim Mousavi during a delivery ceremony of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), commonly known as drones, to Iran’s army by the country’s Ministry of Defense, in Tehran. (Iranian Army Office / AFP)

One officer quoted by the MOD said the RAF has faced “persistent one‑way attack drones targeting UK and Allied personnel, infrastructure and assets in the Middle East” since the start of the US-Israeli war with Iran on February 28.

He said that a March 23-24 engagement by ground-based gunners marked “the most effective defensive outcome achieved in a single night to date.”

The ministry said last week that the UK intends to buy more Lightweight Multirole Missiles to supply to British forces and support partners in the region, including with training in the UK.

British Defense Secretary John Healey also announced this week that the UK will deploy the Rapid Sentry system to Kuwait, which last week led a group of Gulf Arab states in telling the UN Human Rights Council they face “an existential threat” from Iranian attacks.

The month-old war by Israel and the US has sparked large-scale Iranian retaliation against Israel, Gulf states and military installations of the US and its allies, killing civilians and driving up oil prices.