UK outsourcing its Gaza spy flights to US contractors — report

LONDON — The UK military has used US contractors to conduct spy flights over Gaza for Israel due to a shortage of British aircraft, The Times reports.

The UK government acknowledged this year that it conducts such flights over the war-ravaged Palestinian territory but insisted they were “solely in support of hostage rescue.”

The UK government has said that the flights are part of its response to the October 7, 2023, massacre by Hamas terrorists in Israel that set off the war.

The Royal Air Force (RAF) had been using its Shadow R1 reconnaissance aircraft to film over Gaza, aiding the search for the hostages, but turned to a US firm after the planes were reassigned or needed maintenance, according to The Times.

The Nevada-based company being used is a subsidiary of Sierra Nevada Corporation, one of the world’s largest military contractors, the newspaper says.

It is likely to be seen as further evidence that Britain’s military has been pared back too drastically over recent decades, primarily due to budget pressures.

Relying on private sector contractors, which use an RAF base in Cyprus in the eastern Mediterranean, can have pitfalls.

The flight path of a US-operated sortie last month over the largely destroyed Gazan city of Khan Younis became public following what The Times called a “schoolboy” error.

It says the plane’s transponder had not been fully turned off, which meant it could be identified on flight-tracking websites and platforms as flying over southern Gaza.

The UK Defense Ministry declines to comment, citing the need to protect operational security around intelligence matters.

It reiterates that Britain conducts surveillance flights over Gaza to help Israel locate hostages and only passes on intelligence related to that.