This is a big blow for the leader of the labour party, Jeremy Corbyn. He is fervent anti war campaigner but he has been unable to bring the party round to his opinion. Instead of imposing the whip he has been forced into giving his MPs a free vote and it looks like more than half of Labour will vote for Britain to commence airstrikes.
Presuming there won’t be a dramatic night where parliament suddenly change their mind, this is the kind of arsenal the government have at their disposal:
An RAF Tornado GR4 equipped with Brimstone missiles
The RAF describe the plane as:
‘a two-seat, all-weather, day/night attack and reconnaissance aircraft. It has been in service with the RAF for more than 30 years, but a combination of major upgrade programmes and numerous continual enhancements has kept the aircraft amongst the forefront of all attack aircraft.’
More pictures of the aircraft
A number of different kinds of missiles can be attached to these elite fighting machines:
Paveway IV bombs
Paveway IV is an advanced and highly accurate weapon which is laser guided. It provides the RAF’s strike force with a state-of-the-art precision guided bomb.
Brimstone
Brimstone is an air-launched ground attack missile. It’s used against mass formations of enemy armour and utilises an active radar homing seeker to ensure accuracy even against moving targets.
Storm Shadow
Storm Shadow is a long-range, stand-off, air-launched missile and is the most advanced weapon of its kind in the world. The missile is equipped with a powerful warhead and is designed to attack important hardened targets and infrastructure such as buried and protected command centres. It has an unbelievably large range of 250km.
We will also be using long range missiles that can be fired from our warships and submarines in the area:
Tomahawk cruise missiles
These missiles have a range of over 1,000 miles and can be redirected to a new target whilst in the air. These low flying rockets can also send back images to a control centre.
The final weapon we have at our disposal are drones. They are currently being deployed in Afghanistan but could be re-routed to the new campaign in Syria.
An RAF Reaper drone
These are becoming ever more popular in modern warfare, David Cameron has recently purchased twenty new state of the art drones which will replace the now outdated ‘reaper’. These crafts are capable of carrying out both recognisance and ground attack missions.
Whether or not you agree with taking military action in Syria you can’t help but be impressed with the tools the British military have at their disposal.
