In the first reported strike of its kind, U.S. Central Command (CENTOM) targeted an Islamic State (ISIS) drone facility in the ongoing offensive against the terrorist organization. The attack on the “unmanned aerial vehicle [UAV] facility” near Mosul, Iraq was listed among other routine targets in a daily release of coalition strikes as part of Operation Inherent Resolve.
Although ISIS has been using drones (UAVs, also called “remotely piloted aircraft,” or RPAs) at least since 2015, the scale of ISIS’s drone operations has been unclear. CENTCOM says that “a number” of what were believed to be UAV facilities in Mosul alone have been targeted, but did not provide an exact figure. The facility targeted this week was used to “launch, recover, and restore” ISIS drones according to a CENTCOM official.
In September 2015, CENTCOM told THE WEEKLY STANDARD that it could not confirm whether or not ISIS drones were armed or were simply used for surveillance. CENTCOM would not provide further information this week about whether or not ISIS is actually producing its own drones or simply recovering and refurbishing them. In the past, a military official dismissed ISIS drones as something they “could have purchased off of Amazon.com.”
In March 2015, when drone use by ISIS first came to light, CENTCOM told the Daily Beast that “they believe the drone in question is one of several owned by ISIS.” Later in 2015, CENTCOM told TWS that “there is no assessment indicating an increased use of RPA’s,” but the current reported targeting of multiple drone facilities in Mosul alone would seem to indicate such an increase may indeed be taking place.
