Australia's Department of Defence has for the first time confirmed the total number of its pilots deployed to the United Kingdom on a secretive mission to remotely operate British armed drones, including lethal flights over the Middle East.
In a Freedom of Information disclosure, the department reveals 32 ADF personnel are currently embedded in "unmanned aerial system units" in the UK, while one other is working in the United States.
Details of their deployment are closely guarded, but in 2020 British researchers reported that Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) pilots had flown American-made MQ-9A Reaper drones over Syria and Iraq for Britain's Royal Air Force (RAF), as had private contractors.
The first public disclosure in Britain that Australians were operating armed drones for the RAF was contained in the 2020 annual report of the UK's Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA).
According to the IPA, the recruitment of RAAF pilots was helping the RAF fix a workforce shortage, which military observers have blamed on the psychological trauma of operating deadly unmanned aircraft.
The dozens of ADF exchange personnel are also helping the British military to begin transitioning to the new MQ-9B Protector drone, which will eventually replace the RAF's Reaper fleet.
"A steady increase in overall Reaper Force crew numbers has also improved confidence: this has been brought about by improved retention; Royal Australian Air Force exchange officers; and a pathway to using contractors to relieve Royal Air Force personnel at the deployed location," the IPA noted two years ago.
Until recently Australia was also intending to introduce the MQ-9B armed drone into service under the SkyGuardian program, but the $1.3 billion project was dumped ahead of this year's federal budget.
Having Australian pilots operating British MQ-9A Reaper drones was considered valuable training experience for the RAAF, but the future of the arrangement is now unclear.
Defence has so far declined to say what impact the axing of the SkyGuardian project will have on the pilot exchange program with the RAF, but the ABC has been told the department is reviewing its future.
Labor says it will consider reinstating the ditched $1.3 billion program to acquire the American-made armed drones if it wins the federal election.
In 2015 it was reported that Australia's most infamous terrorists Khaled Sharrouf and Mohamed Elomar had been killed by drone strikes while fighting with Islamic State in Iraq.
