Dec. 4, 2017

Raqqah liberated: Combat RPAs in the fight

CREECH AIR FORCE BASE, Nev. — U.S. forces, coalition partners and Syrian Democratic Forces liberated Raqqah, Syria from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria’s control in early October. ISIS used the city as its capital for terrorist operations since January 2014. Combat remotely piloted aircraft such as the MQ-1 Predator and MQ-9 Reaper were heavily integrated during combat operations to liberate the city. RPA aircrews tirelessly flew more than 44,000 hours and employed approximately 20 percent of the coalition strike effort.