F-35 pilot on downing two Shahed drones in Royal Navy operational first

The British F-35 pilot who shot down two Iranian Shahed drones has said his main priority was not to hit anything else in the busy skies.

The pilot, a tactics instructor at RAF Akrotiri, was speaking to reporters accompanying Defence Secretary John Healey to the base on Thursday.

Taking down the drones marked the first time a Royal Navy F-35 pilot had destroyed a target during operations.

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Foremost in his mind was avoiding Typhoons in the air at the same time on Monday night.

Speaking to Larissa Brown of The Times, he said: "You are kind of more concerned about making sure you've shot the right thing. Making sure you positioned the aircraft in the right places."

He had been flying for four hours before he deployed the F-35B's Asraam air-to-air missiles.

The pilot, who hasn't been named for security reasons, told reporters he celebrated with a local Cypriot Keo beer.

"We had one beer at sunrise and then I had to go to bed because I was on duty the next day," he told The Times.

"We're kind of a pretty high operational temp at the moment. So when this is all over, whenever it ends, and then I'm sure we'll celebrate appropriately."