Operation Shader: Nine years of fighting so-called Islamic State in Iraq and Syria
Since 2014, the RAF have flown missions over Syria and Iraq, against so called-Islamic State.
The first combat missions were flown from RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus in September that year and named Operation Shader, the UK's contribution to the US-led Operation Inherent Resolve.
Since that year, the RAF has flown more than 8,000 sorties - providing air strikes, surveillance, air-to-air refuelling and transport.
Nine years on, the UK remains the second largest contributor to the international mission, behind the US.
Speaking at RAF Akrotiri, Typhoon pilot Flight Lieutenant Whatmough told Forces News his first mission in 2014 was "very, very different" to what it is now.
He was part of the initial humanitarian mission to deliver food and aid when millions of people moved from Mosul to Sinjar to try to escape the so-called Islamic State, or Daesh.
"It was just devastating to see from the air and the ground picture was just, almost chaotic, across the entire [area of operation]," he said.
"Now, day and night it's quiet. People say 'oh you get airborne, there’s no bombs coming off, there's no bullets being fired' - all that's a good thing, right?
"We're now here, we're not dropping nowhere near the levels that we were nine years ago - there's no bombs coming off the jets, ultimately, that's a good job well done.
"Combat air isn't about always delivering effect, it's about being there if needed and if you're not needed to be called there and then, then that’s a good thing."
With the world's eyes on Ukraine, some might call into question the necessity of Operation Shader.
But Wing Commander Richard Fawkes, Commanding Officer, 903 Expeditionary Air Wing, said: "The fact that we have managed to suppress Daesh is probably because of what we've got out here.
"I think it is the usual deterrent, keeping that capability that we have here at Cyprus will probably continue to suppress Daesh."
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