Gama Aviation: the Company That Helped Britain Spy for Israel
Royal Air Force surveillance flights over Gaza have relied on technical support from Gama, Declassified has found. | Gama provides “engineering services including design, maintenance and repair” for the RAF’s six-strong fleet of Shadow R1 surveillance planes. ■ Without Gama’s technical support and deep knowledge of the planes, the RAF would have struggled to maintain almost daily surveillance flights over the besieged Palestinian territory since December 2023. ■ These missions were ostensibly to help locate hostages, but have led to concerns that Britain is complicit in Israel’s relentless attacks on Palestinian civilians. ■ Once deployed to Akrotiri in pairs, these small, twin propeller planes have spent around four hours a day flying above Gaza, hoovering up intelligence with their state-of-the-art onboard surveillance systems. ■ The footage and other intercepts can technically be shared live via a satellite link with partners on the ground, raising concerns that Israeli forces may have had real time access to UK surveillance of the battlefield.