UNDER cover of darkness, RAF Top Guns roar into the night sky on a Middle East mission to annihilate suicide drones and ballistic missiles fired by Iran.
Formations of F-35 Lightning and Typhoon fighter jets tear through the inky blackness at 23,000ft on a nine-hour “seek and destroy” sortie.
On board a Voyager air-to-air tanker, The Sun joined a small group of passengers and crew to watch the elite flyers defend the air space above the region’s “danger zone”
Their orders were clear: detect, track and intercept the rogue state’s deadly rocket salvos.
As we took off from RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus, on the southern-most tip of the Mediterranean island, the stakes could not have been higher.
Miscalculations and human error on both sides of this weeks-long conflict risk the war widening and the entire region tipping into the abyss.
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The number of RAF fast jets tripled to 24 after US President Donald Trump unleashed Operation Epic Fury on February 28.
They were scrambled in no small part after Iran and its proxies launched a fightback that saw a hangar at Akrotiri struck by a drone armed with an 8kg warhead.
The direct hit caused minimal damage, but served as an unnerving reminder of the threat facing the strategically important airbase.
And it focused minds as we watched the fast jets scream into action from the tarmac just before 9pm local time.
The Voyager, twice the size of a Lancaster bomber and the largest aircraft in RAF history, is the UK military’s primary air-to-air refuelling tanker.
It taxied to the end of the runway before we, too, soared skywards.
Less than 40 minutes later, the genial pilot, as if addressing a plane-load of holidaymakers, announced with a skip in his voice: “F-35 coming up on the left wing.”
We hurried down the plane and peered intensely out of the windows as the £75million fighter jet appeared beyond Voyager’s 200ft wing.
It swooped to our right before drawing level with an 88metre-long fuel hose and, at 450mph and no more than 40ft away, skillfully plugged in.
The F-35 cruised in place for ten minutes — its pilot silhouetted by the light of the moon — as we looked on in awe at the sci-fi-like spectacle.
Replenished, it peeled off, suddenly dropped altitude and was off again to continue defending the skies over the Middle East. A Typhoon arrived minutes later, slowed and performed the same incredible routine.
The Voyager’s cockpit, manned by two pilots and a Mission Systems Officer (MSO) with 26 years of combined flying experience, was calm and relaxed.
Chats about moustaches and the coffee pot waiting for them back at base bookended radio commands for the Top Guns filling up.
They were matter of fact, understated and modest about their mission, describing it as no different to the exercises they carry out at home.
One said: “The fast jet guys are at the pointy end.”
But the dangers for them are very real after Iran recently turned its focus on air force refuelling planes.
At least seven belonging to the US have been damaged or destroyed by the Islamic state in a bid to limit their enemies’ capability to conduct bombing raids.
Meanwhile, earlier this month, two US Air Force KC-135 refueling planes collided — leading one of the aircraft to crash into the ground. All six crew were killed, the Pentagon announced.
The families of the RAF heroes in the Voyager’s cockpit are naturally worried. One of the pilots pauses, turns to me and says jokingly of his mother: “She worries every time I step out of the front door.”
The laughing stops with the arrival of another Top Gun. On headphones, I listen in to the latest command: “Visual Typhoon left-hand side . . . 20 seconds to roll out.”
The MSO, his back turned to the two pilots, is illuminated by a bank of computer screens. He studies a live feed of the fighter jet as it inches towards the fuel hose.
Throughout our sortie, the Voyager refuelled seven jets and delivered 30.5 tonnes of fuel whilst maintaining a holding pattern known as a “race track” due to its shape.
It covered over 3,300 nautical miles, making 50 laps of the track, but, more importantly, it maintained the fast jets’ uninterrupted mission across the Middle East.
The Voyager is normally capable of carrying 290 troops, but on Friday night there was just 12 of us on board, including the three crew.
Our presence was perhaps a reflection of the RAF’s keen desire to get back on the front foot after their political masters faltered so spectacularly at the start of the war.
There was understandable frustration on Akrotiri after Epic Fury was unleashed on Tehran, not least after the Iranian-made drone fired from Lebanon left a hole in one of its hangars.
Sir Keir Starmer, accused of leaving Britain exposed and embarrassed, frantically scrambled HMS Dragon.
But the air defence destroyer took three weeks to reach Cyprus. Wildcat and Merlin helicopters were also deployed to beef up air defences and joined ground-based Stormer units.
Major General Tom Bewick OBE, commander of British Forces in Cyprus, is rueful.
He said: “Iran got an awful lot of buck for very little bang.
“In the immediate wake of that, we didn’t know what had happened. We moved our families off the base.
“We now know a lot more about the threat and what happened, and we’ve been able to move everybody back. We’ve only got about 100 people now off base.”
Major General Bewick insists the vast majority of the air defence package was in place long before the conflict began.
More has followed and the number of troops on the base has soared from 2,500 to 4,000.
He added: “Over time, our defences have been thickened, both in our ability to see stuff, with more radar, more early warning and our ability to shoot stuff down.
“HMS Dragon plays a part in that and so, too, do the Wildcat helicopters and Stormer units.”
Group Captain Adam Smolak, Akrotiri’s Station Commander, said the drone strike was a reminder of what is at stake.
He added: “When we were attacked, it re-emphasised the need for us to be ready to react and ready to deal with the aftermath.
“I think that the actions of the people that had to do their work, those actions saved lives.”
Since the war began, UK pilots and air crew have racked up over 1,200 flying hours and recorded 70 “successful engagements”.
In one night, British troops from the RAF Regiment in Erbil, northern Iraq, downed 14 Iranian drones.
And a Navy pilot in an F-35 made history after shooting down two more over the deserts of Jordan — marking the first time the fast jet had fired in anger and downed another aircraft.
The pilot, who cannot be named, said afterwards: “The consequences of shooting the wrong thing down are unthinkable, really.”
Squadron leader Bally, whose full name cannot be disclosed, has flown 10 missions since the conflict started.
He said: “We are getting pretty good at it. We’re part of a layered defence across the region. It’s a seek-and-destroy mission, but there’s a presence element to it as well.
“We’re in a constant state of readiness to get airborne. The gap between training and execution has narrowed substantially. But you certainly feel there is more riding on it and it’s more important to get it right.”
Westminster’s early dithering is not forgotten, but the RAF has moved on.
As Bally says: “The time for learning is at an end. It’s time to do the business.”