The Huffington Post UK  |  Posted: 25/04/2013 Last year the Ministry of Defence (MoD) announced that the UK was doubling the number of armed RAF drones in Afghanistan to 10 with the five new aircraft to be operated remotely from RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire.On Thursday the MoD confirmed the new aircraft, known as 13 Squadron, which were officially "stood up" in October, started flying missions over Afghanistan this week. The hi-tech Reaper drones are primarily used to gather intelligence on enemy activity on the ground, but they also carry 500lb bombs and Hellfire missiles for precision strikes on insurgents.