US contractor modified UK Gaza spy planes flown from Cyprus base, documents show

A US security contractor modified UK-operated spy planes before they began flying over Gaza from Royal Air Force (RAF) facilities in Cyprus. The modifications included surveillance and air traffic control technology. The UK has previously claimed the flights were to support hostage rescue.

Cyprus air base in the spotlight again

Zeteo found documents confirming the modifications made by the US-based Sierra Nevada Corporation through a Freedom of Information (FOI) request to the US Federal Aviation Authority (FAA).

"UK surveillance flights over Gaza were conducted with more US involvement than previously known."@jason_paladino and @tobyburns1 reveal UK missions over Gaza used US contractor spy planes equipped with military tracking and surveillance tech. pic.twitter.com/wbDE0pNiKv

— Zeteo (@zeteo_news) April 19, 2026

As Zeteo reported on 19 April:

Lawmakers in the UK, UN officials, and human rights attorneys have expressed concerns that the intelligence could have been used by Israel for its military operations in Gaza, which have resulted in tens of thousands of civilian deaths and have been classified as genocide by both a United Nations investigative panel and a leading association of genocide scholars.

The presence of UK-run spy flights from Cyprus became known by accident after a pilot apparently failed to turn off his transponder meaning the aircraft could be tracked on air traffic platforms:

On 28 July 2025:

A pilot employed by the Nevada-based defense contractor Sierra Nevada Corporation seemingly forgot to disable a device that broadcasts flight details live during a surveillance flight over central Gaza, as first reported by Palestine Deep Dive (PDD).

That error led to it being:

revealed that the plane, a highly modified Hawker Beechcraft Super King Air 350ER, circled for hours over central Gaza on the same day that multiple Israeli airstrikes killed at least 23 Palestinians in the same area, including women and children. The aircraft watched Gaza from above, using the callsign “CROOK12.”

It was then found by our friends at Declassified UK that:

another aircraft, owned by the same company, had also flown surveillance missions over Gaza months earlier.

That plane went by the callsign Crook 11.

Zeteo said both ‘Crook’ aircraft:

are owned by Straight Flight Nevada Commercial Leasing LLC, a Nevada-based corporation, according to the FAA registration documents.

Military contractor Sierra Nevada Corporation owns Straight Flight.

Crook 11 over Gaza

Zeteo found FAA documents showing the plane was fitted with a multi-platform anti-jam GPS navigation antenna (MAGNA) system. US defence firm Mayflower Communications says MAGNA-F is the:

latest federated and affordable GPS Anti-Jam solution.

Declassified reported on 12 August 2025 that in late 2024:

two surveillance aircraft operating from RAF Akrotiri, Britain’s military base on Cyprus, circled close to or over Gaza.

The aircraft, one of which was Crook 11, “circled over Nuseirat refugee camp”. Hours later:

On the evening of 12 December 2024, Israel bombed the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza without warning.

Declassified said:

More than 30 Palestinians were killed and over 50 wounded. Entire families died, their names posted online within minutes.

Active British involvement in Israel’s genocide in Gaza has endured under a veil of state secrecy. Yet bit by bit a fuller picture of the UK is emerging. That picture isn’t simply one of complicity. It is one of active support for what looks like the crime of the century so far.

Featured image via the Canary