Reaper drone crews blasting ISIS jihadis in Syria and Iraq will receive a campaign medal despite controlling their unmanned aircraft from Lincolnshire and Nevada.
Traditionally, campaign medals were awarded to air crew depending on the level of personal risk they faced.
However, the drone crews, who have logged more than 100,000 hours between them, fly their high-tech aircraft from specialist cockpits in RAF Waddington, Lincolnshire and Creech Airforce Base in Nevada.
Wing Commander Mark Jackson, pictured, Officer Commanding of 13 Squadron said his crews had logged more than 100,000 hours in the battle against ISIS
The Reaper, pictured here at Khandahar Airport in Afghanistan can fly at 290mph at a maximum of 50,000 feet. It is armed here with a pair of £80,000 Hellfire missiles as well as two Paveway II laser guided bombs which cost £30,000 each
The drones operated as part of Operation Shader. Officer Commanding of 13 Squadron Wing Commander Mark Jackson, 44, said his crews were being 'justly rewarded for their efforts'.
Wing Commander Jackson said: 'The majority of our crews - they don't want additional pay necessarily - what they want is recognition, and that's in terms of national recognition.
'Some of that comes from exposure, but a lot of it comes from being seen to have delivered on a given operation, and the most visual account of that is someone who wears a medal.
'For many years a Reaper operator - a pilot, sensor operator or mission intelligence coordinator - they would wear their number one uniforms very much with pride, but with a bare chest because they don't have any medals to show for the operations they were on.
'Despite delivering on operations every single day of the year, for many, many years, they don't have that ribbon and piece of metal to show for it.
'It is a huge thing to happen, and I extremely pleased.'
The personnel to be awarded the Op Shader medal without clasp include RAF Reaper crews, based at RAF Waddington, Lincolnshire, and Creech Air Force Base in Nevada, US.
Ground crew at RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus where UK airstrikes against IS were launched from, plus Army and Navy personnel who provided logistic and communications support, will also receive them.
Traditionally medals are awarded based on the level of risk faced by the individual, with this considered or defined as being exposed to physical danger.
Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson last year confirmed the medal eligibility criteria had been extended to include personnel outside the
