November 2014, the MoD reported that an RAF Reaper had conducted its first airstrike against Islamic State forces, firing a Hellfire missile at militants placing an IED near Bayji. RAF Reapers based at RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus conducted one surveillance mission over Syria in November 2014, four in December 2014, and eight in January 2015. On 7 September 2015, Prime Minister David Cameron announced that two Islamic State fighters from Britain had been killed in an intelligence-led strike by an RAF Reaper near Raqqa, Syria, the first armed use of RAF assets in Syria during the civil war. By January 2016, RAF Reapers had flown 1,000 sorties in support of Operation Shader. Compared to operations in Afghanistan, where RAF Reapers fired 16 Hellfire missiles in 2008, 93 in 2013, and 94 in 2014, in operations against ISIL, 258 Hellfires were fired in 2015. United Arab Emirates On 10 November 2020, the US State Department approved the sale of up to 18 MQ-9Bs to the UAE pending approval by Congress. Taiwan On 3 November 2020, the US State Department approved the sale of 4 MQ-9B, along with Control Stations and Embedded Global Positioning System/Inertial Navigations Systems (EGI) with Selective Availability Anti-Spoofing Module (SAASM) to Taiwan. Japan On 15 October 2020, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems conducted validation flights of the SeaGuardian UAV for the Japan Coast Guard (JCG). The test flight was conducted at a Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) air base in Hachinohe. Both the JCG and JMSDF have expressed interest in acquiring SeaGuardian UAVs in order to conduct more ocean surveillance. Morocco After the Israel–Morocco normalization agreement in 2020, the US is to approve the sale of four MQ-9B SeaGuardians to Morocco. Potential operators Finland Finnish Defence Forces is doing test flights with the MQ-9. Poland The Polish Ministry of National Defense announced on 28 February 2022 that it plans to purchase an unspecified number of MQ-9 Reaper drones. Cancelled acquisitions Australia In September 2006, the General Atomics Mariner demonstrator aircraft was operated by the Australian Defence Science and Technology Group (DSTO) in an exercise designed to evaluate the aircraft's ability to aid in efforts to stem illegal fishing, drug running and illegal immigration. The Mariner operated from Royal Australian Air Force bases Edinburgh, South Australia and Learmonth, Western Australia in conjunction with a Royal Australian Navy Armidale class patrol boat, the Joint Offshore Protection Command, and the Pilbara Regiment.