Saudi fighter pilots have carried out air strikes on target ranges in the UK as part of training exercises with the Royal Air Force, the Ministry of Defence has revealed.

Details about the training programme were revealed on Friday by Declassified UK which submitted a freedom of information request to the ministry asking it to release video footage of the air strikes.

However, the ministry refused the request on the grounds that “releasing of the recordings of air-to-ground training sorties could prejudice the effectiveness and capability of RAF and RSAF [Royal Saudi Air Force] tactics”.