 In May and June 2008, British and Afghan National Army forces conducted Operation Eagle's Eye, aimed at disrupting Taliban activities to the south of Musa Qaleh; a key portion of which was a major night-time helicopter raid, rapidly deploying members of 2nd Battalion, Parachute Regiment into the town. In June 2008, a British Apache fired a thermobaric Hellfire missile; the controversial usage of such weapons was approved after extensive legal and ethical evaluations within the MoD. In June 2008, a Taliban leader and several cell members were killed in Helmand Province by a Hellfire missile launched by an Apache of the 664 Army Air Corps. There was a friendly fire incident in July 2008, in which an Apache fired upon a position thought to be held by enemy forces, but instead hit members of a British patrol. This was the first time that a British aircraft had been involved in a blue-on-blue incident in Afghanistan. Although the Apaches have become targets for insurgents, as of November 2008 no British Apaches have been lost to enemy fire. In September 2008, an Apache was seriously damaged by a crash shortly after takeoff in Helmand province, no loss of life occurred but the airframe was written off.
