A group of RAF, Royal Navy and Army Air Corps pilots has become eligible for US gallantry medals awarded for conducting secret strike missions over Iraq and Afghanistan.

The difference with these awards is that the crews who might win them are sitting at consoles 11,000 miles from the nearest battlefield and in no danger of being hit by anything deadlier than a flak-storm of angry text messages.

The 45-strong British contingent, known as 1115 Flight, "fly" armed Predator robot drones from a US desert base at Nellis in Nevada via remote-control satellite uplinks. The two-man "crews" manning the joysticks not far from Las Vegas consist of a pilot and an observer seeking high-value targets via real-time video cameras. The first batches of UK volunteers were sent to the US more than two years ago to train for the missions against al Qaeda commanders spotted by special forces' reconnaissance teams or surveillance satellites.

Now the Pentagon has decided that the US and allied Predator crews, who operate between 700 and 800 drones armed with Hellfire missiles, qualify for the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Air Medal and the Aviation Badge.

The DFC ranks just behind the US Silver Star as an award for outstanding valour in combat and can also be awarded for "devotion to duty while flying in active operations against the enemy".

One RAF critic said last night: "They're working long shifts on a glorified arcade game. Their biggest danger will be spilling coffee into the controls at a crucial moment."