INTENSE NATO aerial-reconnaissance efforts to support alliance troops in Bosnia have been boosted by the introduction of US Air Force Northrop Grumman E-8A/C Joint Surveillance and Target Attack Radar System (JSTARS) aircraft from Rhein-Main Air Base in Germany.
The 400-strong, 4500th Joint Stars Squadron (Provisional) has been in Germany since December 1995, and it is believed that more than ten ground-station-module vehicles have been moved to Bosnia and Croatia with NATO Implementation Force (IFOR) troops to down-load near real-time radar-surveillance intelligence.
Two JSTARS aircraft, a prototype A model and pre-production C model, are now based at Rhein-Main. It is expected that they will be in Europe for at least two more months, although US officers at the base say that the aircraft will remain as long as NATO and US commanders require them.
Col Randy Young, the US Army vice commander of the squadron, says that the aircraft were being flown on daily missions, of five-to-ten hour duration.
"We provide battlefield situational awareness for manoeuvre commanders. We see both friendly forces and reaction in and around IFOR troops", says Young.
The JSTARS deployment is part of a theatre-wide effort to provide NATO troops with intelligence about potential threats, monitor that the combatants in the former Yugoslavia comply with Dayton peace accords.
Source: Flight International
