ACE GUARD

On August 2, 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait, starting the first Gulf War and threatening the stability of the entire region, strategic for its oil reserves. To justify the invasion Saddam Hussein claimed Kuwait was a region of Iraq. The UN Security Council responded to the Iraqi aggressiveness by imposing the ultimatum of an unconditional withdrawal of Iraqi forces by January 15. The failure of this ultimatum led to the formation of an international coalition – headed by the United States – that declared war on Iraq on January 17. Given the imbalance of the forces in the field, the military intervention was very rapid, and on February 26th Saddam was forced to order the withdrawal of his troops.

In the face of the growing concentration of Iraqi military means, Turkey felt threatened on its southern flank, sharing the border with Saddam’s country. For this reason, as a member of the Atlantic Alliance, despite Iraqi assurances that it had no intention of attacking Turkey, on December 17, 1990, the Turkish government invoked the help of NATO.

On January 2, 1991, the NATO Defense Planning Committee – a political body at the same level as the North Atlantic Council – decided to deploy the air component of the Allied Mobile Force (AMF) in southeast Turkey “to demonstrate the collective solidarity and determination of the Alliance to face any potential threat to an allied territory”. Prior to that, MFA had been deployed only in exercise actions. At the request of the Alliance, Germany, Belgium and Italy were activated: the German government sent 18 German Alpha Jets, 2 helicopters, 10 various vehicles, 2 mobile defence systems and more than 590 personnel; the Belgian government mobilized 18 Mirages aircraft and about 250 military personnel to support the mission, and Italy participated with six F-104G Starfighters of the 132nd Group 3 Stormo “Carlo Emanuele Buscaglia” of Villafranca. Destination of the mission, the bases of Erhac and Diyarbakir, the latter located 300 km from the Turkish-Iraqi border; with the main defensive aim to carry out deterrent flights and to protect the bases themselves.