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AIR INCIDENTS
OVER IRAQ'S NO-FLY ZONES
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DATE |
COUNTRY |
LOCATION |
CAUSE |
DETAILS |
Jun 1992 |
French Mirage
F-1 |
Irbil, Iraq |
crashed |
The first loss of the coalition
aircraft since Desert Storm. A French Mirage crashed near Irbil after engine
failure in June 1992. Rescue forces quickly retrieved the pilot without
incident. |
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Aug 26 1992 |
United Nations Security Council
Resolution 688, passed in April 1991, demanded that Iraqi leader Saddam
Hussein end the repression of the Iraqi civilian population. Iraqi military
bombing and strafing attacks against the Shi’ite Muslims in Southern Iraq
during the remainder of 1991 and during 1992 indicated Hussein chose not to
comply with the U.N. resolution. President George Bush announced Aug. 26,
1992, a decision by a coalition of U.N. forces to begin surveillance
operations in Iraq below the 32nd parallel. The goal was to ensure Iraq’s
compliance with UNSCR 688. To facilitate the monitoring, the coalition
barred all Iraqi fixed and rotary wing aircraft from flying over the
surveillance area. With the president’s announcement, U.S. Central Command
activated Joint Task Force Southwest Asia, a command and control unit for
coalition forces monitoring the no-fly zone. The mission was dubbed
Operation Southern Watch. The first Southern Watch sortie was flown Aug. 27,
1992 - less than 24 hours after the announcement. |
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8 Sep 1992 |
USAF F-16C |
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crashed |
An F-16C
crashed in southeastern Turkey enroute to northern Iraq in the area near the
36th Parallel to execute a combat patrol in support of the "Safe Haven"
exercise by US Forces to keep Iraqi airpower from attacking Kurdish camps.
The USAF pilot was identified as Don Snelbrove, who bailed out and
was recovered without injury at around 09:20 pm (06:20 GMT). |
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30 Nov 1992 |
USAF F-15C |
Persian Gulf |
crashed |
A USAF F-15C
crashed in the Persian Gulf and was reported to have had engine
problems. The pilot ejected and was recovered. |
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Dec 27 1992 |
Iraqi MIG-25 |
Iraq, 20 miles south of the 32nd
parallel |
shot down |
American officials said the
incident began at 10:20 am, local time when two Iraqi planes flew
south of the 32nd parallel, which marks the northern boundry of the air
exclusion zone. Two American F-15C planes approached and asked the Iraqi's
to identify themselves, and the Iraqi planes turned around and flew north.
Twenty minutes later, another pair of MiG's flew south of the 32nd
parallel. An American official said those two planes were believed to have
taken off from the Iraqi Airfield at Al Kut, just north of the 32nd
parallel. This time, the Iraqi planes were approached by a pair of
American F-16's, which warned them by radio to leave the area. But when
the Iraqi planes turned toward the American planes instead of flying away,
the F-16's asked an AWACS battle-management plane flying over Saudi Arabia
for permission to fire, in accordance with classified rules of engagement,
American military officials said. One of the F-16 planes then fired an
AMRAAM air-to-air missile, which struck the Iraqi plane. It is the first
tume that the radar-guided missile has been used in combat. The pilot of
Iraqi plane was missing and presumed dead. |
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Apr 14 1994 |
US Army UH-60 |
Incirlik, Turkey |
shot down |
Two
U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopters and their crews assigned to Operation
Provide Comfort were transporting U.S., United Kingdom, French, and
Turkish military officers; Kurdish representatives; and a U.S. political
advisor in northern Iraq. Concurrently, a U.S. Air Force AWACS aircraft
flew over Turkey to provide airborne threat warning and control for
Operation Provide Comfort aircraft, including the Black Hawk helicopters.
The pilots of two U.S. F-15 fighters patrolling the area misidentified the
Black Hawks as Iraqi Hind helicopters and shot them down, killing all 26
individuals aboard. |
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US Army UH-60 |
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Jan 1 1997 |
Operation Northern Watch is a US
European Command Combined Task Force (CTF) charged with enforcing the
United Nations mandated no-fly zone above the 36th parallel in Iraq. The
mission also entails monitoring Iraqi compliance with UN Security Council
directives. The coalition partners of the United States, United Kingdom,
and Turkey provide approximately 45 aircraft and more than 1,400 personnel
to support Operation Northern Watch. The joint U.S. force of some 1,100 US
personnel, includes sailors, soldiers and airmen from the Air Force, Army,
Navy and Marine Corps. The original mandate from the Turkish government
allowed the operation to continue for 6 months. Turkey subsequently
approved two 6-month extensions, but indicated that it would not become a
permanent mission. |
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Jul 26 2000 |
USN F-14 |
Saudi Desert |
crashed/shot down ? |
A senior Iraqi general said on
Saturday Iraq's anti-aircraft defense had shot down a U.S. F-14 fighter
plane over southern Iraq in mid-July. In the only reference to a lost jet,
the U.S. Navy's Central Command said in a statement received in Dubai on
July 26 that an F-14 Tomcat jet crashed in the Saudi Arabian desert during a
training flight on that day and its two crew members had ejected safely. The
U.S. statement on July 26 said the plane which crashed was attached to the
U.S. aircraft carrier Eisenhower which was operating in the Red Sea at the
time. |
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Jan 21 2001 |
French Air Force Mirage F1 CR |
50 miles south of the Saudi
capital |
crashed |
A French Air Force fighter plane
crashed in Saudi Arabia, killing the pilot, officials said Thursday. A Saudi
Defense Ministry statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency said
the plane crashed Wednesday night several miles southeast of Prince Sultan
Air Base, some 50 miles south of the Saudi capital. The French Defense
Ministry said in a statement that the jet, a Mirage F1 CR, was from the 112
Base in Reims, France. The plane crashed due to a technical problem while
flying on a training mission. |
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Jul 18 2001 |
USAF F-16 |
Turkey, 60 miles from Iraqi
border |
crashed |
A U.S. F-16 fighter jet heading
for a patrol over northern Iraq crashed in Turkey on Wednesday after
apparently suffering engine problems, the first U.S. warplane to go down
in more than 200,000 flights over the no-fly zones. The pilot, Lt. Michael
A. Nelson, Jr., parachuted from the airplane safely and was in good health
at Incirlik air base in Turkey. The F-16 went down near the town of
Diyarbakir, 60 miles from the Iraqi border, and U.S. officials said there
was no hostile fire directed at it. The F-16 that crashed Wednesday was
part of the 510th Fighter Squadron based in Aviano air base in Italy. |
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Aug 27 2001 |
USAF PQ-1 |
Iraq, near city of Basra |
shot down |
A U.S. Air Force unmanned
reconnaissance aircraft failed to return from a mission over southern Iraq
and apparently was shot down by Iraqi air defense forces, a U.S. official
said Monday. The plane, according to the news agency, contained
``high-tech equipment'' and was shot down near Basra, 340 miles south of
Baghdad. |
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Sep 11 2001 |
USAF PQ-1 |
Iraq, near city of Basra |
shot down |
Iraq claimed Tuesday to have
shot down a second U.S. spy plane in less than a month. A U.S. military
spokesman said an unmanned plane is missing and its loss was being
investigated. Maj. Brett Morris, spokesman for a U.S.-British military
task force in the Persian Gulf, said the coalition force had lost an
unmanned aircraft Tuesday similar to a U.S. spy plane lost last month.
Morris said the plane took off early Tuesday for southeastern Iraq. The
unmanned aircraft, which is controlled from land, disappeared later
Tuesday morning while patrolling in the area, he said. Earlier Tuesday,
the state-run Iraqi News Agency reported that the plane was shot down at
11:30 a.m. near the southern city of Basra, about 350 miles south of the
capital, Baghdad, the state-run Iraqi News Agency reported. |
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Oct 10 2001 |
USAF PQ-1 |
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shot down |
Iraq claimed
to have shot down another unmanned U.S. spy plane over the southern no-fly
zone. The Pentagon confirmed it lost the plane
over Iraq on Wednesday. It is the third such aircraft lost this year over
Iraq. The Pentagon said the aircraft may have
crashed or been shot down. |
May 25
2002 |
USAF PQ-1 |
Kuwait |
crashed |
An unmanned Air Force aircraft
returning from a routine surveillance mission in Iraq crashed Saturday as it
was preparing to land at an airfield in Kuwait, the military said.
The cause of the drone's crash was under investigation.
According to U.S. Central Command the crash was
not the result of enemy fire. The Predator
unmanned aerial vehicle, which crashed at about 8:30 a.m. EDT, had been on a
mission in support of Operation Southern Watch. |
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