From: bergman@afpan.pa.af.mil (CMSgt Mike Bergman)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: USAF News Feature - Southern Watch 93-01
Date: 24 Jan 93 15:52:55 GMT
Organization: Hq Air Force News Agency/SCC


From CMSgt Mike Bergman <bergman@afpan.pa.af.mil>

SW93-01.  Monitoring no-fly zone an ongoing mission
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SW93-01.  Monitoring no-fly zone an ongoing mission
by TSgt. David P. Masko
     PHILADELPHIA IAP -- Much has been made about how quickly U.S.-led forces
contained Saddam Hussein's military provocations, but some Air Force people
say monitoring Iraq's no-fly zone is simply an ongoing mission.
     Capt. Carlos Febres, an AWACS pilot with the 552nd Air Control Wing,
Tinker AFB, Okla., said Air Force E-3A missions have become almost "routine"
since the end of the Gulf war.
     "I'm going back to the Gulf for another 45-day tour," Febres said Jan.
20.  "I was there last year... the 552nd has three operational AWACS squadrons
that regularly rotate in and out of the Gulf."
     Febres, and other AWACS crewmembers, were awaiting transportation at the
Philadelphia Airport USO on inauguration day,  a day some deployed military
say is ironic because of Iraq's offer of a cease-fire in honor of the new
president right after its defiance of United Nations restrictions.
     Representatives from Northwest Airlines, one of the commercial carriers
supporting Air Mobility Command's air-bridge for the latest Iraqi action, said
more than 200 new troops per day fly out of Philadelphia airport since the
United States began sending reinforcements to the Middle East Jan. 13.
     Under the terms of the U.N. resolution, which brought the Gulf war to an
end in 1991, Iraq is ordered to stay out of no-fly zones in its north
and south.  The off-limits areas are at Iraq's 36th and 32nd parallel.
     However, Hussein has taunted the U.N. by threatening coalition forces
above and below the parallel boundaries.
     Pete Williams, the outgoing Pentagon chief spokesman, told reporters Jan.
19 that Iraq has been testing the allies by moving fighter aircraft inside the
no-fly zone.  Williams characterized the action as "sticking a toe over the
line."
     He also pointed out that the recent bombing of Iraqi air defense systems,
and attacks in the northern no-fly zone, were successful.
     For U.S. and allied aircraft in the Gulf, AWACS aircraft provide radar
surveillance and weapons control during defensive attacks against Iraq.
     "It's nothing more than a big radar on an air platform," Febres said.
"But coverage is much better because you're sitting so high."
     However, AWACS doesn't operate alone.  Without protection from F-15s,
F-16s, or other U.S. and allied fighters, the plane would be vulnerable to
attack.
     "It's like driving an 18-wheeler in a sports car arena," Febres said in
describing the feeling of flying in harm's way near Iraq.
     "Fortunately, our fighters and even French Mirages have been there in
case we run into trouble."
     Capt. Christopher Maloy, an F-16 pilot with the 33rd Fighter Squadron,
Shaw AFB, S.C., said both Iraqi strikes on Jan. 13 and 18 included a flight of
F-16s, flying combat search and rescue missions.  He said the aircraft not
only supported the Air Force, and Navy, but allied aircraft as well.
     "During the missions, we go into an orbit to protect them from threats,
and to provide search and rescue for the entire coalition," Maloy said.
     For the recent Iraqi strikes, fighters also stayed in positions between
the threat and the AWACS.  The surveillance plane usually flies 10- to 12-hour
missions over the desert, helping to provide air cover for the region and to
enforce the no-fly zones.
     In addition to surveillance, the AWACS airborne command element talks to
the air operations center on the ground and coalition warplanes who could be
poised for an air strike.
     "We would see and direct intercepts," said Capt. John Fair, an AWACS
senior weapons director, who recently deployed from the 552nd ACW.
     Although Fair said AWACS is one link in giving aircrews as much
information as possible about the threat, it also relays a "green light" to
fire if the situation presents itself.
     "The bottom line on any aircraft mission over there is self defense,"
Fair said.  "It's their call when in a dangerous combat situation."
     He also points out that at the same time more troops are moving to
locations in the Arabian Gulf region, Bill Clinton was being sworn in as the
42nd president.
     "Morale is high right now, and it's an exciting time because we have a
new commander in chief who says he's going to keep the same policy towards
Iraq," Fair said.
(Masko is a member of the Joint Task Force-Southwest Asia Command Information
Team)

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