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NATO Orders AWACS Radar Planes to Turkey
NATO's top military commander in Europe has ordered AWACS surveillance planes to Turkey to watch for any potential attack from Iraq, the alliance announced Friday. The planes will fly from their base in Geilenkirchen, Germany, to a Turkish air force base in the central city of Konya in the next few days. They are scheduled to start flying missions in defense of Turkish air space by Thursday. The order from Gen. James L. Jones, the supreme allied commander in Europe, follows an agreement last weekend among NATO nations to end weeks of stalemate over whether to start military planning to boost Turkey's defenses against the threat of an Iraq air attack. It was not immediately clear how many AWACS planes would leave for Turkey, but NATO military officials this week suggested five or six planes from the alliance fleet of 17 would be enough to do the job. Three batteries of Dutch Patriot missile defense systems have already been sent to Turkey by sea and are expected to arrive in the country by end of next week. They will be integrated into NATO's radar defense system and operated by 370 Dutch Air Force troops from southeastern Turkey. The Dutch didn't wait for a NATO agreement to send them. Deployment of the biochemical units will wait until the Turkish military presents a detailed list of what exactly it needs to fill shortfalls in its defenses. NATO's military headquarters will then ask allies for specific units to move to Turkey. NATO has also ordered its civil emergency experts to report on how the alliance can assist Turkey with the civilian consequences of any Iraqi attack, such as by helping hospitals, keeping roads and communications lines open or repairing damaged water and power networks. Posted by: Steve 2003-02-21 |
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