 Reserve KC-135s support no-fly zone over IraqReleased: 26 Jan 1999 ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. (AFPN) -- Two Air Force Reserve Command KC-135 units will augment other air-refueling units supporting the enforcement of the United Nations no-fly zone over northern Iraq in February. The 927th Air Refueling Wing, Selfridge Air National Guard Base, Mich., and the 940th ARW, Beale Air Force Base, Calif., will each deploy an aircraft with aircrews and crew chiefs to Incirlik Air Base, Turkey, Feb. 1-28 as part of Operation Northern Watch. Both units will swap out people in mid-February. By deploying for two instead of four weeks, Reservists are more likely to get time off from their civilian jobs to support military operations in the United States and overseas.
The UN imposed no-fly and no-drive zones after the Gulf War to prevent Saddam Hussein from attacking his people, particularly minority groups such as the Kurds in the north and Shiite Muslims and Marsh Arabs in the south. The zones are also designed to prevent Iraq from attacking its neighbors. Coalition and U.S. aircraft have been enforcing the northern zone since 1991 and the southern zone since 1992. (Courtesy of AFRC News Service)
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