BOSNIA: PRELUDE TO THE PEACE CEREMONY : U.S. to Send Surveillance Planes for Bosnia
The Air Force plans to dispatch two special surveillance planes to Europe this week for tracking ground troops involved in the Bosnia peacekeeping mission. About 400 airmen, soldiers and contractors will go with them.
The Air Force said the planes will fly from Florida to Rhein Main Air Base in Germany on Thursday and are expected to begin flying over Bosnia-Herzegovina shortly after Christmas.
The planes, called the Joint Surveillance and Target Attack Radar System, or J-Stars for short, made a high-tech splash in the 1991 Persian Gulf War, where they kept a close eye on Iraqi troops in Kuwait and monitored their retreat.
Also on Tuesday, the Army announced that 14 more National Guard and Army Reserve units in 12 states have been ordered to active duty to help in the Bosnia operation. More than 500 reservists are affected.
The Army also added four reserve units to the list of those notified to begin preparing for a possible call-up later for Bosnia. There are now 32 National Guard and reserve units in 19 states in this preparatory status.
The Pentagon has said that about 3,400 members of the National Guard and reserves could be called to active duty.
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