GERMANY: F-16 FIGHTER JETS HAVE TAKEN OFF FROM A U.S. AIR FORCE BASE IN GERMANY FOR DEPLOYMENT IN THE GULF

Record ID: 376186

  • Title: GERMANY: F-16 FIGHTER JETS HAVE TAKEN OFF FROM A U.S. AIR FORCE BASE IN GERMANY FOR DEPLOYMENT IN THE GULF
  • Date: 16th January 2003
  • Summary: (W5) SPANGDAHLEM, GERMANY (JANUARY 16, 2003) (REUTERS) 1. LV OF ENTRANCE TO SPANGDAHLEM AIR BASE 0.05 2. LV CARS ARRIVING AT SECURITY 0.10 3. SV OF PLANE AT GATE WITH SIGN '52ND FIGHTER WING TEAM EIFEL' 0.15 4. LV OF HANGARS 0.20 5. LV OF PLANE TAKING OFF 0.26 6. SV OF CONTROL TOWER 0.31 7. CU OF CONTROL TOWE
  • Embargoed: 31st January 2003 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: SPANGDAHLEM, GERMANY
  • Country: Germany
  • Reuters ID: LVAB16W7CRC0EJDQ6PSTJQMN4NFA
  • Story Text: F-16 Fighter Jets have taken off from a U.S. Air Force
    base in Germany for deployment in the Gulf.



    Twelve F-16 Fighter Jets took off from the U.S. Air Force
    base in Spangdahlem in Germany on Thursday (January 16) for
    deployment in the Gulf region in a possible war on Iraq.

    The pilots join 200 troops, mostly maintenance and support,
    who left the Spangdahlem air base on Sunday (January 12). The
    U.S. Pentagon has ordered 35,000 more troops to fly to the
    Gulf region, where the U.S. Central Command is based.

    Commenting on the troop's mission, Wing Commander Colonel
    Stephen Mueller said the mission was a simple deployment
    sortie from Germany to the Middle East. "There'll be local training
    for them when they arrive, preparing them to do whatever there is
    to do. And their primary mission is 'seek', so they would expect
    to be employed in a suppression of enemy air-defence mode if they
    are tasked to do that.", said Mueller. The 52nd Fighter Wing's
    motto is 'seek, attack, and destroy'.

    Mueller said the soldiers were mostly upbeat about their
    mission. "It's mixed emotions," he said. "They're trained and
    ready to go, and so they are sort off excited to be part of
    the mission, and to be able to support what they think are the
    right objectives. The other side of the mixed emotion is that they
    are leaving on an open-ended deployment from their families, they
    are going away and don't know when they will be back. It's
    tough on them and their families."
    Although it's the biggest troop deployment in recent weeks,
    troop numbers so far are substantially short of the more than
    250,000 sent to the region for the Gulf War. Two divisions
    with more than 10,000 soldiers based in Germany were involved in
    Desert Storm in 1991. But reinforcement could continue
    throughout January and February.


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