U.S. Northern Watch commander
calls F-16 flight over Syria a mistake
By Terry Boyd, Turkey
bureau
IZMIR, Turkey — Operation Northern Watch’s top U.S. commander called
speculation that a Turkey-based American F-16 intentionally over flew Syria on a
reconnaissance mission "almost laughable."
U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. Edward "Buster" Ellis, Northern Watch’s
co-commander, said that the ONW jet that strayed from Incirlik Air Base in Turkey south
east into Syria for nearly a half-hour on Aug. 15 was just that — a stray jet.
"It was a vanilla mistake," Ellis said, meaning it was a plain mistake.
The duration and distance of the lone plane over the radical Arab state led
Stratfor.com, a Texas-based commercial intelligence company, to speculate that the
incursion could have been a reconnaissance mission. The F-16 pilot, stated Stratfor, could
have searched for signs of Iraqi military buildup for an attack on Israel.
Ellis countered that such speculation "would almost be laughable" if not for
its potential effect on relations between host Turkey and neighboring Syria.
"ONW simply does the ONW mission, and nothing else," Ellis said. He added
that ONW commanders would never "assume the prerogative" to step outside their
strictly defined U.N. mandate of keeping Saddam Hussein’s war planes and helicopters
from harassing minorities north of the 36th parallel.
Asked if the F-16 has reconnaissance capabilities, Ellis replied, "All airplanes
have the capability of what the pilot can see on ground. But in terms of whether that
plane is equipped as a reconnaissance platform, the answer is ‘no.’"
There are at least five versions of the F-16 Fighting Falcon, and none are listed as
having surveillance capabilities, according to information from the Air Force and
London-based Jane’s Information Group, a publisher specializing in collecting
information on the world’s warplanes, ships and weapons.
Neither Syria nor Turkey — which allows British and American jets to fly ONW
sorties from Incirlik — filed any official protests over the incursion.
But the incident has led ONW officials to send home the pilot, as well as rethink how
they execute the no-fly missions, Ellis said. The unidentified pilot with the Aviano,
Italy-based 510th Fighter Wing flew from Incirlik in south central Turkey into Syria for
23 minutes, covering at least 150 miles.
He finally crossed into northern Iraq just below the 36th parallel on his way to what
officials say was supposed to be a routine no-fly mission over northern Iraq.
Ellis wouldn’t discuss classified ONW operational details. Broadly speaking, he
said, "What happened was: One, we made a mistake. Two, we had some equipment
problems, and three, we had some procedural things" that led the pilot into
potentially unfriendly territory.
OWN pilots have been using the same flying procedures since the no-fly mission began as
Operation Provide Comfort in 1991, "some of which we changed immediately" after
the incursion, Ellis said.
The pilot, who ONW officials won’t identify, was sent back to Aviano. Asked if
commanders disciplined the pilot because of the incursion, Ellis said,
"‘Discipline’ is too strong a word. But he made a mistake. His being sent
home doesn’t go to the issue of being disciplined, per se. But we want to make sure
nothing else happens, and his unit commander decided that the best thing was for him to go
back to his home base."
Air Force officials are still conducting an investigation of the incident, he said.
However, ONW officials have an explanation for one mystery — how a lone pilot could
stray from an ONW sortie.
The pilot in question switched to a different plane because his had maintenance
problems, said Maj. Scott Vadnais, ONW spokesman. Taking off in the spare, he tried to
catch the lead flights, which had continued on, Vadnais said.
Ellis said that if he were free to "lay out the minute details of how [the pilot]
got there and how he made the mistake; if I laid it all out in front of you, the end
result would be, you’d say, ‘yeah, that was just a mistake.’"
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