Operation Deny Flight (1993-1995)

Operation Deny Flight (1993-1995). [Hillsborough County Veterans Memorial Park]. , Operation Deny Flight was a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) operation that began on 12 April 1993 as the enforcement of a United Nations (UN) no-fly zone over Bosnia and Herzegovina. The United Nations and NATO later expanded the mission of the operation to include providing ground support for UN troops in Bosnia and carrying out coercive air strikes against targets in Bosnia. Active NATO members contributed forces and, by its end on 20 December NATO pilots had flown 100,420 sorties. , , The operation played an important role in shaping both the Bosnian War and NATO. The operation included the first combat engagement [10] in NATO’s history, a 28 February 1994 air battle near Benjamin Luka, and in April 1994, NATO aircraft first bombed ground targets in an operation near Sarajevo. Cooperation between the UN and NATO during the operation also helped pave the way for future joint operations. Although it helped establish UN-NATO relations, Deny Flight led to a conflict between the two organizations. Most notably significant tension arose between the two after UN peacekeepers were taken as hostages in response to NATO bombing. , , The operations of Deny Flight spanned more than two years of the Bosnian War and played an important role in the course of the conflict. The no-fly zone operations of Deny Flight proved successful in preventing significant use of air power by any side in the conflict. Additionally the air strikes flown during Deny Flight led to Operation Deliberate Force a massive NATO bombing campaign in Bosnia that played a key role in ending the war. , , After it’s adoption, Operation Deny Flight was relatively successful in preventing fixed-wing aircraft flying over restricted airspace over Bosnia. During the monitoring phase of Operation Sky Monitor, unauthorized fixed-wing flights averaged twenty per month, but during Deny Flight only three. During the conflict, there were only an estimated 32 fixed-winged, military aircraft in Bosnia, all of them former Yugoslav National Army planes under the command of the Bosnian Serbs. , , The first serious violation to the No-fly zone came on 28 January 1994, when six SerbJ-21 Jastreb jets bombed a Bosnian factory. US aircraft shot down four of the six Serb jets over Banj Luka. This engagement was the first combat engagement of Operation Deny Flight, and its only significant air to air combat engagement. Perhaps more importantly, the Benja Luka incident was also the first combat engagement in the history of NATO. The Serbs acknowledged the loss of a fifth aircraft in the incident. , , After the adoption of the Dayton Accord, a peace agreement for Bosnia, Deny Flight’s mission was no longer necessary. On 15 December 1995, the United Nations Security Council officially terminated the resolutions that had authorized the operation, and on 16 December, the North Atlantic Council agreed to terminate Operation Deny Flight, effective 20 December. On 21 December 1995, NATO held a formal closure ceremony for Deny Flight in Vicenza. Many of the forces assigned to Deny Flight were transferred to Operation Decisive Endeavor, to provide support for new IFOR peacekeepers in Bosnia. (Caption) , , A 53rd Fighter Squadron F-15C Eagle aircraft takes off on a mission during Operation Deny Flight, the enforcement of the United Nations-sanctioned no-fly zone over Bosnia and Herzegovina. . This historical marker was erected by Hillsborough County. It is in Tampa in Hillsborough County Florida