The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance of 32 member states – 30 European and two North American. Established in the aftermath of World War II, the organization implements the North Atlantic Treaty, signed in Washington, D.C., on 4 April 1949. NATO is a collective security system: its independent member states agree to defend each other against attacks by third parties. During the Cold War, NATO operated as a check on the threat posed by the Soviet Union. The alliance remained in place after the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact and has been involved in military operations in the Balkans, the Middle East, South Asia, and Africa. The organization's motto is animus in consulendo liber. The organization's strategic concepts include deterrence.
The General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina, also known as the Dayton Agreement or the Dayton Accords, is the peace agreement reached at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio, United States, finalised on 21 November 1995, and formally signed in Paris, on 14 December 1995. These accords put an end to the three-and-a-half-year-long Bosnian War, which was part of the much larger Yugoslav Wars.
A no-fly zone, also known as a no-flight zone (NFZ), or air exclusion zone (AEZ), is a territory or area established by a military power over which certain aircraft are not permitted to fly. Such zones are usually set up in an enemy power's territory during a conflict for humanitarian or military reasons without consent of the enemy state, similar in concept to an aerial demilitarized zone, and usually intend to prohibit the enemy's military aircraft from operating in the region. Military action is employed by the enforcing state and, depending on the terms of the NFZ, may include preemptive attacks to prevent potential violations, reactive force targeted at violating aircraft, or surveillance with no use of force. Air exclusion zones and anti-aircraft defences are sometimes set up in a civilian context, for example to protect sensitive locations, or events such as the 2012 London Olympic Games, against terrorist air attack. A no-fly zone is generally not considered a form of aerial blockade due to its more limited scope compared to an aerial blockade.
This is a list of aviation-related events from 1994.
This is a list of aviation-related events from 1995.
Leighton Warren Smith Jr. was a former United States Navy admiral. In 1994, he became the Commander in Chief of United States Naval Forces Europe and Allied Forces Southern Europe, holding the commands during the height of the Yugoslav wars. He commanded the NATO enacted no-fly zone over Bosnia and the later bombing campaign against Republika Srpska in 1995. The same year he additionally took on command of the NATO-led Implementation Force (IFOR) in Bosnia with the objective of overseeing the peace agreement. He held all three positions until his retirement in 1996.
Operation Deliberate Force was a sustained air campaign conducted by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), in concert with the United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR) ground operations, to undermine the military capability of the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS), which had threatened and attacked UN-designated "safe areas" in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the Bosnian War with the Srebrenica genocide and Markale massacres, precipitating the intervention. The shelling of the Sarajevo marketplace on 28 August 1995 by the VRS is considered to be the immediate instigating factor behind NATO's decision to launch the operation.
The Inter-Entity Boundary Line, commonly abbreviated IEBL, is the administrative line that subdivides Bosnia and Herzegovina into two entities, Republika Srpska and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The total length of the Inter-Entity Boundary Line is 1,080 km.
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 close air support for UN troops in Bosnia and carrying out coercive air strikes against targets in Bosnia. Twelve NATO members contributed forces to the operation and, by its end on 20 December 1995, NATO pilots had flown 100,420 sorties.
The Banja Luka incident, on 28 February 1994, was an incident in which six Republika Srpska Air Force J-21 Jastreb single-seat light attack jets were engaged, and four of them shot down, by NATO warplanes from the United States Air Force. U.S. F-16 fighters southwest of Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina successfully engaged and destroyed several Bosnian Serb warplanes which had attacked a Bosnian factory, while suffering no casualties of their own. It marked the first active combat action, air-to-air or otherwise, in NATO's history.
Strike Fighter Squadron 136 (VFA-136) also known as the "Knighthawks" is a United States Navy strike fighter squadron based at Naval Air Station Lemoore, California. The "Knighthawks" are an operational fleet squadron flying the F/A-18E Super Hornet. They are homeported at NAS Lemoore and are currently assigned to Carrier Air Wing One, tail code AB. Their radio callsign is Gunstar.
Operation Sana was the final military offensive of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina in western Bosnia and Herzegovina and the last major battle of the Bosnian War. It was launched from the area of Bihać on 13 September 1995, against the Army of Republika Srpska, and involved advances towards Bosanski Petrovac, Sanski Most and Bosanska Krupa. At the same time, the Croatian Army and the Croatian Defence Council were engaging the VRS in Operation Maestral 2 further to the southeast. After an initial 70-kilometre (43 mi) advance, VRS reinforcements managed to stop the ARBiH short of Sanski Most and Novi Grad, and reversed some of the ARBiH's territorial gains in a counterattack. After a part of the ARBiH 5th Corps was threatened with defeat around the town of Ključ, the ARBiH requested assistance from the HV.
Operation Mistral 2, officially codenamed Operation Maestral 2, was a Croatian Army (HV) and Croatian Defence Council (HVO) offensive in western Bosnia and Herzegovina on 8–15 September 1995 as part of the Bosnian War. Its objective was to create a security buffer between Croatia and positions held by the Bosnian Serb Army of Republika Srpska (VRS). The operation also spearheaded a Herzeg-Croat led move to compromise the occupation of the largest Bosnian Serb-held city, Banja Luka, by capturing the towns of Jajce, Šipovo and Drvar. Thus jeopardizing the operations capacity of Banja Luka and ultimately leading to its recapture. The combined HV and HVO forces were under the overall command of HV Major General Ante Gotovina.
Operation Sky Monitor was a NATO mission to monitor unauthorized flights in the airspace of Bosnia and Herzegovina during the Bosnian War. The operation began in response to United Nations Security Council Resolution 781, which established a ban on the use of military aircraft in Bosnian airspace, and requested the aid of member states in monitoring compliance. Beginning on October 16, 1992, NATO monitored violations of the no-fly zone using E-3 Sentry NAEW aircraft based in Germany, Italy, Greece, and the United Kingdom. The operation documented more than 500 violations of the no-fly zone by April 1993. In response to this high volume of unauthorized flights, the Security Council passed Resolution 816, which authorized NATO to enforce the no-fly zone, and engage violators. In response, NATO deactivated Sky Monitor on April 12, 1993, transferring its forces to the newly established Operation Deny Flight.
The NATO intervention in Bosnia and Herzegovina was a series of actions undertaken by NATO whose stated aim was to establish long-term peace during and after the Bosnian War. NATO's intervention began as largely political and symbolic, but gradually expanded to include large-scale air operations and the deployment of approximately 60,000 soldiers of the Implementation Force.
The Battle of Vrbanja Bridge was an armed confrontation which took place on 27 May 1995, between United Nations (UN) peacekeepers from the French Army and elements of the Bosnian Serb Army of Republika Srpska (VRS). The fighting occurred at the Vrbanja Bridge crossing of the Miljacka river in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, during the Bosnian War. The VRS seized the French-manned United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR) observation posts on both ends of the bridge, taking hostage 12 French peacekeepers. Ten were taken away, and two were kept at the bridge as human shields.
The Split Agreement or Split Declaration was a mutual defence agreement between Croatia, the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, signed in Split, Croatia on 22 July 1995. It called on the Croatian Army (HV) to intervene militarily in Bosnia and Herzegovina, primarily in relieving the siege of Bihać.
NATO maintains foreign relations with many non-member countries across the globe. NATO runs a number of programs which provide a framework for the partnerships between itself and these non-member nations, typically based on that country's location. These include the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council and the Partnership for Peace.
