ACE-GUARD 1991

 

Operation "AMF ACE Guard", 6-1-1991 till 10-3-1991
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On August 2, 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait, starting the first Gulf War and threatening the stability of the entire region, strategic for its oil reserves. This invasion led to the formation of an international coalition – headed by the United States – that declared war on Iraq on January 17, 1991. Finally, on February 26^th, 1991, Saddam Hussein was forced to order the withdrawal of his troops.

From the start of the conflict with Iraq nearby, Turkey felt threatened on its southern flank and asked for extra support from NATO. On January 2, 1991, the NATO Defense Planning Committee decided to deploy the air component of the Allied Mobile Force (AMF) in southeast Turkey, to respond to the request. At the request of the Alliance, Germany, Belgium and Italy were activated. Italy participated with a number F-104G Starfighters of the 3rd Stormo of Villafranca. The chosen airbases were Erhac and Diyarbakir, the latter located 300 km from the Turkish-Iraqi border. The plan was to carry out deterrent flights and to protect the airbases themselves.

At first the Italians wanted to send Fiat G91Y fighter jets but at that moment the fleet was studying wing cracks appearing in many of the aircraft. So the Italians choose for a recce mission support by sending six of the best Villafranca Starfighters available for this task. To protect the Starfighters during their missions the chosen aircraft were sent to Grosseto were the aircraft were quickly modified with ECM and Chafe/Flare equipment. Then all the squadron markings were made black for camouflage purposes. When ready to go to Turkey the aircraft departed in a hurry without any proper preparation. On January 6th, 1991, not six but ten Starfighters departed from Gioia del Colle and via Greece and a fuel stop at Bandirma Air Base, they finally arrived that same day successful at Erhac Air Base to start their deployment. The next day the deployment was officially declared operational.

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Later more Starfighters were sent to Erhac, also by 132° Gruppo, for maintenance replacement and operational spare. In total they flew around 384 successful  missions clocking over 515 operational flying hours, which means around 6 missions a day, 7 days a week. Below a table of all the participating aircraft of the deployment.

Aircraft	Type	Squadron	Remarks
MM6518/3-37	F-104G Orpheus	28° Gr	From 6 January 1991
MM6524/3-46	F-104G Orpheus	28° Gr	From 6 January 1991
MM6533/3-35	F-104G Orpheus	28° Gr	From 6 January 1991
MM6540/3-33	F-104G Orpheus	28° Gr	From 6 January 1991
MM6545/3-32	F-104G Orpheus	28° Gr	From 6 January 1991
MM6576/3-45	F-104G Orpheus	28° Gr	From 6 January 1991
MM6589/3-36	F-104G Orpheus	28° Gr	From 6 January 1991
MM6611/3-52	F-104G Orpheus	28° Gr	From 6 January 1991, Lacking AN/ALE-40
MM6514/3-10	F-104G	132° Gr	Later
MM6529/3-11	F-104G	132° Gr	Later
MM6558/3-02	F-104G	132° Gr	Later
MM6647/3-22	RF-104G	132° Gr	Later, returned on 10 March 1991

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Pictures above: The ten selected Starfighters are waiting at Gioia del Colle for their flight to Turkey. (AMI)

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AN/ALE-40 system

All, except MM6611 and MM6647, were equipped with an integrated ECM system in the fuselage behind the cabin, recognizable by the spine antenna, and two AN/ALE-40 chaff/flare containers commonly called "Hams" added at the tail. One container (port side) containing chaffs had regular square holes and the second one (starboard side) containing flares had rectangular holes a little larger than those for chaff. Below some pictures showing the AN/ALE-40 chaff/flare dispensers (first two pictures thanks to Hubert Peitzmeier)

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Thanks to Hubert Peitzmeier, website "www.dstorm.eu" and Lt Col ret. Fabio Guerra (Ronin Film Production).