The Quest for Relevant Air Power

180 │ GERMAN Air Force
At the end of the 1990s, the Kosovo crisis confronted the Federal
Republic with the dilemma of contributing to an allied air
campaign against the backdrop of a humanitarian disaster, but
without a UN mandate. German decision makers eventually argued
in favour of participating militarily. 182 The German contingent
contained 10 Tornado ECRs and four reconnaissance Tornados
after the decision on 16 April 1999 to withdraw two
reconnaissance Tornados and to supplant them with two Tornado
ECRs. 183 German combat aircraft accounted for 1.37 per cent of
the allied aircraft fleet, which in the course of the campaign was
increased to 1,022 assets, or 1.33 per cent of allied sorties. 184
Never theless, German Tornados released a significant number of
HARM missiles—236 out of a total of 743 expended throughout
the entire campaign. 185
Though the military significance of the German contribution
was limited, the political significance was more important. For
the first time, the GAF participated as an “equal partner” in a
peace-enforcement operation. 186 With regard to German public
opinion, support amounted to slightly less than two-thirds and
remained stable throughout the air campaign. Any potential employment
of ground forces in a high-intensity scenario was,
however, clearly declined. 187
Courtesy GAF; photo by Herbert Albring
Recce Wing 51 reconnaissance Tornado in Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan