Operation Provide Promise

The violent disintegration of Yugoslavia prompted the United Nations (UN) to deploy peacekeeping forces and begin humanitarian relief operations. Operation Provide Promise (July 1992-March 1996) was a joint operation with the US Navy and Air Force involving both naval carrier aircraft and land-based air protected humanitarian relief efforts in the besieged cities of the former Yugoslavia.

USAFE's 435th Airlift Wing flew as many as six C-130 sorties per day from Rhein-Main to Sarajevo. Cease-fire violations, including firing at relief aircraft approaching Sarajevo, frequently forced UN officials to suspend operations at the airport. Participating crews reported 279 incidents, but the only deaths occurred when an Italian G-222 was shot down in September 1992, killing the four crewmen. Three C-130s from the 435th conducted the first night airdrops over Bosnia, releasing 16 tons of Meals, Ready to Eat (MREs) on 28 Feb 93. French participation in the air drops began 27 March 1993, and the Germans flew their first air-drop mission a day later. The last air drop occurred 19 August 1994. By the end of the operation, aircraft from 21 countries had flown 12,886 sorties into Sarajevo, delivering 159,622 tons of food, medicine, and supplies and evacuating over 1,300 wounded people. The US flew 3,951 C-130, 236 C-141, and 10 C-17 airland sorties (delivering 62,801.5 tons), as well as 2,222 C-130 air-drop sorties (28,748 Container Delivery System bundles and 1185 tri-wall aerial delivery system [TRIADS] bundles).

Navy and Marine Corps aircraft, a Marine aerial refueling squadron, a military police unit, a Navy fleet hospital manned with both active and reserve personnel, and on-call Marines from the European theater's amphibious ready group (ARG) and Marine expeditionary unit (special-operations capable) (MEU [SOC]) supplied support to UN forces.