1994

January 1994 - NATO summit meeting in Brussels confirms all previous decisions and says it is ready to use air strikes to help reopen Tuzla airport for aid flights if necessary.

February 5, 1994 - During the shelling of a market place in Sarajevo, 68 people were killed and over 200 were wounded.

February 9, 1994 - The North Atlantic Council took additional decisions aimed at further supporting UNPROFOR in carrying out its tasks. The Council decided that 10 days after 2400 GMT, 10 February 1994, heavy weapons not removed from a 20 kilometer exclusion zone around Sarajevo or turned over to UN control would be subject to NATO air strikes. Such strikes would have been conducted in close coordination with the UN Secretary General.

Furthermore, it authorized the Commander-in-Chief Allied Forces Southern Europe (CINCSOUTH) to launch air strikes, at the request of the UN, against artillery or mortar positions in or around Sarajevo (including outside the exclusion zone) which are determined by the UN Protection Force (UNPROFOR) to be responsible for attacks against civilian targets in that city. The efforts of NATO and the UN resulted in the withdrawal of heavy weapons from Sarajevo or the placing of them under UN control.

February 21, 1994 - The objectives set on 9 February are now being met, though the deadline has expired. No airpower will be used in this stage.

February 28,1994 - Four NATO fighters shot down four fixed-wing aircraft violating the UN "No-Fly" zone. NATO Airborne Early Warning aircraft (NAEW) detected unknown tracks South of Banja Luka early that morning. Two NATO aircraft, US Air Force F-16s, were vectored to the area and intercepted six GALEB/JASTREB aircraft. In accordance with the rules of engagement, two "land or exit the No-Fly Zone or be engaged" orders were issued which were both ignored. While this was happening the violating aircraft dropped bombs. The NATO fighters engaged the planes, shooting down three of them. A second pair of NATO fighters, U.S. Air Force F-16s, arrived and shot down a fourth violator. The remaining two violators left the airspace of Bosnia-Herzegovina.

This was NATO's first combat action since its foundation in 1949. It was also the first action after 1397 violations of the NFZ.

March 1, 1994 - Croatia, the Bosnian Croats and the Bosnian muslims agreed on the establishment of a Muslim-Croate federal federation in Bosnia.

March 8, 1994 - A Spanish CASA 212 transport aircraft, on a routine flight from Zagreb to Split, made a successful emergency landing at Rijeka Airport (Croatia) after being hit by ground fire while flying over Croatia. Four passengers on the aircraft were slightly injured by shrapnel.

March 12, 1994 - NATO responded to the first UNPROFOR request for Close Air Support (CAS). Aircraft were sent to provide protection for French troops who were being fired upon near Bihac in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Ultimately, the UNPROFOR Tactical Air Control Party did not request the aircraft to attack a ground target.

March 29, 1994 - A ceasefire was signed in Zegreb between Croatia and Serbia.

April 10, 1994 - UNPROFOR military observers in Gorazde asked for NATO air protection. After approval by the Special Representative of the UN Secretary General, NATO close air support (CAS) was provided by two U.S. Air Force F-16Cs, which dropped bombs under the control of a UN forward air controller (FAC). The following day, UNPROFOR again requested air protection for UN personnel in Goradze. Two U.S. Marine Corps F/A-18A aircraft, under the control of a UN FAC, bombed and strafed targets.

This was NATO's first attack of ground targets in the conflict.

April 15, 1994 - A French Etendard IVP reconnaissance aircraft safely returned to the French carrier Clemenceau after being hit by ground fire over the Gorazde area.

April 16, 1994 - The pilot of a Sea Harrier from the British carrier HMS Ark Royal safely ejected over the same area after his aircraft was hit while attempting to conduct a CAS mission. He was later rescued by UN forces.

April 22, 1994 - The NAC, responding to a request from the UN Secretary General, decided that the Bosnian Serb actions around the Gorazde safe area met the conditions identified by NATO on 2 August 1993 as grounds for air strikes. It required the Bosnian Serbs to immediately cease attacks against the safe area and to pull their forces back 3 km from the center of the city by 0001 GMT on 24 April 1994 and from that time allow UNPROFOR and humanitarian assistance free access to the city.

Additionally, it declared a 20 km military exclusion zone around Gorazde and required all Bosnian Serb heavy weapons to be withdrawn by 0001 GMT on 27 April 1994. As a result of UN and NATO cooperation, effective compliance with the NATO ultimatums occurred and air strikes were not required.

The NAC authorized airstrikes if the UN safe areas of Bihac, Srebrenica, Tuzla or Zepa were attacked by heavy weapons from any range.

July 1, 1994 - Croatian internally displaced people started a blockade of UNPROFOR check-points along roads to UN Protected Areas. This protest against the Protection Force's inefficiency lasted until August 22, 1994.

July 6, 1994 - The Bosnian-Serbs rejected a plan of the international "contact group" (US, Russia, France, Germany, UK) to split up Bosnia in a Muslim-Croate federation (51%) and a Serb part (49%).

August 5, 1994 - The Bosnian Serb Army (BSA) seized a number of heavy weapons from the Ilidza Weapons Collection site in the Sarajevo Exclusion Zone, despite having been warned by UNPROFOR not to do so. At the request of UNPROFOR, NATO launched aircraft on the afternoon of 5 August to attack heavy weapons that were violating the Sarajevo Exclusion zone.

Despite poor weather conditions the force, made up of Dutch, French, NATO, UK and US aircraft, were able to locate an M18 Tankbuster (a tracked 76mm anti-tank gun). This was attacked by two US A-10 aircraft who strafed it with 30mm ammunition. Following the air strike the BSA returned the heavy weapons they had taken.

September 22, 1994 - Following a Bosnian Serb attack with rocket-propelled grenades against a French armored personnel carrier (APC) near Sarajevo, wounding a French soldier, two British Jaguar bombers and a US Fairchild A-10 ground attack plane, all participating in Deny Flight, hit a nationalist Serb tank which was within the 20-kilometer (12-mile) exclusion zone around Sarajevo. The air strike was carrier out at the request of UNPROFOR.

French Mirages were initially to have carried out the attack but were unable to locate the target in the poor weather.

October 28, 1994 - Joint UN and NATO statement 941028 has been released regarding the future use of airpower.

November 11, 1994 - Statement 941111 by NATO Secretary General W. Claes regarding the limitations to US participation in Operation Sharp Guard.

November 19, 1994 - United Nations Security Council grants NATO new powers to hit targets in Croatia used by Serb nationalists for attacks on the Bosnian town of Bihac.

November 20, 1994 - NATO launches raid on the Udbina airfield in Serb-held Croatia but calls it off because of bad weather.

November 21, 1994 - NATO aircraft attacked the Udbina airfield in Serb-held Croatia. Admiral Leighton W. Smith, USN, Commander in Chief, Allied Forces Southern Europe, said the objective of the strike was to deter further attacks by aircraft flying from the airfield in Serb-held Croatia.

The decision to attack the airfield was made jointly by NATO and UNPROFOR commanders under the authority of the North Atlantic Council and United Nations Security Council Resolution 958. The mission was flown by about 30 aircraft of four NATO nations, in addition to about 20 other supporting aircraft. The attack was a response to attacks which had been launched from that airfield against targets in the Bihac area of Bosnia-Herzegovina in the previous few days.

November 22, 1994 - Two British jets are fired upon over Bosnia. Neither is hit.

November 23, 1994 - NATO aircraft attacked nationalist Serb SAM sites at Bosanska Krupa, Otoka in northwest Bosnia and in the area of Dvor, a town on the edge of the Bosnian Bihac pocket, firing anti-radiation "HARM" missiles. Later that same day, NATO carried out a strike against the Otoka SAM site, as it had been assessed as still posing a threat to NATO aircraft. The attack was a retaliation for the attack on British jets with SAMs the previous day.

December 17, 1994 - A French Etendard IV P jet on a NATO reconnaissance flight over Bosnia-Herzegovina was hit by ground fire and returned safely to an air base in Italy. The aircraft which had taken off from the French aircraft carrier Foch received tail damage.

December 23, 1994 - Serbs agree to a temporary cease fire after a meeting with former US president Jimmy Carter.