German Tornados Begin Recce Mission Against Islamic State

Two Luftwaffe Tornado Recce aircraft conducted their first reconnaissance mission against the so-called Islamic State (IS) in Syria and Iraq Jan. 8.

The aircraft took off from Incirlik at 9:32 CET.

Two Tornado Recce aircraft from Jagel, Schleswig-Holstein, in northern Germany, and two from Büchel, Rheinland-Palatinate, in the southwest of the country, flew to Incirlik to join the two already there Jan. 5.

The day before, a Luftwaffe Airbus flew in personnel from Hamburg.

The Airbus A310 multi-role tanker transport flies missions from Incirlik to refuel coalition aircraft six out of seven days a week, already conducting 18 flights in the first three weeks since Dec. 15, clocking 82 hours and delivering 300 tons of fuel.