Lt. Antonio Ruiz González
First published in
SFOR Informer#151, November 7, 2002

As the rain fell from an overcast sky and with the entire Sarajevo valley covered by a thick fog, it was clear that winter had finally arrived. However, despite these conditions, the Slovenian run ‘SFOR Airways’ continued to fly. The Slovenians are accustomed to these conditions and their pilots are very familiar with Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). This is because, ten years ago, both countries were part of the same country, the then Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY).

Archer Base, Sarajevo - The 15th Brigade Air Force of the young Republic of Slovenia provides transport assets to SFOR Headquarters in Sarajevo. More than 5,000 flying hours have been completed since they began to fly in SFOR missions at the very end of 1997. In fact, Slovenia is the only country to become independent from the late SFRY that is now part of SFOR

Slovenian troops
Slovenian soldiers are also involved in the SFOR mission, undertaking many varied tasks. Perhaps the best known Slovenian Company is within the Multinational Specialised Unit (MSU). But the Medical Cell in Butmir is also made up of Slovenian medics, doctors and nurses, taking care of the Camp's civilian and military personnel. In addition, several other positions at SFOR Headquarters are held by Slovenians in CJ9, CIMIC (Civil-Military Co-operation) or JVB (Joint Visitors Bureau).
Slovenians also deal with transportation by means of helicopters and planes. Oct. 25 was their fifth anniversary of flying with SFOR. A ceremony is due to take place Nov. 12 on Brnik airport base, nearby Ljubjana, the capital of the country, to commemorate that anniversary. SFOR representatives and local authorities will attend the event.

Fixed and rotary wings
The Slovenian Air Force provides helicopters and fixed wings plane for use by SFOR. Specifically they provide four B 412 helicopters, one of them always posted at Archer Base, Camp Butmir (Sarajevo). In addition they fly their fixed wings transport plane L 410 weekly to different destinations such as Naples (Italy), Brussels (Belgium), Ramstein (Germany) and Ljubljana to name but a few. One of the members of the 15th Brigade is also in charge for co-ordinating aircraft movements with SFOR Headquarters. Lt. Col. Bogomir Saric is the Slovenian Air Liaison Officer in CJ3 Operations. "I co-ordinate our assets according to the needs of SFOR as far as our possibilities are able to carry out the mission. Our country offered to SFOR 100 flying hours for the helos and 30 for the fixed wings plane monthly," said Saric.
As an experienced airman, Saric is himself one of the L 410 pilots, possessing a large amount of flying hours all around BiH. "Before I joined the Territorial Defence Forces of the Republic of Slovenia, I was the pilots' instructor in the military academy from former Yougoslavian Air Force in Zadar (nowadays in Croatia)," he underlined.

Brnik airport
In Ljubljana, Brnik is not only the international airport of the capital of Slovenia, but also the base of the 15th Brigade Air Force. As a new country with a surface area of little more than 20,000 square kiometres and two millions of inhabitants, Slovenia does not have large armed forces. Thus Brnik base is the most important one and the place where the new pilots are also training after their basic course. Slovenian pilots began their SFOR missions stationed at Vukovar (Croatia). Maj. Branko Rek is one of the helicopters pilot and also instructor. "The unit is called multipurpose because of the different aircrafts we fly. We have advanced training planes as the Pilatus PC9, transport planes such as L 410, the 18-seat fixed wings we use with SFOR, but above all our helicopters B 412," he explained.
"We can fly in very bad weather conditions because we all have a very good knowledge of the country. Sometime we also fly by IFR (Instrument Flying Rules) and with night capability by means of NVG (Night Vision Goggles)," he continued.

Crews
The unit, 250-people strong, performs shifts of one week with the helicopter stationed at Camp Butmir. Every Friday they fly to Ljubljana to exchanging both crew and aircraft to achieve the reliability required.
The Pilots all have lots of experience, like Maj. Miklavz Skofic Maurer. "I flew helicopters Mi-8 for the Former Yugoslavia during previous years. We are now flying the B 412 and undertaking in Fort Worth, (Texas, USA) the Bell flight safety simulator every two years," said Maurer.
Another pilot is Capt. Stanko Kolar who was also instructor in Zadar academy. "I learnt how to fly jets over several years in the former Yugoslavian Air Force School." So it is clear that they know this country very well. Furthermore they flew all around with these weather conditions during their whole career. As underlined by a crew-member, WO1 Anton Vucajnk, "I was trained as a technician in Rajlovac, near Sarajevo, where the school for maintenance was placed."
All those reasons make the Slovenian detachment a very reliable asset throughout the whole of BiH for the members of SFOR Headquarters.

96 hours pass?
Are you looking forward your next 96 hours pass? Why not a trip to Ljubljana? The capital of Slovenia is a beautiful city of 280,000 inhabitants, running alongside the Ljubljanica River, just before it joins the Sava River, overlooked by an ancient castle. It is a modern city, a European one also, with plenty of history where you will be able to enjoy excellent food and a variety of events such as music festivals, and fairs amongst other attractions.
You can reach the city by various means including by plane from Sarajevo (although not with military planes). Adria Airways became the national airline of Slovenia when the country declared independence on June 25, 1991. Adria has daily flights to Sarajevo and to several other capitals such as Brussels, Frankfurt, Paris, Skopje, Split, London and Zurich to name but a few.
So, think about it. Why not Slovenia?

Related links:
Nations of SFOR: Slovenia
SFOR at Work