Operation Provide Promise (1992-1996)

Operation Provide Promise (1992-1996). Hillsborough County Veterans Memorial Park. , The United States set up Operation Provide Promise and, in cooperation with UNHCR and the World Food Programme (WFP), began airdropping relief supplies to parts of Bosnia - Herzegovina on 28 February 1993. By late November, more than 1,482 airdrop flights had been flown by the participating nations, delivering over 10,100 tons of food and 167 tons of medical supplies to places like Srebrenica, Zepa, Cerska, Konjevic, Goradze, Tuzla; Vostar, Laglaj, and Tesanj. , , Operation Provide Promise was a humanitarian relief operation in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the Yugoslav Wars, from 2 July 1992, to 9 January 1996, which made it the longest running humanitarian airlift in history. 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-47 airland sorties, (delivering 62,801.5 tons) as well as 2,223 C-130 air-drop sorties. , , WomenAid International became one of the main partners of Operation Provide Promise, supplying high protein biscuits (HPB’s) donated to Womenaid by the UK Ministry of Agriculture, Food, and Fisheries. The Overseas Development Administration funded WomenAid to undertake the transportation and logistics for distribution of over 10,000 tons of HPB's. WomenAid delivered approximately 3,000 tons to the Rhein-Main Air Base Germany, for the central Bosnia airdrop and the Ancona Air Base, Italy for the Sarajevo area.The regional co-ordination for the United Nations World Food Programme, wrote to WomenAid International to say this undoubtedly saved lives. Supplies used in the airdrop were donated by the European Community, Germany, Japan, Armenia, Belgium, Turkey, Denmark, Britain, the United States and the World Health Organization. , , Once over the drop zone, it takes only a few seconds to roll the bundles out the back of the C-130 cargo bay with 26 foot parachutes attached to the tops of the bundles of food and medical supplies. The purpose of the parachutes was to slow down the bundles , they hit the ground at 60 mph , to stabilize them for accuracy. , , C-130 drops aid over Tesanj. The aid bundles sit on thick layers of corrugated cardboard to protect the contents on impact. On a typical night airdrop were flown by six C-130 Hercules and by one French and one German Transall. Each mission took about six hours. , , (Caption) , , U.S.,French and German cargo aircraft taxi for takeoff at Rhein-Main Air Base in Germany for an Operation Provide Promise airdrop mission over Bosnia - Herzegovina.