German Boeing E-3 Deployment in Turkey Limited to Airspace Protection

The objectives of German Boeing E-3 reconnaissance aircraft due to be sent to Turkey, will not go beyond the protection of the local airspace, the German Foreign Ministry's spokesman said Monday.

BERLIN (Sputnik) — On Saturday, German media reported that NATO would deploy the Boeing E-3 Sentry airborne early warning and control aircraft in Turkey as part of its air defense assistance to the country amid the Syrian crisis, citing a letter to the German parliament by the German Foreign Ministry and the German Defense Ministry.

"It is unlikely that purposes [of the Boeing E-3 deployment in Turkey]…can get out of the context of the integrated protection of the local airspace," Martin Schaefer told reporters in Berlin.

He added that the Islamic State (IS, or Daesh in Arabic) — an extremist group outlawed in Russia and many other countries — currently does not have air forces that could threaten Turkey.

According to Schaefer, neither the army of Syrian President Bashar Assad, nor the Russian Aerospace Forces are expected to launch any air assaults against Turkey.

The spokesman also said that the deployment of the German aircraft in Turkey was not connected with the mission within the anti-IS coalition in Syria and Iraq and was held solely under NATO auspices.