Two U.S. F-16 warplanes and a tanker aircraft flew over Bosnia-Herzegovina on January 8 as part of a military exercise to demonstrate Washington's backing for the Balkan country's territorial integrity in the face of increasingly secessionist policies of Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik.
The U.S. Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcons and a KC-135 Stratotanker flew as part of joint air-to-ground training involving U.S. and Bosnian forces.
The flyovers took place over the regions of the eastern town of Tuzla and northern Brcko, according to a statement from the U.S. Embassy in Sarajevo.
But Bosnian media reported that the thunderous sound of jets could be heard in Banja Luka, the main city in Republika Srpska, during a ceremonial gathering on the eve of Republika Srpska Day.
January 9 is celebrated as Republika Srpska Day in the Bosnian Serb entity, although the Constitutional Court of Bosnia has twice declared the holiday unconstitutional.
The day marks the anniversary of the region's 1992 declaration of independence, which ignited the 1992-95 Bosnian War. In years past, the banned holiday has been marked in Banja Luka by parades and marches by armed police.
The embassy statement said the training exercise on January 8 was "an example of advanced military-to-military cooperation that contributes to peace and security in the Western Balkans as well as demonstrates the United States' commitment to ensuring the territorial integrity of [Bosnia-Herzegovina] in the face of anti-Dayton and secessionist activity."
The statement added that the United States has underscored that the Bosnian Constitution "provides no right of secession, and it will act if anyone tries to change this basic element" of the U.S.-brokered Dayton agreement that ended the war in 1995.
Dodik has defied U.S. and British sanctions imposed over his attempts to erode central Bosnian authority and establish parallel institutions to further his longtime threats to divide the country.
The training emphasized coordination between joint terminal attack controllers from U.S. Army Special Forces and the armed forces of Bosnia. It was part of efforts by U.S. forces to exchange tactics, techniques, and procedures with the Bosnian Air Force, the embassy said. The KC-135 Stratotanker provided aerial refueling to the F-16s.
According to data from the flight tracking website Flightradar24, the KC-135 Stratotanker flew from a base in Britain and made several circles over Bosnia in the Banja Luka area between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. local time. The flight paths of the F-16 fighter jets are not available on Flightradar24.