since World War II during September 1995 in the course of Operation Deliberate Force, when six IDS Tornado fighter-bombers, equipped with forward looking infrared devices, and escorted by eight ECR Tornados, supported NATO's artillery missions on positions of the Bosnian Serbs around Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herzegovina. In March 1999, the became involved in direct combat role as part of the Kosovo War along with the other NATO powers. This event was noted as significant in the British press with The Sun running the headline " and the RAF into battle side by side". The sent in Fighter Bomber Wing 32, equipped with ECR Tornados, which flew missions to suppress enemy air defences in and around Kosovo. These fighter-bombers were equipped with an electronic countermeasures pod, one AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air missile for self-defence, and an AGM-88 HARM air-to-ground missile (anti-radar). The bomber wing flew 2108 hours and 446 sorties, firing 236 HARM missiles at hostile targets. No manned planes were lost in combat during this campaign. 2000s In 2005 and 2008, F-4F Phantom II fighter planes took part in the Baltic Air Policing operation (of NATO), and these fighters were supplemented in 2009 by units flying the Typhoon. In 2006, to support military operations in Afghanistan, the sent over several Panavia Tornado reconnaissance planes from the 51st Reconnaissance Wing "Immelmann" (), stationed in Mazar-i-Sharif, Northern Afghanistan. There have also been assorted German Army helicopters flying from the Air Base in Mazar-i-Sharif. Also, C-160 Transall have flown transport plane missions in and around Afghanistan. Since the 1970s, the West German (and, post reunification, German) (as well as many other European air forces) has actively pursued the construction of European internationally made warplanes, such as the Panavia Tornado and the Eurofighter Typhoon introduced into the in 2006. On 13 January 2004, the Minister of Defence, Peter Struck, announced major changes in the future of the German armed forces. A major part of this announcement was a plan to cut the number of fighter planes from 426 in early 2004, to 265 by 2015. Assuming that the plans to order 180 Typhoons is carried out in full, and all of the F-4 Phantoms are removed from service, this would cut the number of Tornado fighter-bombers down to just 85. In the past, the Bundesmarine's naval air wing () received 112 Tornado IDS planes. However, during late 2004, the last unit of Bundesmarine Tornados was