Allied Air Forces Southern Europe (AIRSOUTH) was a

military aviation Military aviation is the design, development and use of military aircraft and other flying machines for the purposes of conducting or enabling aerial warfare, including national airlift (air cargo) capacity to provide military logistics, logist ...

component command of the NATO Military Command Structure from 1951 to 2004.

History

Allied Air Forces Southern Europe (AIRSOUTH) was established in temporary facilities in

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

, Italy on 5 August 1951. Its first commander was Lieutenant General David M. Schlatter. AIRSOUTH moved, along with its superior organisation, Allied Forces Southern Europe (AFSOUTH), to permanent facilities in the Bagnoli district of

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

in April 1954 and Lieutenant General Laurence Carbee Craigie took command of AIRSOUTH at that time. AIRSOUTH was in turn given command of the 6th Allied Tactical Air Force which was based in

İzmir İzmir is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, third most populous city in Turkey, after Istanbul and Ankara. It is on the Aegean Sea, Aegean coast of Anatolia, and is the capital of İzmir Province. In 2024, the city of İzmir had ...

in Turkey. From December 1992, Lieutenant General Joseph W. Ashy and then, from September 1994, Lieutenant General Michael E. Ryan, in their successive roles as commander of AIRSOUTH, directed the

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

air combat operations in

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...

, including the bombing missions of Operation Deliberate Force in summer 1995, which created the context for the U.S. Government to broker the Dayton Agreement between the waring parties in November 1995. Lieutenant General Michael C. Short, as commander of AIRSOUTH, directed the NATO air combat operations in Kosovo, including the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia in spring 1999, during the Kosovo War, which led to the formation of the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo in June 1999. AIRSOUTH deactivated and some of its staff moved to

in Turkey to form Allied Air Command İzmir in 2004. This move was strongly opposed at the time by the Greek Government who argued that it could give the Turkish Government influence over Greek airspace.

References

{{reflist Formations of the NATO Military Command Structure 1952–1994