The German military is striving to balance operational, maintenance and export pressures across its fleet-including the Tornado and Typhoon fighters and the Orion maritime patrol aircraft. The air force is now considering whether to rescind a decision to withdraw one of its two Tornado reconnaissance squadrons from service. This conundrum stems from Berlin's ongoing commitment to support operations in Afghanistan, including the provision of Tornado recce aircraft. If the decision to retire one of the two squadrons that make up the 51st Recce Wing is left in place, the unit would retain 23 aircraft. However, air force officials say this size of force would not be able to sustain the present level of operations in Afghanistan. Last October, the German parliament approved the continuing Afghan deployment in support of the International Security Assistance Force at least until the end of 2009.
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