German frigate Bayern since her commissioning, including deploying in the Adriatic in 1999 during Operation Allied Force, the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia. Between April and November 2005 she served as the flagship for Wolfgang Kalähne, Commander-in-Chief of Standing NATO Maritime Group 2. "Bayern" was deployed with the Group in various manoeuvres, and to support Operation Active Endeavour. Between September 2007 to March 2008 "Bayern" was the flagship of Hans-Christian Luther, Commander-in-Chief of the Maritime Task Force of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon. In late January 2008 "Bayern" came to the assistance of the container ship "Gevo Victory", which was in distress
Germany–Kurdistan Region relations Erbil and stated that Germany would continue to support the Kurdish soldiers, and German soldiers commenced the training of Kurdish soldiers in October that year. In January 2015, Defence Minister von der Leyen visited Kurdistan Region again and visited a camp where German soldiers trained Kurdish soldiers, where she commented the training and reassured that Germany would support Kurdistan further. During the Munich Security Conference in February 2015, Barzani met with Merkel and German Defence Minister von der Leyen to discuss the military aid for the Kurdish soldiers. On May 2015, Germany chose to send 500 more MILAN anti-tank guided