INCIRLIK AIR BASE, Turkey (CNN) -- A "system malfunction" caused officials to put the Incirlik air base in southern Turkey on alert for a brief time Thursday morning over fears there had been a missile launch, officials at the U.S. European Command said.

A spokesman said a detection system had malfunctioned and indicated a possible missile launch.

Personnel at the base were told to put on protection suits used in case of chemical attack.

However, a short while later, the malfunction was detected and the alert was suspended since there was no evidence that any missile had been fired.

U.S. warplanes based from Incirlik patrol the northern no-fly zone in Iraq and have recently been involved in several military confrontations with Iraqi forces challenging the U.S. aircraft.