New details of shootdown of F-117 stealth
- Thread starter Fairthought
- Start date
Yes, good article. The Serbian cambaing was wery learning example of what it migth be if US was to engage some 'real' opponent, rather than beaten down third-world nations. I still remember the exact moment when i heard on the radio that serbians have managed to shoot down 'undetactable' F-117. What a great emotional moment that was to me as great friend and 'fan' of Yugoslavia. And knowing the profesional level of our own armed forces, i think small nations do have change against bigger foes and that is good thing to remember all the time when waging imaginary wars agaisnt smaller islands...I mean nations...
Gollevainen said:
It was also a learning experience for the US.
The main problem with US armed forces is that they have been associated with being Invincible, that is to fight a war with little or no casualties.
In the case of the F-117, it should be regarded as one of the most successful attack aircraft ever, only one loss after hundreds of sorties. However, the media and others, have sensationalized it as the invinsible weapon that got defeated. Therefore, one loss was associated with failure of stealth aircraft.
It is a good morale victory for the Serbs to shoot it down and they rightly deserve the credit for it. However, if you look at it closely, trying to shoot down a single F-117 has taxed the capabilities of the Serbians that they allocated most of their assets to neutralizing one single weapon system. As a result, their record was abysmal. They only shot down 2 aircraft as opposed to the dozens that to the IRaqis shot down in 1991 and you can see that they did badly. They should have concetrated nuetralizing the other conventional aircraft.
Stealth aircraft forces your enemy to allocate a disproportionate amount of assets trying to neutralize it and makes them more vulnerable to your other weapon systems. That is its real worth.
Another thing, people always say that they US will have a hard time if it faces "real" competition in the air and land. While it may be true. You should think of it from the other guys eyes. They have never fought against someone with the capabilities of the US.
Well they did shoot down more than just two planes...NATO has convessed two aircrafts being lost but in the airmuseum of belgrade has l pieces of several different F-16s and pieces of other planes as well...i try to dog up the numbers but i assure you they where bigger than just two planes...
The US admitted to losing 1 F-16 and 1 F-117 to SAM. Serbia, at various times during the conflict, claimed that they had shot down as many as 10-20 aircraft. However it's also suspected that some of these aircraft were drones/UAV's, or Serbia's own aircraft.
"When the NATO attack finally came, on the evening hours of 24 March 1999, the MiGs went into action, being scrambled one after the other. The two fighters that took off from Nis and were vectored to intercept targets over southern Serbia and Kosovo, were swiftly dealth with by NATO fighters: the MiG-29 flown by Maj. Dragan Ilic was damaged - either by an AIM-120 fired from a Dutch F-16AM fighters, or by a Serbian SA-6 SAM, in a case of fratricide fire."
"After a pause of almost a month, on 4 May finally Lt.Col. Milenko Pavlovic scrambled on MiG-29 to intercept a NATO strike in the area of Valjevo, his home-town, which the previous night was first hit by an earthquake and then by a heavy NATO-strike. Appearing too late on the scene and experiencing one malfunction of the weapons and navigation systems on his aircraft after the other, Lt.Col. Pavlovic was eventually intercepted by two USAF F-16Cs. Both US fighters were flying on the end of the NATO-formation, and had to be turned around by the E-3 Sentry AWACS aircraft in order to engage – while simultaneously also attacked by the Serbian air defence units. Lt.Col. Pavlovic was shot down within a short period of time, and killed. Even if the Serbs subsequently found fragments of a Strela-2M MANPAD in the wreckage of his MiG, this kill was officially credited to a USAF pilot from the 78th FS."
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The Serbian AF was known to use their MiG's with ground-based SAM traps against NATO aircraft. Unfortunately for them, the electronics/IFF system on the MiG-29's were in a poor state that one Serbian pilot commented "Every night I've flown I've seen a SAM shot at me or one of my wing mates".
"When the NATO attack finally came, on the evening hours of 24 March 1999, the MiGs went into action, being scrambled one after the other. The two fighters that took off from Nis and were vectored to intercept targets over southern Serbia and Kosovo, were swiftly dealth with by NATO fighters: the MiG-29 flown by Maj. Dragan Ilic was damaged - either by an AIM-120 fired from a Dutch F-16AM fighters, or by a Serbian SA-6 SAM, in a case of fratricide fire."
"After a pause of almost a month, on 4 May finally Lt.Col. Milenko Pavlovic scrambled on MiG-29 to intercept a NATO strike in the area of Valjevo, his home-town, which the previous night was first hit by an earthquake and then by a heavy NATO-strike. Appearing too late on the scene and experiencing one malfunction of the weapons and navigation systems on his aircraft after the other, Lt.Col. Pavlovic was eventually intercepted by two USAF F-16Cs. Both US fighters were flying on the end of the NATO-formation, and had to be turned around by the E-3 Sentry AWACS aircraft in order to engage – while simultaneously also attacked by the Serbian air defence units. Lt.Col. Pavlovic was shot down within a short period of time, and killed. Even if the Serbs subsequently found fragments of a Strela-2M MANPAD in the wreckage of his MiG, this kill was officially credited to a USAF pilot from the 78th FS."
===============
The Serbian AF was known to use their MiG's with ground-based SAM traps against NATO aircraft. Unfortunately for them, the electronics/IFF system on the MiG-29's were in a poor state that one Serbian pilot commented "Every night I've flown I've seen a SAM shot at me or one of my wing mates".
Fairthought
Junior Member
The Russians did play a part in the serbian air defence against NATO. Whether you believe the russians gave S-300 air dence batteries, or just GPS jammers, it is certain their aid helpled bag the F-117. This is revealed by the fact that the Russians were allowed to take the wreckage back with them for target practice.
The idea of GPS jammers were rather new at the time. Hundreds of NATO cruise missiles failed to hit their target. It gave rise to wild theories about serbians using modified microwave ovens as decoys. Here is a select quote from the following source:
The idea of GPS jammers were rather new at the time. Hundreds of NATO cruise missiles failed to hit their target. It gave rise to wild theories about serbians using modified microwave ovens as decoys. Here is a select quote from the following source:
