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Patterns begin to emerge from the operational data.

“The crews who flew the bombers, fighters, and support aircraft carried out the most precise air campaign in history.” With those words, Defense Secretary William S. Cohen lauded the performance of US and Allied airpower in Opera- tion Allied Force, NATO’s 78-day attack on the Echoes From Allied Force

This 2nd Air Expeditionary Group B-52H taxis at RAF Fairford, UK, after a bombing run during Operation Allied Force over . The 2nd AEG included crews and aircraft from Barksdale AFB, La., and Minot AFB, N.D.

54 AIR FORCE Magazine / August 1999 Yugoslavian regime’s brutal offensive in Kosovo. The —and es- pecially USAF—dominated the campaign, a fact made inevitable by America’s near-monopoly on precision weapons. The attacks forced to capitu- late on June 9. Echoes From Allied Force USAF photo by SrA. Greg Davis

AIR FORCE Magazine / August 1999 55 Chronology of Key 1999 Events

May 27. International Criminal Tribu- Jan. 16. More than 40 ethnic March 27. shoot down USAF nal announces war crimes indictments executed by Serbs are found in village of F-117 fighter; pilot rescued. against Milosevic and four other Serb Racak in Kosovo. Massacre draws inter- officials. national condemnation. April 1. Serbian forces capture three US soldiers near the Yugoslavian–Macedo- June 3. Yugoslav officials accept NATO Jan. 19. Gen. Wesley Clark, NATO com- nian border. peace plan put forth by envoys from the mander, states his forces are prepared for European Union and . action in Kosovo, if necessary. April 24. The conflict in Kosovo domi- nates NATO’s 50th anniversary summit, June 9. NATO and sign accord Feb. 6. Peace talks to halt ethnic violence held in Washington. outlining troop withdrawal from Kosovo. in Kosovo open in Rambouillet, France. May 2. Belgrade releases three US sol- June 10. Serb withdrawals begin, bomb- March 15. Ethnic–Albanian delegation diers to Jesse Jackson. ing suspended. in agrees to accept Rambouillet autonomy deal, but Serbs refuse. May 5. Two US Army AH-64 Apache he- June 11. Russian troops make surprise licopter pilots die in crash during training move into Kosovo. March 19. Peace talks adjourn in failure, in . and Serbian forces mass in and around June 20. NATO declares formal end to Kosovo. May 7. NATO bombs hit the Chinese war. Embassy in Belgrade. March 22. Shelling edges toward Pristina as Serbs step up hostilities. March 24. NATO begins airstrikes against Yugoslavian targets.

Austria Hungary Aviano Taszar Romania

Croatia Voivodina

Cervia

Rimini River Bosnia Belgrade Tuzla

Ancona Amandola

Montenegro Pristina ADRIATIC SEA Kosovo

Skopje Present-day Yugo- slavia

Macedonia San Vito dei Gioia del Colle Normanni Brindisi Albania Greece Albania

56 AIR FORCE Magazine / August 1999 Total Sorties, March 24-June 9 Sorties

Total Sorties, March 24–June 9, By Day In a bit more than 11 weeks, NATO 800 forces flew about 35,000 sorties, of 800 which about 10,000 were attack sor- ties. The first phase of the air war was70 0 700 tentative, featuring limited attacks and vague objectives. In time, NATO 600 600 shifted gears and stepped up the daily number of sorties. By the end 500 500 of the war, NATO strike aircraft were flying nearly 400 missions on some4 00 400 days. Information on sorties remains incomplete. Poor weather caused 300 300 aborts of many missions on some days. 200 200

100 100

0 0 Attack Sorties (St1r ike4 an d S14EA D)20 23 27 30 37 40 44 48 52 56 60 64 68 72 76 78 1 5 9 13 17 21 25 29 33 37 41 45 49 53 57 61 65 69 73 77

Strike and SEAD Sorties, By Day

800800 The information on these pages 700700 is preliminary and drawn from several official sources, primar- 600 ily NATO and Defense Depart- 600 ment briefings presented almost daily during the war. Several 500 500 different US and Alliance enti- ties are conducting reviews, with 400400 sometimes significant variations in data. 300300

200200

100100

0 0 1 4 8 12 16 20 23 27 30 41 43 49 52 55 60 64 68 72 76 78 1 5 9 13 17 21 25 29 33 37 41 45 49 53 57 61 65 69 73 77 Total Sorties, Cumulative

Total Sorties, Cumulative

3500035,000

3000030,000

2500025,000

2000020,000

1500015,000

1000010,000

50005,000

0 0 1 56 910 13 17 2021 232 5 2299 3333 3637 4041 434 5474 9 53 5657 61 6465 6709 7273 757 787

AIR FORCE Magazine / August 1999 57 Targets Struck Total Targets Struck and Restruck Total Targets Struck and Restruck, By Day NATO struck (and restruck) a variety of 160 targets in Serbia, which were deemed16 0 “strategic” targets, and in Kosovo, 140 which were considered “tactical.” 140 Some targets were hit by many dif- ferent aircraft in a single raid. At first,120 120 NATO confined its attacks to a limited number of target groups. Day by day,10 0 100 the Alliance broadened the scope of its 80 campaign. Strategic targets fell into 8six0 categories, as shown below. 60 60

40 40

20 20

0 0 1 4 10 16 21 24 28 32 36 40 44 48 52 56 60 64 68 72 76 78 Strategic Targets Str1uck5 an9d R1e3st1r7uc2k1, 2C5um29ula3t3iv3e7 41 45 49 53 57 61 65 69 73 77 Strategic Targets Struck and Restruck, Cumulative

20020000 Supply 1800 1800 Lines of Com- munication 16016000 POL (petroleum 1400 1400 & Slubricants)UP LOC 1200 1200 POL Army ARMY 10010000 AIRDEF 800800 C3 Air Defense 600600 400 400 Command, Con­trol, & 200 200 Communica- tions 0 0 1 4 8 12 16 20 24 28 32 36 40 44 48 52 56 60 64 68 72 78

A post-strike bomb damage assess- ment photo of the Pozega Petroleum Products Storage facility in Serbia shows that storage units were hit individually. There appears to be little, if any, damage apart from the storage tanks.

58 AIR FORCE Magazine / August 1999 Mobile Military Targets

NATO encountered difficulty locating Mobile Serbian Military Weapons and destroying mobile systems. By the time the Allies suspended bomb- System Number Destroyed Percent of Total ing operations, officials thought they had destroyed considerable amounts Tanks 122 41% of artillery and armored vehicles and were starting to consistently hit Ser- bian tanks. Definitive numbers weren’t Armored Personnel Carriers 222 33% yet determined. Numbers at right were provided by DoD on June 10 and subsequently confirmed by Army Gen. Artillery & mortars 454 50% Wesley K. Clark, Supreme Allied Com- mander .

Air Defense System

NATO fairly quickly achieved air supe- Air Defense Fighters riority, neutralizing the fighter and mis- Component Number Destroyed Percent of Total sile elements of Yugoslavia’s integrated air defense system. Most of the time, MiG-29 fighter 85% the Serbs declined to turn on their 14 tracking radars for fear of drawing an attack. Many systems remained in op- MiG-21 fighter 35% eration, however, and NATO remained 24 wary until the end of the conflict. DoD said NATO pilots observed nearly 700 firings of SAMs, some of which could Surface-to-Air Missile Systems not be identified by type. Component Number Destroyed Percent of Total

SA-2 battalion 2 67%

SA-3 battalion 10 70%

SA-6 battery 3 10%

Yugoslav Air Defense Missile Attacks Yugoslav Air Defense Missile Attacks

Unidentified

126 SA-6 (radar)

SA-6 (radar) Photo by Gert Kromhout

Unidentified 266 MANPAD (IR) 106 MANPAD (IR)

SA-3 (radar) SA-3 (radar) 175

Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses was the primary responsibility of F-16s like this one, armed with the HARM targeting system and AGM-88 missiles. This fighter shows a yellow star under its canopy—evidence of a MiG kill.

AIR FORCE Magazine / August 1999 59 Defense Industry,

Defense Industry and Infrastructure Attacks from the air took a heavy toll on military-related industry and lines Component Percent of Capacity of communications. Yugoslavia’s refin- Destroyed ing industry virtually ceased to exist. Explosives production 50% The 3rd Army in Kosovo, responsible for the bulk of the atrocities, suffered Ammunition production 65% the loss of 60 percent of its barracks, headquarters, storage sites, and other Aviation equipment assembly & repair 70% facilities. Power was turned off in as Armored vehicle production & repair 40% much as 80 percent of Serbia at a time. Petroleum refining 100% 1st Army facilities 35% 2nd Army facilities 20% 3rd Army facilities (Kosovo) 60% Electric power 35% Serbia–Kosovo road corridors 50% Serbia–Kosovo rail corridors 100%

Aircraft Deployed

NATO Aircraft by Source NATO Aircraft by Source On March 24, the number of NATO aircraft committed to the air campaignAllied 302 numbered 400, of which 120 were strike aircraft. By the end of the war, UtheS 58 1 numbers were 883 and 550, respec- tively. US forces provided 581, or about 66 percent of the total. With the larger Allied 302 fleet, NATO commanders began to hit Serb assets with strikes from multiple directions and around the clock. US 581

NATO Aircraft, Total & Strike NATO Aircraft, Total and Strike

909000

808000

707000 Strike 600 600 Total

505000

404000

303000

202000

101000

0 0 1 5 9 13 17 21 25 29 35 37 41 45 51 53 59 64 65 71 73 76 78 Day

60 AIR FORCE Magazine / August 1999 Aircraft Types Contributed

Country Aircraft

US (Air Force) A-10, AC-130, B-1B, B-2, B-52H, C-5, C-17, C-130, C-135, C-141, E-3B/C, E-8C, EC-130, F-15, F-15E, F-16, F-117, KC-10, USAF photo TSgt.by Brad Fallin KC-135, MC-130, MH-53J, MH-60G, Predator UAV, RC-135, U-2S

US (Other) EA-6B (Navy), F-14 (Navy), F/A-18 (Navy and USMC), KC-130 (USMC), P-3C (Navy), Hunter UAV

Belgium F-16

Britain E-3D, GR-7, GR1, L- 1011K, Tristar, VC-10, aircraft on Thirteen NATO nations supplied aircraft for Operation Allied Force. One F-16 from HMS Invincible the Netherlands, such as the one above, defeated a MiG in air combat. By the end of the operation, there were 550 strike aircraft out of some 883 participating. Canada CF-18

Denmark F-16A

France C-135F, C-160, E-3F, F1, Jaguar, Jag-A, Mirage 2000C/D, MIR-IVP, Puma SA- 330, Horizon, UAV CL- 289, UAV CR, aircraft on FS Foch

Germany Tornado PA-200H/E, UAV CL289 USAF photo by SrA. Jeffrey Allen

Italy AMX, Boeing 707T, F-104, PA2001, Tor- nado ADV, aircraft on ITS Garibaldi

Netherlands F-16A, F-16AM, KDC-10

NATO Common E-3A

Norway F-16A

Portugal F-16A

Spain CASA, EF-18, KC-130, A USAF KC-135 refuels an F-16 during Allied Force. Active, Air National Guard, and Air Force Reserve Command crews were kept busy refueling NATO aircraft F-16, KC-135, TF-16C throughout the operation.

AIR FORCE Magazine / August 1999 61